Purim, a Jewish Celebration

The message of Purim

In my understanding Purim celebrates two things: overcoming and gratitude.  I look at the Bible as a source of inspiration the teachings behind the stories. The stories in the Bible happened so long ago that nobody knows how much of it had actually happened. 

In Unity, we interpret the stories and take the learnings from them.

Esther’s story for me is about knowing that God is always at work: as we face our challenges, stand up for oneself in the face of dire circumstances, and overcome inner challenges, we can start seeing God’s ever present support. Finally, we can move into gratitude for the support we have received.

How to use celebrating Purim for your benefit?

Similar to celebrations from other traditions, we can simply take the time to contemplate on the messages and teachings, we can spend some time in the silence to become aware of inner errors, ‘fight them’ which means let go of them, and become grateful for triumphing over our own challenges. 

Most of all however, we can use the time to become consciously aware of God’s Presence in our life, the way we are supported from behind the scenes; and we can express our gratitude to the Divine Presence for His never ceasing Love and Care for us. 

What am I going to do?

I will spend the evening to meditate and contemplate on areas of my life where I feel unsupported by God, where I feel I am being let down and left to my own divides. I will also look at where I am in error, why I feel this way. Finally, I will spend the day to observe the ‘behind the scene’  support God provides me with. Finally, I will move into Prayer on Gratitude for all the ‘hidden’ support and guidance I receive that I am be oblivious of. 

What is Purim?

Shushan Purim is a unique day in the cycle of Jewish holidays. Purim is the only holiday whose date depends on where you happen to celebrate it. For most of the world, Purim occurs on the 14th of Adar. However, if you happen to reside in Jerusalem or the city of Shushan (where the story of Purim took place), or any walled city, Purim is on the 15th of Adar. Therefore, the observance is called “Shushan Purim.”

Queen Esther then instituted the holiday of Purim for the day after the Jews were permitted to defend themselves. It is an important distinction for the holiday. Purim does not celebrate a military triumph. It celebrates the day of “rejoicing and feasting” that followed. That is why Purim is on the fourteenth day of Adar, not the thirteenth.


We must be careful to be clear about why we are celebrating.
Real joy is not about triumphalism. We do not rejoice over the death of Haman. Rather, our best celebrations are always about gratitude. We wait a day after our temporal victory and rejoice. We celebrate by laying down our weapons and taking a bag of cookies over to our neighbors’ homes.

That is something to be joyful about.

Source

Read the story in the Bible
Book of Esther HERE

Book of Esther

 

The Fast of Esther

As you can see below the Fast of Esther revolves around Esther success as a result of fasting. Please the story of Esther below.

This time we are observing numerous ‘fasting’ traditions in the Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions. Probably not by accident.

We seem to be asked, from every angle, to retreat from life events and move into the silence. Fasting is rarely about food, though most traditions focus on the physical aspects of spiritual observations.

In my view, most significant spiritual teacher requested their followers to ‘fast’ on being engaged in daily activates and spend more time with the Divine in silent contemplation. The Fast of Esther seems to be one of these times with a specific focus on ‘overcoming challenges’ as a result of fasting. 

Today, I would like to invite you to spend some time in silent contemplation on what challenges would you wish God to support you to overcome?

Spending time is the silence or in silent contemplation will result in receiving inner guidance of what to do next or it may reveal some aspects of self that needs to be released in order to ‘succeed’. 

Read about Ester’s story

Esther is a prominent figure in the Old Testament. In the Bible, Esther was the Jewish wife of the Persian king, and risked her own life to save her people from an antisemitic royal advisor. The Jewish holiday of Purim celebrates Queen Esther’s story… Source

Book of Esther, book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. It belongs to the third section of the Judaic canon, known as the Ketuvim, or “Writings.” In the Jewish Bible, Esther follows Ecclesiastes and Lamentations and is read on the festival of Purim, which commemorates the rescue of the Jews from Haman’s plottings. The Book of Esther is one of the Megillot, five scrolls read on stated Jewish religious holidays. In the Protestant canon, Esther appears between Nehemiah and Job. In the Roman Catholic canon, Esther appears between Judith and Job and includes six chapters that are considered apocryphal in the Jewish and Protestant traditions.

The book purports to explain how the feast of Purim came to be celebrated by the Jews. Esther, the beautiful Jewish wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes I), and her cousin Mordecai persuade the king to retract an order for the general annihilation of Jews throughout the empire. The massacre had been plotted by the king’s chief minister, Haman, and the date decided by casting lots (purim). Instead, Haman was hanged on the gallows he built for Mordecai, and, on the day planned for their annihilation, the Jews destroyed their enemies. According to the Book of Esther, the feast of Purim was established to celebrate that day …

Fasting is associated with some pivotal moments in the Purim narrative. One such moment is when Esther approached King Ahasuerus without permission in an effort to intercede on behalf of the Jewish people. Before she went to the king, she fasted for three days, and asked that all the Jews fast as well.

Another dramatic turnaround occurred on Adar 13 (the default date for the Fast of Esther), the date that Haman had set aside for killing the Jews. Instead the Jewish people soundly trounced their enemies. This triumph was accomplished while the Jews were fasting, as they prayed to G‑d that they be successful.

Source