Purim is a spring holiday that commemorates the Jewish community's narrow escape from collective destruction in the ancient Persian Empire, as recounted in the Scroll of Esther. Likened to Halloween for its encouragement of costume wearing, Purim is one the most colorful -- and wackiest -- holidays on the Jewish calendar.
[{"entry_id":"3285442","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/16\/pope-francis-global-financial-system-_n_3285442.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/297594\/slide_297594_2451966_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/297594\/slide_297594_2451966_small.jpg","title":"Pope Frees Dove","slideshow_id":"297594","vertical":"religion"},{"entry_id":"3296365","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/17\/pastor-timothy-murphy-on-hunger-strike-in-solidarity-with-guantanamo-inmates_n_3296365.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/292420\/slide_292420_2367343_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/292420\/slide_292420_2367343_small.jpg","title":"Inside Guantanamo's Prison Facility","slideshow_id":"292420","vertical":"religion"},{"entry_id":"3293082","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/17\/frances-b-monson-died-wif_n_3293082.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/226903\/slide_226903_985146_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/226903\/slide_226903_985146_small.jpg","title":"Most and Least Mormon States","slideshow_id":"226903","vertical":"religion"},{"entry_id":"3303122","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/19\/pentecost-in-art-paintings-stained-glass-windows-frescoes-and-more-photos_n_3303122.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/298296\/slide_298296_2470835_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/298296\/slide_298296_2470835_small.jpg","title":"Pentecost in Art","slideshow_id":"298296","vertical":"religion"},{"entry_id":"3283575","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/16\/german-christian-home-schooling-romeike-family-loses-us-asylum-bid_n_3283575.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/219313\/slide_219313_850849_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/219313\/slide_219313_850849_small.jpg","title":"Controversial school-related documents from around the country","slideshow_id":"219313","vertical":"religion"},{"entry_id":"3290110","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/17\/anti-shariah-movement-gains-success_n_3290110.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/290232\/slide_290232_2319709_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/290232\/slide_290232_2319709_small.jpg","title":"SAY WHAT?! The Strangest Bills Of 2013","slideshow_id":"290232","vertical":"religion"},{"entry_id":"3291499","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/r-andrew-chesnut\/death-to-santa-muerte-the-vatican-vs-the-skeleton-saint_b_3291499.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/293319\/slide_293319_2365004_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/293319\/slide_293319_2365004_small.jpg","title":"Saint Death","slideshow_id":"293319","vertical":"religion"},{"entry_id":"3290481","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/17\/missouri-diocese-to-pay-600000-settlement-in-child-pornography-case_n_3290481.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/237573\/slide_237573_1202084_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/237573\/slide_237573_1202084_small.jpg","title":"Most and Least Catholic States In America","slideshow_id":"237573","vertical":"religion"},{"entry_id":"3288470","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/16\/ultra-orthodox-jews-draft_n_3288470.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/298015\/slide_298015_2463387_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/298015\/slide_298015_2463387_small.jpg","title":"Ultra Orthodox Jews Protest Draft","slideshow_id":"298015","vertical":"religion"},{"entry_id":"3293982","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/17\/food-stamp-cuts-bible-debate_n_3293982.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/33551\/slide_33551_308815_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/33551\/slide_33551_308815_small.jpg","title":"Jesus Sayings About The Poor","slideshow_id":"33551","vertical":"religion"},{"entry_id":"3286747","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/rodger-kamenetz\/welcoming-the-dalai-lama-to-new-orleans-part-1_b_3286747.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/298127\/slide_298127_2467254_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/298127\/slide_298127_2467254_small.jpg","title":"The Dalai Lama in New Orleans","slideshow_id":"298127","vertical":"religion"},{"entry_id":"3294084","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/17\/the-gaucho-vatican-opens-exhibit-on-argentine-horsemen_n_3294084.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/298183\/slide_298183_2468229_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/298183\/slide_298183_2468229_small.jpg","title":"Gaucho Exhibit In The Vatican","slideshow_id":"298183","vertical":"religion"},{"entry_id":"3305577","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/20\/women-of-the-wall-ultra-orthodox-_n_3305577.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/297636\/slide_297636_2474478_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/297636\/slide_297636_2474478_small.jpg","title":"Women Of The Wall Leader Targeted ","slideshow_id":"297636","vertical":"religion"},{"entry_id":"3286533","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/16\/rainbow-communion-bread-jay-bakker_n_3286533.