Purim – Jewish Carnival for Queen Esther
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Purim – Jewish Carnival for Queen Esther

  • 3/29/2017
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    Purim is a happy, carnival-like holiday. It symbolizes the victory of the Jewish people over anti-Semitic tyranny and commemorates the events described in the Book of Esther. People dress up in costumes, go to festive parades and street parties. It is also customary to send gifts of food to each other (mishloach manot). The most prominent Purim sweets are small, three-cornered, filled pastries known as Oznei Haman (Haman’s ears in Hebrew) or Hamantaschen (Haman’s pockets in Yiddish).
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    Purim is a happy, carnival-like holiday. Throughout the centuries, Purim has traditionally symbolized the victory of the Jewish people over anti-Semitic tyranny.
     
    Purim, one of Judaism's more colorful and popular holidays, commemorates the events described in the Book of Esther. The anti-Semitic Haman, Grand Vizier of the Persian Empire, tells Persian King Ahasuerus (aka Xerxes) that Jews are a clannish and alien people who do not obey the laws of the land. At Haman's contrivance, a decree is then issued for all Jews in the Persian Empire to be massacred. But Haman’s plot was foiled with the help of Queen Esther.
      
    The day before Purim is a fast day known as the Fast of Esther, commemorating (inter alia) the fact that Queen Esther and the entire Persian Jewish community fasted in advance of Queen Esther’s appeal for King Ahasuerus not to implement Haman’s genocidal plot.
     
    At the end of the fast people dress up in costumes. It is also customary to send gifts of food to each other (mishloach manot), make special contributions to the poor, and have a festive holiday meal. The most prominent Purim sweets are small, three-cornered, filled pastries known as Oznei Haman in Hebrew (Haman’s ears) or Hamantaschen in Yiddish (Haman’s pockets).
      
    In many places in Israel, Purim is marked by special parades; the most famous of these takes place in Tel Aviv. There are lots of different fun events such as a zombie walk, carnival parades, rave street parties.
     
    Check out this year’s party mood in Tel Aviv:
     
     
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