Purim is one of the happiest and most special holidays in the Jewish calendar. In fact, our sages explain that even the famous and holy day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is nothing more than Yom Ke Purim, that is, a day like Purim.
The story of this day is already well known, so I thought it would be interesting to mention some less well-known points.
I knew that...
- Haman was hanged on the second day of Passover (Purim is the celebration of the Jewish people's victory over their enemies eleven months later).
- Esther's Hebrew name was Hadassah (Esther is a Persian name)
- Mordechai was the first person in history called "Jew" (Before, Jews were called Hebrews or Israelites)
Ahasuerus searched for a queen for four years, during which time he considered more than 1,400 candidates for the throne, before choosing Esther.
- Vashti, the first queen of Ahasuerus, was the great-great-granddaughter of Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian emperor who destroyed the First Temple.
- Haman is the one who advised Ahasuerus to kill Vashti
- There is an opinion in the Talmud that Esther was not beautiful at all, and her skin was a greenish color.
- Haman was once a slave of Mordechai
Mordechai, who refused to kneel before Haman, was a descendant of the tribe of Benjamin, the only one of Jacob's sons who did not kneel before Haman's ancestor, Esau.
- Haman's decree was never revoked (Ahasuerus only issued a new decree allowing the Jews to defend themselves).
- Mordechai was an old man during the Purim story (he was already a member of the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of Torah law in Jerusalem 79 years before the Purim miracle).
- The name of God is not mentioned even once in the Book of Esther