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The Fast of Esther

Jewish Date: Adar (Adar 2) 13 (Except when Purim falls out on Sunday)Secular date range: March

Purim

Jewish Date: Adar (Adar 2) 14Secular date range: March

The Story

Chapter 11. Achashverosh throws a lavish party.2. At the party he asks his wife Vashti to show herself off and she refuses.3. Vashti is executed and Achashverosh looks for a new wife.

R. Simon b. Yohai was asked by his disciples, Why were the Jews in that generation deserving of extermi-nation? He said to them: You answer. They said: Because they partook of the feast of that wicked one.Talmud Megillah 12a

Chapter 21. Esther is chosen as the new queen in spite of her reluctance - she keeps her Jewishness secret.2. Mordechai overhears two offi cers plotting to assassinate the king.3. Mordechai reports the matter, saves the king, and is written in the kings book of favors.

Chapter 31. Haman is promoted. He demands that everyone bow to him.2. Mordechai refuses to bow and Haman is enraged.3. Haman decides to wipe out the Jews and casts a ‘lot’ or dice to decide when to carry out his plot. He brings his plot to Achashverosh who agrees.

Chapter 41. The Jews are thrown into mourning, fasting and weeping.2. Mordechai asks Esther to approach the king to change the decree, but she is apprehensive since it is not accepted for her to approach the king without a summons.3. Mordechai demands that she act and she agrees but asks that a public fast and day of repentance is declared.

Chapter 51. Esther approaches the king and asks that he and Haman come to a banquet with her.2. The banquet is held and Esther asks for a second banquet.3. Haman is feeling confi dent so he builds a special gallows for Mordechai.

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Chapter 61. The king cannot sleep one night and asks that his book of favors be read to him.2. He realizes that Mordechai was never compensated for his favor.3. At that very moment Haman is approaching the palace to get permission to hang Mordechai.4. The king asks Haman when he arrives “What should I do to honor someone who has done me a favor”?5. Haman, presuming it to be himself answers that the person should be led on the kings horse and in royal clothes through the city with cries of “This is what is done for those the king looks to honor”.6. The king tells Haman that the honor is for Mordechai and that he should go and personally carry it out.7. After Haman leads Mordechai through the streets he arrives home in a terrible state and his wife (Zeresh) tells him that if it’s the Jews he is up against, he is doomed.

Chapter 71. Haman rushes directly to the second party from leading Mordechai through the streets.2. At the party, Esther tells the King that her people have been targeted for destruction by an evil person. The king is astonished and asks for his identity, and Esther points to Haman.3. The king is overwhelmed and walks off to think. As he does, Haman falls to his knees at the couch of Esther to beg.4. As the king returns he sees Haman and thinks that Haman is trying to rape Esther, and is infuriated.5. The guard Charbonah points out the gallows which Haman prepared for Mordechai and the king de-crees that Haman be hung there.

Chapter 81. Haman is replaced by Mordechai and the king’s signet ring is given to him.2. A new decree is issued that declares that the Jews may defend themselves when the day of the original decree comes.3. The Jews rejoice at the reversal of fortune.

Chapter 91. 11 months later the day comes and the Jews fi ght back and kill fi ve thousand in Shushan alone, among them are the ten sons of Haman who are also hung.2. Letters are written to all Jewish communities about the event and the new holiday is decreed.3. Many of the customs of the holiday are listed.

Chapter 10 - Epilogue

Purim TimelineAchashverosh becomes king of Persia 438 BCE

Achashverosh’s Feast (180 days) 435 BCE

Esther taken to Achashverosh 435 BCE -Tevet

Haman casts lots 426 BCE - Nisan

First decrees dispatched by Haman 426 BCE - 13 Nisan

Three days’ Fast ordered by Esther 426 BCE 14 - 16 Nisan

Haman’s downfall and execution 426 BCE - 17 Nisan

Second decrees, reversing the fi rst 426 BCE - 23 Sivan

Haman’s ten sons executed 425 BCE - 13 Adar

Purim celebration 425 BCE - 14 Adar

Purim celebration in Shushan 425 BCE - 15 Adar

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Themes

G-d behind the Scenes

Questions to consider:

A. What is the purpose of the side story of the assassination and its reward?B. If you lived in Shushan at the time, who would you blame for the decree against the Jews?C. Why is the holiday called Purim? Was the dice roll so signifi cant a part of the story?D. Esther is the only book of the Torah in which one major character is not found? Who is it and why?E. Why do we get drunk, and why is there an odd formulation for the level of drunkenness that one should achieve?F. If Mordechai was the cause of the decree in the fi rst place, why do we consider him to be a co-hero of the story?G. Why is the book named for Esther specifi cally?

