What Is Purim 2018? Quotes, Facts About Celebratory Jewish Holiday

Wednesday marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday Purim, a spring festival celebrated on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar. It begins in the evening Wednesday and runs until sunset Thursday.

The holiday is celebrated with food and treats, dancing, parades, costumes and traditional food. The holiday originated with the Biblical book of Esther. It was first celebrated during the first century A.D.

What is Purim?

The story behind the holiday revolves around Esther, the hero of Purim who was chosen to be the wife and Queen of King Ahasuerus (believed to be Xerxes I) of Persia. Haman, an adviser to king Ahasuerus, persuades him to kill all the Jews in the empire. The Jews ultimately fought off their attackers and were spared from annihilation.

The tale of Purim is told in the Book of Esther, known as the Megillah, and ends with Haman’s hanging and the Jewish people being saved. The term Purim refers to the lottery system that Haman used to decide the day the massacre would be on.

How to celebrate Purim?

The festival is celebrated with Jews reading from the Book of Esther. People offer money, food or clothes to the poor, and also send gifts of food to friends. The most popular food eaten on Purim is known as “hamantaschens,” or Haman pockets. Other items include meat, wine and sweets. In Israel, Purim baskets containing an assortment of sweets, cookies, bagels, wine, nuts and fruit are sold.

Quotes for Purim

1. “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” – Psalm 16:8

2. "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?" – Esther 4:14

3. “Jews survived all the defeats, expulsions, persecutions and pogroms, the centuries in which they were regarded as a pariah people, even the Holocaust itself, because they never gave up the faith that one day they would be free to live as Jews without fear.” – Jonathan Sacks, rabbi and Jewish scholar

4. “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth.” – Deuteronomy 7:6

5. “In Jewish history there are no coincidences.” – Elie Wiesel

6. “In them the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives, to destroy, to kill and to annihilate the entire army of any people or province which might attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoil.” – Esther 8:11

7. "A righteous man falls down seven times and gets up." – Proverbs 24:16

8. “Who is wise? One who learns from every man … Who is strong? One who overpowers his inclinations … Who is rich? One who is satisfied with his lot … Who is honorable? One who honors his fellows.” – Ben Zoma, Ethics of the Fathers 4:1