Purim: Fact or Fiction?

Purim: Fact or Fiction?
Wendy Grinberg

Most scholars agree that the story recorded in the Book of Esther did not actually happen. At the same time, it may be our most historically true Biblical story in an existential sense. In this story, the Jews of Shushan live among their neighbors and are able to rise to positions of prominence. They maintain their Jewish identities while living as a minority within a majority culture. The events of the story unfold without mentioning God. The holiday is proclaimed as are the traditions associated with it by the human characters in the book.

More than any other story in the Bible, this may be the one that most resembles our current status and how we have lived for most of Jewish history. This may be a reason that a fresco of this story is one of the most prominent in the ancient Diaspora synagogue of Dura Europus. Although God interacts with people and history directly in the stories we read weekly from the Torah, Prophets and Writings, we do not experience God in this way. This begs a crucial question: What does that mean? Is God absent? Disinterested? Angry? Powerless? The meaning of purim is “lots,” as in the lottery that Haman uses to determine the day on which the Jews will be destroyed. We live in a world where we have to wonder: Is the world ruled by random chance, by lottery? Or does God somehow take an interest in our lives and the events which seem so crucial to us as we experience them?

Mordecai reminds Esther, “Do not imagine that you, of all the Jews, will escape with your life by being in the king’s palace. On the contrary, if you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter, while you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a crisis.” (Esther 4:13-14, JPS translation) In this book, God does not perform spectacular miracles or speak directly to chosen ones. Mordecai and Esther choose order over chaos. They see the world as a place where chance is less significant than purpose, where God acts in the world by supporting the just acts of courageous individuals.

When the smoke has cleared and the Jews have been redeemed by standing up for themselves, they declare a holiday. This habit of commemorating times when communities or families were saved from destruction or danger throughout history was continued in the tradition of declaring special Purims. These were celebrated similarly to Purim, by reading the story, sharing a festive meal, sending gifts of food to friends and giving to the poor. This is how Jews add order and meaning to a world that seems unjust and chaotic at times. When things turn out right, we stop to acknowledge and remember our good fortune. We celebrate together with food and gifts. We give to the poor, creating justice in the world through our own conscious acts rather than waiting for miracles.

Purim is also a topsy-turvy Bizzaro World where the normal rules of order do not apply. We disguise ourselves and drink to confusion. We put on slapstick Purim plays. Jewish humor has certainly helped our people to endure. Sometimes the everyday world seems like this sort of place, where injustice prevails and tragedies happen despite our best efforts. In those times, Judaism has an antidote. We still come together to eat, tell stories, celebrate and exchange gifts. We give tzedakah and try to make things better. And we laugh.