Holidays

Celebrated every year a month before Passover, Purim commemorates the triumph of the Jews over Persian enemies who sought their destruction.

Purim is celebrated with feasting, drinking, and ribaldry. Megillat Esther – the biblical book of Esther – is read publicly. Listeners twirl noisemakers and stamp their feet every time they hear the name of the evil Haman in order to wipe out his memory. Children and many adults dress in costumes and masks, echoing the theme of the hidden and the revealed that is expressed in the Purim story – both through human actions (all the main characters are not what they seem, and Esther’s name itself means “hiding”) and on the Divine level (God’s name appears nowhere in this tale). Many communities create Purim shpiels, spoofs of Jewish tradition and of communal or current events.

Mishlo'ah manot – gifts of food that typically include hamentaschen (three-cornered filled cookies), nuts, candies, and fruit – are exchanged. It is also customary to give to the poor (matanot la-evynonim) on this holiday. In both ways, themes of mutual and communal responsibility balance the lighter and seemingly frivolous aspects of the day.

Additional Purim-related events are Ta'anit Esther (the Fast of Esther), which takes place on the day before Purim, and a celebratory Purim feast, or se’udah, which takes place on the afternoon of Purim itself. Ta’anit Esther commemorates the day of fasting and prayer that Queen Esther ordered before executing her plan to save the Jews. Today, some communities are reviving this solemn occasion as an opportunity to focus on the plight of women around the world. The money saved on food during the fast is donated to women’s relief organizations such as the V-Day Fund.

Megillat Esther describes the Jews' military victory over Persian despotism through bravery, beauty, and intelligence. It is a story of intrigue, heroism, and hidden identity. Vashti, queen of Persia, is expelled from the kingdom for refusing to dance at a feast before king Ahashverosh and his guests. The king holds a beauty contest, and Esther, a Jew, is chosen as the new queen, but keeps her Jewish identity hidden from the king. Meanwhile, Haman, the king's advisor who detests the Jews, designs a plot to kill all the Jews of Persia, with the king's permission. Mordechai, Esther's uncle, learns of the plot and begs Esther to intervene. Esther, placing herself at great personal risk, reveals her Jewishness to the king and succeeds in saving her people. Haman and his sons are hung on the gallows built for Mordecai.

From a feminist perspective, the story is troubling. Vashti, unwilling to be abused or humiliated, exercises her will, defies the king, and is banished. Esther, by contrast, is valued for her beauty and compliance. Like Vashti, however, she ultimately finds her voice, risking her life by approaching the king, revealing her identity, and pleading on behalf of her people. Still, she is confined by the story to the role of seducer, a role not atypical for biblical heroines, many of whom gain power through their maternal or sexual influence over men. While Jewish folk practices have celebrated Esther's role, rabbinic tradition has crowned Mordecai the story's hero. Little girls still use Esther as a happy excuse to dress up as princesses, again reinforcing problematic cultural stereotypes and depictions of women’s power.

The central, if problematic, role of women in this farcical story, along with Purim’s range of observances and moods from lighthearted to deadly serious, have provided fertile ground for contemporary feminist innovations, many examples of which you see represented in this section. Women’s Rosh Chodesh (new month) gatherings often focus on themes of hiding oneself and being one’s true self. Serious study of the text of Megillat Esther is combined with action to change the way that women’s beauty is shaped by the fashion industry in our culture. The Fast of Esther can serve as a day of reflection and action in support of Jewish women struggling around the world to be released from husbands to whom they are legally “chained,” or to be able to pray as a group at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

At least one community recites together four verses honoring Esther’s bravery, paralleling those which traditionally highlight Mordechai. The most tangible contemporary innovation is the creation of beautiful Vashti/Esther flags, to be waved whenever these women’s names are recited in the Megillah reading, making it fun for children and adults to pay attention to their names and their roles in the story, embracing both women, Jew and non-Jew, one secretly and one outwardly subversive.