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/193017\/slide_193017_441889_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/193017\/slide_193017_441889_small.jpg","title":"Most Inspiring LGBT Religious Leaders","slideshow_id":"193017","vertical":"religion"},{"entry_id":"3290283","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/17\/catholics-split-on-proposed-gay-boy-scouts-change_n_3290283.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/297267\/slide_297267_2445900_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/297267\/slide_297267_2445900_small.jpg","title":"Church-Based Boy Scouts Alternatives","slideshow_id":"297267","vertical":"religion"},{"entry_id":"3289487","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/16\/georgia-governor-engaged-_0_n_3289487.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/228773\/slide_228773_1022627_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/228773\/slide_228773_1022627_small.jpg","title":"Most and Least Christian States","slideshow_id":"228773","vertical":"religion"},{"entry_id":"3283268","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/15\/no-religion-is-increasingly-popular-for-canadians-report_n_3283268.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/243678\/slide_243678_1351217_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/243678\/slide_243678_1351217_small.jpg","title":"Most and Least Religious Countries","slideshow_id":"243678","vertical":"religion"},{"entry_id":"3283781","entry_url":"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/05\/16\/church-synagogue-gardens-congregations-tend-the-soil-and-the-soul-with-community-gardening_n_3283781.html","content_type":"image","image_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/221869\/slide_221869_892808_small.jpg","thumbnail_url":"gadgets\/slideshows\/221869\/slide_221869_892808_small.jpg","title":"Church Garden in New York City","slideshow_id":"221869","vertical":"religion"}]
Purim is a spring holiday that commemorates the Jewish community's narrow escape from collective destruction in the ancient Persian Empire, as recounted in the Scroll of Esther. Likened to Halloween f...
Purim is a spring holiday that commemorates the Jewish community's narrow escape from collective destruction in the ancient Persian Empire, as recounted in the Scroll of Esther. Likened to Halloween f...
In honor of Queen Esther, heroine of Purim -- and of her predecessor, Queen Vashti, who gets a lot less scroll-time in the Purim story but is no less fascinating -- here's a roundup of some especially badass ladies of the Hebrew Bible and Jewish legend.
For those who engage in a more fundamentalist reading of the Scroll of Esther, Purim provides an answer to the profound fear of hatred between faiths: freedom of the mind and the suggestion to laugh off tough times once in a while.
It wasn't until I was an adult that I came to experience the deeper meaning of Purim. Our rabbis teach that Purim (a day of exuberant, drunken celebration) and Yom Kippur (our holiest day of atonement) have much in common.
As much as I love the story of Esther, that photo up top is enough to convince me to never, ever visit Israel during Purim. I'm not going anywhere if there's clowns around. No, sir. *hides under bedsheets*
Karen_Burch: As much as I love the story of Esther, that
Oh!! look Jews, Britain has more Jews in it's legislature than any country outside of Israel, unlike the USA which could never elect a Jewish president we elected an ethnically Jewish prime minister (Disraeli) in the 19th century, meanwhile 25% of Americans distrust Judaism....American's scream about religious intolerance, yet they are the truly religiously intolerant in the western world today, they are intolerant of Muslims to a far greater degree than the British, even though they don't live cheek by jowl with them, they are even intolerant of those who don't believe.
deluk: Oh!! look Jews, Britain has more Jews in it's legislature
And ye shall let nothing remain until the morning: and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”
Vestina: And ye shall let nothing remain until the morning: and
Dude, Purim.
From the Book of Esther: "9 Then Harbona, one of the king's eunuchs, said, "Haman has set up a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet tall in his own courtyard. He intended to use it to impale Mordecai, the man who saved the king from assassination." "Then impale Haman on it!" the king ordered. 10 So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai, and the king's anger subsided.[6]"
Tsvi1: Dude, Purim. From the Book of Esther: "9 Then Harbona,
"... Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, in the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: and if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, of from the goats: and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire: ...
Vestina: "... Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying,
Interesting that both communities fled Persia and took refuge in India some point in time. The Jews; and their persecutors in this piece of history Zoroastrians (who fled when Islamic armies attacked them from Arabia), still can be found in Mumbai area.
Rita_Khanna: Interesting that both communities fled Persia and took refuge in
Modern day Jews are in India also because Mumbai is the Banking and Trade Center for the same. Money lending and exchange in the West Asian Subcontinent was the logical extension for the same operating later in Europe
ArchStanton400: Modern day Jews are in India also because Mumbai is
Props to them that can still have fun and laugh when your neighbors have sworn on the graves of their dead mothers to wipe you off the face of the earth...
John_Roman: Props to them that can still have fun and laugh
Loading comments… 
First Posted: 03/ 8/2012 3:30 pm Updated: 03/ 8/2012 3:46 pm