Let’s Celebrate Purim Together!

When I was a kid, Purim was my favorite Jewish holiday. It was one of the few my family celebrated. Growing up we always put on a huge Purim play at my congregation and it was one of the most fun things because kids were necessary to participate and tell the story! It wasn’t until I was older that I understood more about Purim than booing Haman and dressing up in fun costumes. The story of Esther is an incredible account of bravery in the face of oppression.

If you don’t already know the story of Esther, I highly recommend reading it, it won’t take you very long. If you do know the story of Esther, you may not have realized that God isn’t mentioned in the book. Kinda funny that a book of the Bible doesn’t mention God, right? But that doesn’t mean that God isn’t present.

In this story of unlikely heroes and danger for the Jewish people, God puts Esther, a secretly Jewish orphan in the palace as Queen. Her uncle Mordecai (yay!) is in the just the right place at just the right time to overhear a plot against the King. Haman (boo!) plots against Mordecai and the Jewish people after his pride is wounded and he definitely overreacts!

When all seems lost and disaster for the Jewish people seems certain, Mordecai comes to Esther with an opportunity for unlikely courage. “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

It’s quite an intense story, but also incredible! Persecution is not a new concept for us as Jewish people. God may not be mentioned, however, it’s clear that he was working from behind the scenes. Like Mordecai says, it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that Esther, a Jewish woman, was appointed to be queen at this exact time! This is why we take time to remember Esther and Mordecai’s courage every year on Purim. The King could have still decided to carry out Haman’s plan, but God’s hand was at work. Esther is a great person to remember when we think that God is absent or silent in our lives. On Purim, we may dress up in funny costumes and eat hamantaschen, but there is an important lesson that we are to reflect on and that is God’s faithfulness. God wasn’t absent and he hadn’t forgotten his people and he hasn’t forgotten you!