Purim

“Purim is the nearest thing Judaism has to a carnival.” –Herman Wouk, This is My God, 81

What is Purim? Purim, celebrated this year on March 16, is a holiday that celebrates Esther, the Jewish Queen who freed her people from the evil plot of Haman, an adviser to the Persian king, who plotted to have all the Jews destroyed. This victory is celebrated with riotously. Children reenact the story of Esther, food is eaten, wine is drunk and music is played. My favorite tradition, though, that I read about is an interactive reading of the Book of Esther in the synagogue wherein children can chime in with boos and cheers accordingly as the rabbi reads the story from the Bible (Wouk, pg.81-84).

Scripture. Esther is an impressive and courageous person. When, fearing she will be killed for approaching the king, she expresses her concern to her cousin, Mordecai, he states: “Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14). Esther was placed in this position for a reason, to give the Jews a chance to exercise their faith and to free them from an evil plot that was ultimately Satan’s plan to make the Jew’s suffer. I believe that we are all in our current situations in life for a reason but the difficult part can be asking why we are here and what are we supposed to have the courage to do at this point in our lives. But great victories come from asking great questions.

My celebration. For Purim I made hamantaschen, which is a popular triangular shaped pastry made on this holiday, with my friend, Jami. The dough of hamantaschen has orange juice and orange peel in it giving it a special flavor. As I found while perusing different recipes, the sky is the limit when it comes to finding a fruit filling for your pastry. We used blueberry pie filling. The following image is not my own, but similar to the ones that we made.

I also watched a short video by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that illustrates Esther’s difficult decision to have courage and faith in God:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-03-30-for-such-a-time-as-this?lang=eng

Happy Purim!

Sources: Wouk, Herman. (1987). This is My God. Little, Brown & Company: Boston. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Traditional-Hamantaschen-13706