by Elaine Sihera

Created on: February 01, 2010

The story of Purim has all the exciting ingredients one might expect in an uplifting and intriguing tale: a beautiful, courageous heroine, a loyal cousin, a very powerful king, a vast kingdom, and a villain who gets his come-uppance by his own evil plans. Narrated  in The Megillah, the Scroll on which the Book of Esther is written, the story is basically about the Jews, their persecution by one of the King's trusted officers, Haman, and their right to defend themselves against him.  The Megillah is read twice on the holiday - once at night and once during the day.  Children are usually animated when they hear the story because they also dress up as their favorite Purim characters and rattle graggers (noisemakers) at every mention of the villain's name.  

In essence, a king takes a queen, who hides her Jewish identity, but eventually reveals the truth in order to save her people from death. The story takes place in the city of Shushan, when the King, Ahasuerus, ruler of the Medes and Persians (a very mighty ruler whose kingdom extended from Ethiopia to India), wanted a new wife.  He was unhappy with his former wife, Queen Vashti, who did not obey his order to appear before him and his guests at a sumptuous banquet, naked, to show how beautiful she was!  After canvassing his kingdom for a suitable beautiful virgin, he found one in the pious Esther (Hadassah), an orphan raised by her cousin, Mordecai.  She was a Jew but didn't reveal the fact on his advice.  

Soon Mordecai's life was imperiled because he didn't bow down to the arrogant, egotistical and ambitious, Haman, the King's top official. A descendant of the tribe of Amalek, who were enemies of the Jews, Haman decided to kill them in revenge.  He slandered the Jews to the king and convinced him to agree with his plans. He won the king's permission and an order was signed for their death.  When Esther was told of the order she was mortified and risked appearing in front of the king without being summoned in order to plead with him against it.  Mordecai had once saved the king's life, for which he was grateful, so when Esther revealed the real reason for Haman's actions to the him, the King is outraged at Haman.  He issued a decree to make Haman the victim of his own infamous plot.  He and his sons were killed on the gallows that were erected for Mordecai. The King also elevated Mordecai to a position of great influence and allowed him to issue

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