One of the most joyful holidays in the Hebrew calendar, Purim commemorates how the Jewish people were saved from extermination by the Persian king Ahasuerus, because one of his advisors, named Haman, could not tolerate the irreverence of the Jew Mordechai, who refused to kneel before him.
The story, narrated in the Megillat Esther (Scroll of Esther), tells how she, one of the king's wives, revealed herself to him as a Jew after weaving a palace plot that exposed the advisor Haman as a traitor and thus secured the salvation of her people.
Everything takes place during the period when the Jews were exiled to Babylon after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE.
Purim, along with Hanukkah (which is usually celebrated in December), are two holidays in the Hebrew calendar whose relevance today lies in the fight against tyranny, the imposition of ideas by force, and intolerance.
Purim celebrates the salvation of a people from physical extermination that seemed inevitable, which is why the celebration is expressed in material form by offering banquets and gifts to relatives and friends, as well as charity to those in need.
The tradition also includes a costume party, the distribution of mishloach manot (baskets of sweets exclusive to the holiday), eating filled pastries called oznei Haman (Haman's ears), and drinking wine "until one cannot tell the difference between Mordechai and Haman."
The name Purim, plural of pur, means to cast lots, since it was by lot that Haman decided the day of punishment (extermination) that would befall the Jewish people for Mordechai's irreverence.
Purim is enshrined in Jewish tradition as one of the eternal holidays, one that will not cease even after the arrival of the Messiah, because it represents the victory of a people over tyranny and despotism, against the abuse of power and intolerance.
A victory that must be renewed forever.