Purim Continued

From the book

Celebration The Book Of Jewish Festivals

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Purim’s festivity connects intimately with the month of Adarאֲדָר
Ădār; from Akkadian adaru is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the religious year on the Hebrew calendar, roughly corresponding to the month of March in the Gregorian calendar. It is a month of 29 days. For more info click here. The Talmud states: “With the advent of Adarאֲדָר
Ădār; from Akkadian adaru is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the religious year on the Hebrew calendar, roughly corresponding to the month of March in the Gregorian calendar. It is a month of 29 days. For more info click here, joy is increased.” According to legend, the Jews attain a meta­ physical power during Adarאֲדָר
Ădār; from Akkadian adaru is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the religious year on the Hebrew calendar, roughly corresponding to the month of March in the Gregorian calendar. It is a month of 29 days. For more info click here that protects them from their enemies. The source of Jewish strength during this month lies in the mystical connection of Adarאֲדָר
Ădār; from Akkadian adaru is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the religious year on the Hebrew calendar, roughly corresponding to the month of March in the Gregorian calendar. It is a month of 29 days. For more info click here with Torah and the constellation of fish. The sea nourishes and supports the fish just as the “sea” of Torah, tradi­tionally associated with Adarאֲדָר
Ădār; from Akkadian adaru is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the religious year on the Hebrew calendar, roughly corresponding to the month of March in the Gregorian calendar. It is a month of 29 days. For more info click here, nourishes and supports the Jewish people. A Talmudic tale illuminates this anal­ogy: The kingdom ruling Israel adopted a decree banning the study of Torah. Papus the son of Judah, upon discovering Rabbi Akiva in defiance of the decree, in­quired if the Rabbi were not afraid. Rabbi Akiva an­swered with an analogy. A fox was walking along the river bank and saw a school of fish moving to and fro. The fox asked the fish why they were scurrying about, and the fish replied that they feared the fishermen’s nets. The fox, wanting to help, invited them to come ashore where he would protect them. The fish, calling the fox a fool, answered that if they were afraid in water-the medium in which they live-they would cer­tainly be afraid on land, where they would surely die.

Rabbi Akiva continued and said that the same situation exists with the Jew. The Jew needs the Torah to live and thus cannot abstain even if the government bans Torah study. The mystical relationship between Adarאֲדָר
Ădār; from Akkadian adaru is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the religious year on the Hebrew calendar, roughly corresponding to the month of March in the Gregorian calendar. It is a month of 29 days. For more info click here and To­rah study grants the month a special status, making it al­ together appropriate that Purim occurs during Adarאֲדָר
Ădār; from Akkadian adaru is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the religious year on the Hebrew calendar, roughly corresponding to the month of March in the Gregorian calendar. It is a month of 29 days. For more info click here.

The story of Purim is recounted in the Megillah (the scroll of the story of Estherאֶסְתֵּר
Transliteration;’estēr Pronunciation es-tare’ Esther = “star” the queen of Persia, heroine of the book of Esther – daughter of Abihail, cousin and adopted daughter of Mordecai, of the tribe of Benjamin. Said to be a Prophetesses in the Talmud. For more info click here). It is read twice on the holiday-once at night and once during the day. All as­pects of the holiday flow from the Megillah, so for a full understanding of Purim, one must be thoroughly famil­iar with the tale.

Ta’anit Esther

The fast of Estherאֶסְתֵּר
Transliteration;’estēr Pronunciation es-tare’ Esther = “star” the queen of Persia, heroine of the book of Esther – daughter of Abihail, cousin and adopted daughter of Mordecai, of the tribe of Benjamin. Said to be a Prophetesses in the Talmud. For more info click here, occurring on the thirteenth day of Adarאֲדָר
Ădār; from Akkadian adaru is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the religious year on the Hebrew calendar, roughly corresponding to the month of March in the Gregorian calendar. It is a month of 29 days. For more info click here, commemorates the Jews’ fast during the Purim episode. The Jews battled their enemies on the thirteenth and they fasted on that day to ask for God’s help in vanquishing the foe. Fasting demonstrates the Jewish belief that God’s mercy brings victory; military prowess alone would be insignificant without God’s help.

The Fourteenth or the Fifteenth?

While most cities around the world celebrate Purim on the fourteenth of Adarאֲדָר
Ădār; from Akkadian adaru is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the religious year on the Hebrew calendar, roughly corresponding to the month of March in the Gregorian calendar. It is a month of 29 days. For more info click here, certain cities celebrate the holiday on the fifteenth. This discrepancy originated during the time of Mordecaiמָרְדְּכַי
Transliteration:mārdᵊḵay Pronunciation; mor-dek-ah’-ee “little man” or “worshipper of Mars” cousin and adoptive father of queen Esther; son of Jair of the tribe of Benjamin; deliverer under Divine providence of the children of Israel from the destruction plotted by Haman the chief minister of Ahasuerus; institutor of the feast of Purim For more info click here and Estherאֶסְתֵּר
Transliteration;’estēr Pronunciation es-tare’ Esther = “star” the queen of Persia, heroine of the book of Esther – daughter of Abihail, cousin and adopted daughter of Mordecai, of the tribe of Benjamin. Said to be a Prophetesses in the Talmud. For more info click here. In most of Ahasuerus‘s kingdom, the Jews fought their enemies on the thirteenth and rested from their battles on the fourteenth, marking the fourteenth as a-day of celebra­tion. In Shushan, though, the Jews fought on the thir­teenth and fourteenth and didn’t rest until the fifteenth. By rights, therefore, Purim the world-over, should be on the fourteenth, while in Shushan alone it should be on the fifteenth. The rabbis, however, seeking to remember the land of Israel in this miracle, decreed that Shushah and all cities that were surrounded by a wall at the time of Joshua יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎
Yəhōšuaʿ,(/ˈdʒɒʃuə/), lit. ‘Yahweh is salvation’) also known as Yehoshua. Yeshua or Y’shua (ישוע; with vowel pointing Hebrew: יֵשׁוּעַ, romanized: Yēšūaʿ) was a common alternative form of the name Yehoshua (Hebrew: יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, romanized: Yəhōšūaʿ, lit. ’Joshua’) in later books of the Hebrew Bible and among Jews of the Second Temple period. The name corresponds to the Greek spelling Iesous (Ἰησοῦς), from which, through the Latin IESVS/Iesus, comes the English spelling Jesus meaning salvation. (which includes Jerusalem) should celebrate Purim on the fifteenth, while all other cities keep Purim on the fourteenth.