1. He was the guardian of Haddasah who is Esther...Esther 2:7

2. Where is there a reference to Esther in the Torah? ‘And I will hide my face on that day...” [Deut. 31]Talmud Chullin 139b

3. That is why the name of this day is “Purim” in reference to the ‘dice’ [which Haman used to determine an ‘auspicious time’ to defeat the Jews]...Esther 9:26

4. The situation was overturned in that the Jews overpowered their enemies...Esther 9:1

Amalek

1. Remember what Amalek did to you by the way, when you came forth out of Egypt; How he met you by the way, and struck at your rear, all who were feeble behind you, when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear G-d. Therefore it shall be, when the L-rd your G-d has given you rest from all your enemies around, in the land which the L-rd your G-d gives you for an in-heritance to possess, that you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget it.Deuteronomy 25:17-19

2. And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah until you come to Shur, that is over opposite Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive...1 Samuel 15 7-9

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3. After these things king Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagitethe Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.Esther 3:1

4. The Jews have infl icted two wounds on mankind - circumcision on its body and conscience on its soul. They are Jewish inventions... I am freeing humanity from the shackles of the soul, from the degrading suffering caused by the false vision called conscience and ethics.... The struggle for world domination will be fought entirely between us, between the Germans and the Jews. All else is facade and illusion.Adolf Hitler - Hitler Speaks: Hermann Rauschning

5. “Purimfest 1948!”Final words of Julius Streicher before being hung along with 9 other nazis at Nuremberg

Rituals

Taanis Esther

Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day; I also and my girls will fast likewise; and so will I go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish. So Mordecai went his way, and did accord-ing to all that Esther had commanded him.Esther 4:16 & 17

Purim Feast

And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both near and far, To establish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fi fteenth day of the same, yearly, Like the days when the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned to them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and joy...Esther 9:20-22

Mishloach Manos - Food gifts...and of sending portions one to another...Esther 9:22

Matanos LaEvyonim - Charity to the poor

...and gifts to the poor.Esther 9:22

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Megillah Reading

A person is obligated to hear the reading of the Megillah -- once at night and again the next day. Code of Jewish Law 687:1

Costumes

Where do we fi nd “Esther” in the Torah? In the verse: “And I will hide (astir) my face from them on that day.” Talmud - Chulin 139b

[This verse hints that] In the days of Esther there will be hester panim (hiddeness of G-d’s face).Rashi Ibid.

Wine and Drink

One is obligated to get drunk on Purim until one cannot distinguish between “Cursed is Haman” and “Blessed is Mordechai”Talmud Megillah 7b

Drowning out Haman’s name

You shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget it.Deuteronomy 25:19

Hamentaschen

Some have the custom to eat foods with seeds as a commemoration of the seeds which Daniel and his colleagues ate in the palace in Babylon...Code of Jewish Law (Ramo) 695:2

Shushan Purim

Therefore the Jews of the villages, who lived in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a holiday, and of sending portions one to another.Esther 9:19

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Summary

1. The story of Purim which is found in the book of Esther celebrates the miracle of the Jews escaping destruction at the hands of Haman2. The miracle is a hidden one, and shows us that G-d is always around even if behind the scenes3. The nation of Amalek is the archetype nation which looks to destroy all holiness in the world

For Further Study

1. Who was ‘Hasach’ and what was his other name?2. What was Achashverosh celebrating in the lavish feast he threw?3. Why is one of the verses in the Megillah read in a mournful tone?4. Why did Haman think that Adar was an auspicious time? Why was he wrong?5. What famous body of sages did Mordechai belong to?6. How could Esther marry Achashverosh?7. What is Vashti’s lineage and how does it relate to the story?

Recommended Reading

1. The Book of our Heritage: Eliyahu Kitov2. The One Hour Purim Primer: Shimon Apisdorf3. The Malbim Esther: Taub (Translator)