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The 14th day of khoydesh Oder (month of Adar) marks the beginning of the yontef (holiday) of Purim. Purim celebrates the victory of Persian Jewry over the plot of the Persian King’s eytse-geber (advisor) Homen to murder all of the Jews in Persia. The story is recorded in the megillah ester, which is recited publicly during the holiday (and from which the Yiddish phrase “di gantse megilah”, or its English equivalent “the whole megillah” meaning “a long story,” derives). According to the story of Purim, Esther a Jewish women raised by her uncle Mordechai becomes the persishe kinigin (Persian queen) after winning a beauty contest of sorts. Shortly after Mordechai saves the kenig (king) Ahasuerus from an assassination attempt, he falls into disfavor with Homen when he refuses to bow to him because he is a Jew and will only bow to his bashefer (creater/lord). Homen plots to kill all of the Jews in the empire and obtains kenig Ahasuerus’s permission but is stopped by his kinigin Ester who warns him that if the plot is to go forward she will have to die alongside the rest of her people. Ahasuerus, furious, has Homen hung and the Jews defeat the thousands of zelner (soldiers) led by Homen’s sons, saving themselves from annihilation.
Often considered the second most joyous day on the luakh (Jewish calendar), Purim along with Hanukah is one of only two yidishe yontoyvem (Jewish holidays) decreed by rabbinic order. The name Purim refers to the casting of lots by which Homen selected a day in which the Jews were to be annihilated. A widely popular holiday, especially among contemporary Yiddish speaking Hasidic Jewry, Purim is now celebrated worldwide. Although at least fifteen hundred years old, the majority of Purim’s most well known folk traditions originated more recently among Yiddish speaking Jewry.
In the middle ages Homen’s name was written on two stones which were smashed together. Later the stones were replaced with the custom of stamping one’s feet to erase the name written on a piece of paper (or the sole of the shoe) and the practice of twirling a grager (noisemaker) to prevent the name of Homen from being heard when read aloud. Homentash, a pastry supposedly representing alternatively Haman’s hat, pocket or ears (depending on the source) are eaten on the yontef. Homentash (plural homentashn) were actually a traditional German Jewish dish called “montash” (roughly: poppy seed pouch) whose name was changed to fit into the Purim story when the maykhl (delicacy) became associated with the holiday (much like the dreidel and Hanukah).
Another Yiddish Purim tradition is the Purim shpil. A Purim shpil is a play traditionally led by children, comedians, town bums or puppeteers (or some combination of the above). In Yiddish speaking Europe the plays usually satirized political, social and religious traditions and served as a rare (and often sole) time when townspeople (especially the poorest among them) could criticize prominent community and religious figures. Today Purim shpils are used in some Hasidic communities to retell the Holocaust and the survival of their particular court. Another Purim folk tradition which originated among Yiddish speaking Jewry and m’pravet (is celebrated) around the world today is the maskarad (masquerade) in which costumes representing the Purim characters are worn. The maskarad is believed to have originated in Italy, perhaps influenced from the Roman carnival. Yiddish is filled with many songs, literary stories, aphorisms and jokes relating to Purim. A popular sarcastic quip about Jewish history based on Purim is “azoy fil homenem un nor eyn Purim” (so many Homens and only one Purim). Perhaps, it is no wonder then, that the most famous ritual of Purim is “tsu vern shiker biz m’ken nit mafkhn zayn estern fun homens” (to become so drunk that one cannot distinguish Esther from Homen). After all, what would Purim be on mashke (without liquor).
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