"Yom Kippur" you say, "The day of Atonement is clearly the holiest day of the year for Jews."
Well, maybe. Or maybe, just maybe you'd get the surprising answer of "Purim!"
Well, I'm not sure I totally understand it all myself, but let me try to explain. First, why compare Yom Kippur with Purim? Apparently the full name for the Day of Atonement in Hebrew is "Yom Kippurim." "Ki" means "like," so it could be taken to mean "Day that is Like Purim," giving Purim sort of a higher standing than Yom Kippur just by the names. In addition, Yom Kippur is a day of fasting and mourning over sin whereas Purim is a day of celebration and feasting. Apparently it is thought that it takes more holiness to truly worship God during a celebration than when you are mourning. Perhaps they have a point. At any rate, sometimes Purim is considered the holiest holiday on the Jewish calender.
So today I had a class on Jewish Thought and Practice where we learned about Purim (including why it is considered the holiest holiday) and tonight for a sort of "field study" we all went to Synagogues to experience the evening reading of Esther for ourselves.
"Wait a minute," you say. I thought Purim was celebrated the 13th of Adar...and isn't today the 14th?" You are, of course, correct. In most of the world, Purim is celebrated on the 13th of Adar (March 9th this year). However, the Jews in Shushan assembled on both the 13th and 14th (Esther 9:18). Because Shushan (Susa) was a walled city, at some point some Rabbis decided that Jews in walled cities should celebrate Purim on the 14th. And they have a pretty odd way of deciding which cities are considered walled. At any rate, Jerusalem is one (probably the main one) so in the city of Jerusalem proper, Purim is celebrated on the 14th of Adar.
I can't say too much about the actual celebration itself. Esther is read at night and then the next morning, and then there is supposed to be some sort of great feast involving lots of wine. I have only been to the evening reading, but I can tell you at little about that.
Purim is ever so slightly like Halloween, in that everyone dresses up. I was in down town Jerusalem Monday night and there were quite a few people going about in costumes - cat's ears, farie wings, etc. At Synagogue tonight almost everyone was dressed, well, a little unusually. Colorful wigs and hats were common, as were masks and face paint. Some people continued the theme in the rest of their outfit. There were witches and giant pink bunnies. There were some girls from the IDF with their guns and purple wings on their back - not a common sight in the US! There were children dressed as lions, bears, American Indians, Bob the Builder, Superman, and cowboys.
In class this morning we talked about whether or not women should be allowed to read Esther at the Synagogue. Some sources said yes, some said no. Apparently at the synagogue I went to women were allowed to read. I think we had 5 readers (2 chapters each) and I think three of them were women...and they were kind of hard to hear. Oh well.
It was an orthodox Synagogue, though perhaps more, um, "modern" than some. The men and women were separated by a thin curtain, but at least it wasn't women in the back, men in the front. The whole thing was in Hebrew. I was able to follow along a little in the reading. Of course, when the name "Haman" was read, everyone shouted and rattled their noise makers and stomped and otherwise just made lots of noise
It was an interesting experience, for sure. I rather like this excuse to dress up better than Halloween. Perhaps I'll start celebrating Purim more often. :)
7 comments:
Hi Alana,
I'd like to ask a question relevant to this posting. Given Jesus (at least according to the Bible) said something along the lines of; 'the only way into heaven is through me', and as Jews do not accept Jesus as their lord and saviour, are all these obviously very kind and friendly Jewish people condemned for eternity if they don't repent and become Christians?
I thought your posting itself it was very interesting as I've never heard of either Purim or Adar, but then again I don't know any Jewish people. As for woman not being allowed to read in the Synagogue, I thought that they now have woman Rabbis so how does that work.
As always keep well.
Chris Hill
(Lancaster)
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." (John 14:6)
If Jesus was speaking the truth (and I believe that he was) then yes, the only possible conclusion is that no one who rejects Christ (including most Jews) will be able to spend eternity in God's presence. This isn't a works based religion. It's relationship based. It doesn't matter how "friendly" and "good" people are or appear to be. The final decision is not based on our actions but our relationship with the living God.
In regards to women reading, until the 1960's or so it was unheard of to ever have a woman read Torah in public. Since them, some "denominations" have become more permissive. I think it really depends on the synagogue whether or not women are allowed to read.
Hi Alana,
You can't possible really believe that Jews don't go to heaven unless they accept Jesus, or you would have done everything you could to save the souls of these people in the Synagogue last week, even at the cost of being classed as a Christian nutcase by most of the congregation. In fact if you truly believed that, you would have been under a moral obligation to save the children from their untrue Jewish faith in any way possible, up to and including kidnapping! Now of course we both know that such actions could never be justified under any circumstances, so that must mean that they are not condemned to an eternity of Hell. But if it were true then a kidnapping to save their eternal soul would have been justified surely? Catch 22 sort of argument there I guess.
But seriously Alana could you really have laughed and joked with these people and enjoying their hospitality knowing (that because you were afraid to make yourself unpopular by insisting that their faith was wrong), you were throwing up even the slightest chance of saving even one soul. No of course you couldn't, so it's clearly not the case that you believe that only Jesus can lead you into Heaven, or you would have acted quite differently wouldn't you?
Jew are no more, or less, likely to go to heaven than: Christians, Muslims, footballers, TV repairmen, or murders. Simply because both Heaven and Hell are concepts of a human thought process that ignores reality. Inserting a little reason and logic into the thinking process makes both disappear in puff of common sense.
Shalom.
Chris Hill
(Lancaster)
PS.
Keep well.
I've just realised I have no idea of what church you follow. Could you please let me know (if possible with a link to it's website) so I could check out exactly what your believes are.
I promise not to start leaving comments on that site, so you won't get into trouble for encouraging me to flood them with questions.
Thanks again.
Chris Hill
I do actually believe that and I probably should be more active in sharing my faith. I make no claim to perfection. However, acting like a nutcase and kidnapping children is hardly going to convince anyone to profess faith in Christ and therefore would be worse than useless. Christianity is not something that can be forced upon someone. There are better ways of evangelizing the lost.
Sorry Alana,
I posted my response on the other posting before checking for an answer here. But my contention that your presence at the synagogue, must have helped reinforce their false religious beliefs still stands.
On a different subject, do think about what I said about taking a cheap underwater disposable cameras next time you go snorkelling. Believe me you'll get some photos that you'll treasure for the rest of your life, and they'll make a great blog posting as well.
Keep well.
Chris Hill
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