The Bible book of Esther records the celebration of Purim, commemorating the victory of Jews living in exile in ancient Persia over those who wanted to exterminate them (Esth. 9:23–32).
The festival is set for the the 14th day of the 12th month on the Hebrew calendar (February–March), and that lands on March 23–24, 2024. (This year has a “leap month” to keep the lunar calendar aligned with the seasons.) This congregation typically commemorates it on the Shabbat just before, because of scheduling conflicts with our host location.
The original time frame for the story — reign of Xerxes I (circa 470s B.C.) — coincided with the struggle of the returned exiles to rebuild Jerusalem (Ezra 4–10).
The name of the festival is Hebrew for “lots,” to methods used for making a determination from chance, like dice. Such lots were cast to determine the date of the extermination of the Jews. Although the Name isn’t mentioned once in the book, the events that happened had the fingerprints of Providence, so the outcome was nothing but chance.
Learn more lessons about Purim and the Messiah: hallel.info/purim