By Dame Lesley Max on Jewish Lives NZ…
The normally joyous, light-hearted festival of Purim, just celebrated in New Zealand and world-wide, has had a dark shadow this year for Jews in Israel and around the world. Purim commemorates a hugely significant event in Jewish history, from the 5th century BCE (before the common era), that is, about 2,500 years ago. It’s one of the eery features of Jewish life that the echoes of events far distant in time are still arrestingly relevant to our own time.
The events of Purim take place in the mighty Persian empire, to which the Jews have been taken captive, after the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. The Persian ruler, Cyrus, who had encouraged the Jews to return to Israel and rebuild their Temple in Jerusalem, was succeeded by a less benevolent king, Ahasuerus, sometimes thought to be Xerxes.
As the story is told in the Biblical scroll of Esther, King Ahasuerus’ Chief Minister, Haman, plotted to destroy all the Jews of the Persian empire, because of a grudge he held against the Jew, Mordechai, from the tribe of Benjamin. As it says in the scroll, “Letters were sent by courier to all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to slay and to exterminate all Jews, young and old, children and women, in a single day… and to plunder their possessions.”
Read the full article on Jewish Lives NZ here.
