What Makes Purim So Important?

To paraphrase orange-juice purveyor and notorious 1980's homophobe Anita Bryant:

a year without Purim is like a year without sunshine.

What makes Purim so important?

Purim proves that God has a sense of humor.

So if we're to imitate God, or be godly, then it's a holy act to laugh and to make others laugh too.

Purim is an adult holiday masquerading as a children's party. The story itself is a farce pretending to be one of the more serious and historical books of the Bible. Even the name of the holiday, Purim, which means "lots," as in "lottery," identifies this holiday with the arbitrary wins and losses of our lives.

The festivities surrounding Purim are the most outlandish and whimsical of the Jewish calendar. Most Jews associate Purim with costumes and carnivals, graggers (noisemakers) and hamantashen (three-cornered cookies with fillings) with great appeal to children. But it would be wrong to dismiss Purim as a holiday for children only. Whether considering the deeper messages of the Megillah (the scroll containing the Book of Esther) or joining in the self-mocking atmosphere of a Purim shpiel, adults deserve to celebrate and enjoy Purim.

Although a serious reading of the story might lead one to see Purim as a holiday of revenge, when one reads the story of Esther as a comedy it has a more joyous, self-mocking message. The story is a kind of Jewish communal fantasy blown out of proportion. For Jews who lived under oppression and fear, or who experienced brutality and exile, the Book of Esther and the Purim holiday provided comic relief. The tables are turned on our enemies several times during the story, some more humorous than others. In fact, the book acknowledges this theme of reversals explicitly (Chapter 9, verse 1):

On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar) when the king's command and decree were to be executed, the very day on which the enemies of the Jews had expected to get them in their power, the opposite happened (v'nahafokh hu), and the Jews got their enemies in their power.

The Book of Esther provides a fantasy view of a topsy-turvy world, where the Jews not only escape from their would-be destroyers, but turn the tables on their enemies. The reversals are taken to extremes when Haman is impaled on the stake that he had erected for Mordecai. This comeuppance reinforces the comic scene earlier in the tale, when Haman leads Mordecai on the horse in the manner that Haman expected to be honored himself (6:7-10). When Haman is gone, Mordecai wears his adversary's robes (1:6 and 8:15) and puts on the king's ring, taking Haman's place as chief advisor.

One of the main themes of the megillah is that things are not always what they seem. This book mocks us in our piety and runs roughshod over our exalted values. Even in their distress, neither Mordecai nor Esther pray! In fact, God's name does not appear in the Book of Esther even once.

King Ahasuerus, often described as a fool, is in actuality a hedonist. He is either feasting or drinking in nearly every chapter of the story (See Esther 1:3, 2:18, 3:15, 5:6, 6:14, 7:1). And the sexual innuendos are worth a closer look as well. The book opens with a feast that takes place over 180 days (1:4) and is followed by seven more days of feasting (and drinking). Esther appears to be a model of piety in contrast, though a thoughtful reader might ask, "What's a nice Jewish girl doing in a palace like this?"

With its unusually raucous celebration, Purim gives us permission to laugh at ourselves and at our history and to behave in ways that would be discouraged the rest of the year.

So, come snow or rain or heat or gloom of night, nothing will stay these revelers from the swift consumption of their appointed rounds.

In other words, come in costume to hear the megillah read this Saturday night and BYOB for the game night afterward!

(Rabbi Penzner's thoughts on Purim will be included in the forthcoming volume of A Guide to Jewish Practice, Volume 2, to be published by the Reconstructionist Press in the fall.)