Purim: An Ancient Festival, but all too contemporary this year, 2024 or 5784
Dame Lesley Max
The normally joyous, light-hearted festival of Purim, just celebrated in New Zealand and world-wide, has had a dark shadow this year for Jews in Israel and around the world. Purim commemorates a hugely significant event in Jewish history, from the 5th century BCE (before the common era), that is, about 2,500 years ago. It’s one of the eery features of Jewish life that the echoes of events far distant in time are still arrestingly relevant to our own time.
The events of Purim take place in the mighty Persian empire, to which the Jews have been taken captive, after the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. The Persian ruler, Cyrus, who had encouraged the Jews to return to Israel and rebuild their Temple in Jerusalem, was succeeded by a less benevolent king, Ahasuerus, sometimes thought to be Xerxes.
As the story is told in the Biblical scroll of Esther, King Ahasuerus’ Chief Minister, Haman, plotted to destroy all the Jews of the Persian empire, because of a grudge he held against the Jew, Mordechai, from the tribe of Benjamin. As it says in the scroll, “Letters were sent by courier to all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to slay and to exterminate all Jews, young and old, children and women, in a single day… and to plunder their possessions.”
The situation was utterly dire. However, Mordechai’s adopted daughter, Esther, had found favour with the King and become his Queen. Mordechai discovers the plot against the Jews and urges Esther to take the very risky step of approaching the King in an attempt to save the Jews. Esther succeeds in her mission and the King authorises the Jews of the Persian Empire to defend themselves on the day Haman had chosen, by casting lots (Purim), to destroy them.
This deliverance is seen as a miraculous intervention by God, though He is never named in the scroll of Esther. The courage of the young Esther has been celebrated through the millennia. Jews gather in the synagogue to listen to the story being chanted, and follow the custom of making noise to blot out the name of Haman whenever it is uttered.
The congregation looks different on Purim from any other day, because many people take the opportunity to dress up in a great variety of costumes. Following the reading, there are always parties. It’s a great and happy occasion, particularly for children and young people.
However, in March 2024 (or 5784 in the Jewish calendar), just six months from the massive trauma of the massacre by Hamas of Israelis on 7th October, 2023, there is a dreadful echo of the letters sent on behalf of Haman “to destroy, to slay and to exterminate” the Jews of Persia, in the specific instructions to kill, rape, burn and torture, found on the bodies of Hamas terrorists who were killed following the day-long atrocities carried out that day. The desire to exterminate Jews (the Nazis used Purim as an occasion for specific atrocities) is strongly held by Haman’s contemporary equivalents – the ruling echelon in Iran and its proxy, Hamas.