Last Updated:
01/09/2012 03:40
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Esther 9:1-4
Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth
day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be
put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have
power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had
rule over them that hated them;) The Jews gathered themselves together in
their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand
on such as sought their hurt: and no man could withstand them; for the fear
of them fell upon all people. And all the rulers of the provinces, and the
lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped the Jews;
because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them. For Mordecai was great in the
king’s house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces: for this
man Mordecai waxed greater and greater.
From JewFaq.org: Purim is one of the most joyous and fun holidays on the Jewish calendar.
It commemorates a time when the Jewish people living in Persia were saved from
extermination.
The story of Purim is told in the Biblical book of Esther.
The heroes of the story are Esther, a beautiful young Jewish woman
living in Persia, and her cousin Mordecai, who raised her as if she were
his daughter. Esther was taken to the house of Ahasuerus, King of
Persia, to become part of his harem. King Ahasuerus loved Esther more
than his other women and made Esther queen, but the king did not know
that Esther was a Jew, because Mordecai told her not to reveal her
identity.
The villain of the story is Haman, an arrogant, egotistical advisor to the
king. Haman hated Mordecai because Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman, so
Haman plotted to destroy the
Jewish people. In a speech that is all too familiar to Jews, Haman told
the king, “There
is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all
the provinces of your realm. Their laws are different from those of every
other people’s, and they do not observe the king’s laws; therefore it is not
befitting the king to tolerate them.” Esther
3:8. The king gave the fate of the Jewish people to Haman, to do as
he pleased to them. Haman planned to exterminate all of the Jews.
Purim is celebrated on the 14th day of
Adar, which is usually in
March. The 13th of Adar
is the day that Haman chose for the extermination of the Jews, and the day
that the Jews battled their enemies for their lives. On the day afterwards,
the 14th, they celebrated their survival. In cities that were walled in the
time of Joshua, Purim is celebrated on the 15th of the month, because the book
of Esther says that in Shushan (a walled city), deliverance from the massacre
was not complete until the next day. The 15th is referred to as Shushan Purim.
Adolph Hitler knew about this holiday and its
significance in Jewish history. In 1941, Hitler banned the Jewish community
in Poland from the observance of Purim. They were forbidden to read the Scroll
of Esther and the synagogues were closed on that day (Goodman 1980: 374).
On January 30, 1944, Hitler addressed the German people on the occasion of the
11th anniversary of the Nazi party coming to power. In this anti-Semitic
diatribe, he blamed all the ills of Europe and Germany on “international
Jewry” (his words). He went on to predict that if the Russians defeated
Germany then “Jewry could then celebrate the destruction of Europe by a second
triumphant Purim festival.” (New York Times, Jan. 31, 1944, p. 5)
Fortunately, just over a year later, Hitler committed suicide and the Nazi
regime came to an end.
The story is told of Hitler giving one of his fiery speeches in the large hall
in Munich early in his rise to power. In this oration he called for the
destruction of the Jewish people. In the front row sat a man, who on occasion,
would make faces and laugh at the Fuhrer. After the meeting Hitler
inquired as to who this man was and why he made faces and laughed at him. The
man explained that he was Jewish and said to Hitler, “You should be aware that
you are not the first anti-Semite who sought to destroy us. You may recall
that the great Pharaoh of Egypt sought to enslave the Jews. To commemorate his
defeat and our redemption, we eat tasty Mazot and observe the festival
of Passover. Haman was another enemy of ours who brought about his own
downfall. The delicious Hamantashen we eat and the jolly festival of
Purim recall our deliverance from him. While listening to your venomous
diatribe, I wondered what kind of delicacy would the Jews invent and what kind
of holiday would be established to celebrate your downfall” (Goodman
1980:384,385).
In an ironic twist, Hitler attempted to carry out his diabolical plan to
exterminate the Jewish people. Today, however, the Jewish people do not
celebrate the downfall of Hitler, but rather, they commemorate the tragic
event of the Holocaust by remembering the six million Jews who were
slaughtered in the concentration camps of Europe. This memorial day is called
Yom HaShoah and is observed on the 27th of Nisan. Some Jewish people
even fast on this day. -Gordon
Franz
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