Purim Celebration – Overview

How is Purim properly celebrated? Read some fun facts about this special day! Rebbe Nachman explains the great benefits of joy, clapping, and dancing on Purim.

4 min

Breslev Israel staff

Posted on 15.03.24

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Purim should be celebrated with a special festive meal on Purim Day, usually after Mincha (afternoon prayers) at which family and friends gather together to rejoice in the Purim spirit.

 

We celebrate Purim by:
Read some fun facts about Megillat Esther.

Rebbe Nachman describes the tremendous benefits we gain through our joy, hand clapping, and dancing on Purim.

 

Matanot L’evyonim

Concern for the needy is a year-round responsibility; but on Purim it is a special mitzvah to remember the poor.

 

Give charity to at least two, (but preferably more) needy individuals on Purim day, Sunday, March 24, 2024 (in Jerusalem Purim day, Monday, March 25, 2025).

 

The practice of men and women giving gifts to the poor on Purim – Matanot L’evyonim is mentioned in Megillat Esther. The gifts must be given to the poor on Purim day, usually after the reading of the Megillah. The minimum requirement is to give two gifts, which may be food, to at least two poor persons (one gift to each). Even a poor person who receives charity is required to give Matanot L’evyonim. Money given for Matanot L’evyonim is not included in the amount of money a person regularly sets aside for charity (maaser).

 

Concerning Matanot L’evyonim, the Rambam (Maimonides) wrote: “It is better for a man to increase gifts to the poor (on Purim) than to enlarge his feast and to increase gifts to his friends. For there is no greater and more wonderful joy than to make happy the hearts of the poor…” (Hilchot Megillah 2).
 

 

MISHLOACH MANOT

On Purim day, send a gift of at least two kinds of ready-to-eat foods (e.g., pastry, fruit, beverage), to at least one friend. Men should send to men and women to women. It is preferable that the gifts are delivered via a third party.

 

Children, in addition to sending their own gifts of food to their friends, make enthusiastic messengers.

 

The mitzvah of Mishloach Manot is mentioned in Megillat Esther 9:22. The obligation is to send a friend at least one food parcel containing two kinds of food or drink which are ready to eat without further preparation. Anything beyond that is extra-credit (or extra-expense, depending on how you look at it). It is customary, however, to encourage joy and friendship by sending parcels to many friends. Nevertheless, it is of greater merit to distribute gifts generously to the poor than to distribute food to friends.

 

It is also customary to send Mishloach Manot through a third person messenger, since the word Mishloach is related to the word for messenger, Sh’liach.

 

Purim Seudah

Purim should be celebrated with a special festive meal on Purim Day, usually after Mincha (afternoon prayers) at which family and friends gather together to rejoice in the Purim spirit. It is a mitzvah to drink wine or other inebriating drinks at this meal.

 

If the meal extends into the evening, as it usually does, Al Hanisim, a special prayer recounting the miracle of the day, is still added to the Birchat Hamazon, the “Grace after meals.”

 

Because the miracle of Purim came thru wine, – Vashti’s downfall and Haman’s downfall came as a result of a wine feast, the Rabbis of the Talmud (usually a quite sober group) said:
“On Purim, one should drink – Ahd D’lo Yoda Bain Arur Haman L’Boruch Mordechai” – “Until he can no longer tell the difference between ‘Cursed be Haman’ and ‘Blessed be Mordechai.’ ” (Tractate Megilah 7b).

 

A person who can’t or won’t drink may fulfill the “Ahd D’lo Yoda” requirement by sleeping, because one who sleeps also doesn’t know the difference between a curse and a blessing.

 

Fun Facts about Megillat Esther

  • Megillat Esther is the only book in the scriptures that does not mention God‘s name.
  • Megillat Esther is unique in that it contains words which appear nowhere else in the Bible:
    • Tevet: the tenth Hebrew month.
    • Kasher: fit
    • Patshegen: a copy of the (written) text
    • Ahashdarpenim: Persian word for the King’s officers
    • Pur: Persian word meaning “lot.”
    • Karpas: Persian word for cotton.
  • All the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are found in Megillat Esther 3:13.
  • Haman’s name is mentioned fifty-four times in the Megillah (take out your groggers!).
  • The Hebrew word Mishteh, meaning banquet, occurs 20 times in Megillat Esther (which is equal to the total of ALL the other times it is found in the rest of the Bible).
  • The longest verse in the Bible appears in Megillat Esther (Megillat Esther 8:9). It has 43 words in Hebrew (and approximately 90 words in the English translation):

“Then were the king’s scribes called at that time, in the third month, that is the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordechai commanded unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces, which are from India unto Ethiopia, a hundred and twenty seven provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing and according to their language” (Megillat Esther 8:9).

  • The Talmud instructs us that on Purim we should drink until we don’t know the difference between “Blessed be Mordecai” and “Cursed be Haman.” Interestingly, the numerical value of the Hebrew letters in both of the phrases, “baruch Mordechai” (“Blessed be Mordechai”) and “arur Haman” (“Cursed be Haman”) equals 502.
  • And speaking of  “Cursed be Haman…” On January 30th, 1944, Hitler said: “If the Nazis are vanquished, the Jews will be able to celebrate a special Purim.”

 

Rebbe Nachman on Purim

Our joy and clapping and dancing on Purim make us worthy of receiving the Torah in its two aspects, revealed and hidden. For the great revelation that came about through Mordechai and Esther was “receiving the Torah.”

  • Through this we are able to fulfill the mitzvah of counting the Omer the proper way.
  • The klipah (husk) of Haman the Amalekite (may his name be blotted out) is crushed.
  • The force of pride, idolatry and atheism is broken.
  • Great faith, holy wisdom, true life and length of days are brought into the world.
  • The severity of God’s harsh judgments is sweetened, and all the harsh decrees against Israel are revoked (Likutey Eitzot10:8). 
  • Purim is a preparation for Peach. Through the mitzvah of Purim, we are protected from chametz on Pesach (Likutey Moharan II, 74).

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