purim

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• A discussion of the very complex festival of Purim ( purim) will doubtless raise more questions than it will give answers and serve to confuse the reader.
• Even the Sages from the time of the Mishna and the Talmud were not unanimous about the origins of the festival and its religious values.
• The festival of Purim is closely connected with the Biblical book of Esther ( megillat ester).
• The Book of Esther is one of the five "scrolls" ( megillot) of the Bible, which are read in the synagogue on a festival or on a day of mourning.
• The other "scrolls" are: The Songs of Songs ( "shir hashirim"), Ruth ( "ruth"), Lamentations ( "eykha") and Ecclesiastes ( "qohelet").
• Megillat Esther is the only megillah ( megilla) where the subject matter relates to the festival on which it is read in synagogue.
• A complete Talmudic tractate was dedicated to the and how to celebrate the festival.

• The festival falls on 14th Adar or 15th Adar in towns surrounded in the past by walls.
• In a Jewish leap year, when there is an additional month of Adar, the festival falls in the second month of Adar, so that it is celebrated as near as possible to the Passover festival, which also commemorates liberation from enemies.
• In Karaite comunities, however, in a leap year, the festival is held in the first month of Adar.
• From the moment the was accepted as one of the books of the Bible, the Sages ordered that the is to be read on .
• People are to be happy, eat meat and drink wine as much as possible, even to the point where it becomes difficult to differentiate between barukh mordokhay (blessed is Mordecai) and arur haman (condemned is Hamman).
• It is forbidden to mourn on Purim.
• It is customary to send choice portions to one another, and gifts to poor people.

Children and adults enjoy dressing up in fancy costumes at Purim.

Another amusing custom is, that during the recitation of the , children and adults make noise with rattles or by stamping their feet on the floor, every time the name of Haman is heard, to "wipe his name out from memory".

To retain a sense of order, we shall now address all the topics of separately on different pages, and conclude with some final observations.

Purim
Megillat Esther
Esther
Mordecai
Ahashverosh
Vashti
Haman
Final observations

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