What is the holiday Purim?

Answer 1

Purim is the Jewish celebration of how Queen Esther saved the Jewish people of Shushan. (SP?)

One of my favorite sayings about the Jewish holidays is this: "They tried to kill us. They failed. Let's eat."

So, it started out with King Ahashuarus, the king of Shushan. His queen was named Vashti. This is a very basic explanation of her story. King A was not known for being particularly smart, but he was known for throwing huge and lavish parties. For an important party, he wanted Vashti to come down and dance for his guests (naked....) She refused. Yay, women's rights! Except not yay. King pitches a fit, and she gets banned from Shushan.

So now the king needed a new queen. There is some sort of beauty contest (obviously they didn't call it that, but you get the idea.) Esther ends up winning. She becomes queen, but doesn't bother to tell the king that she is Jewish. (Cause why should that be a defining aspect of their relationship? This one is all about beauty and power!) Her cousin/uncle, nobody really knows for sure, Mordechai, wants to protect Esther, so he sometimes keeps in touch with her via the palace gates. Somehow, someway, he ends up hearing a plot to assassinate the king. He tells the king, and the plotters die instead. This wins him some brownie points, and he gets promoted to palace guard.

OK, so this is where the bad guy comes in. His name is Haman, and he is the king's royal advisor. He believes that he has supreme power, and that all the commoners should bow down to him. Mordechai refuses, because he is very Jewish, and Jews only bow to God. Haman is furious with this response, and tells the king that a group of people (the Jews) in his kingdom are disloyal to him. The king, under the influence of Haman (and probably some alcohol) agrees that all the Jews in Shushan should be hanged.

Mordechai overhears this plan. (because by now, he is a master eavesdropper.)

He tells Esther that she must tell the king she is Jewish. After much reluctance, and possibly singing, etc., she agrees. She does it all schmancily of course. She throws some parties, and invites Haman. At the last one, she tells the king that she is very frightened. The king as why, she says she is terrified for herself and her people, and when the king asks who could possibly make her feel this way, she points at Haman. He gets hung instead, and everyone lives happily ever after. Except Haman. And Vashti. And the palace guards.

Fortunately, for modern Jews today, we get to eat hamentashen. It's a yummy little triangle cookie with filling in it. It is supposed to represent Haman's hat, which was famous for having three corners. On Purim, kids dress up as characters from the story and there's usually some sort of fast involved. (not for me though.)

I am a Reform Jew, and this is how I remember it being told growing up. I think the basic facts are right. Sorry, this is probably a lot longer than you needed, but I hope it helped!