Happy Purim to my Jewish friends!
Purim is a festive Jewish holiday that celebrates the deliverance of the Jews from the hands of their enemies in the Book of Esther.
The Purim celebration is based on the biblical Book of Esther, which recounts the story of Queen Esther and how she saved the Jewish people from elimination.
The story begins when the King commands his wife, Queen Vashti, to appear before him and his party guests. She refuses and, as a result, so the King decides to find another queen. His search begins with a royal beauty pageant, in which the most beautiful young women in the kingdom are brought before the king, and Esther, a young Jewish girl wins the beauty pageant and is selected to be the new queen.
Esther lives with her cousin Mordechai as a member of the Jewish exiles in Persia. he counseled her to keep her Jewish identity a secret from the king.
Not long after Esther becomes queen, Mordechai offends the king’s adviser, Haman, by refusing to bow down to him. Haman decides to punish not only Mordechai but all Jews for this slight. He informs the king that if the Jews do not obey the king’s laws, it would be in the kingdom’s best interest to get rid of them. He asks for permission to destroy them, which the king grants. Haman then orders the king’s officials to kill all the Jews.
When Mordechai hears about this plot, he goes into mourning. When Esther learns of this, she orders one of her servants to find out what is troubling her cousin. The servant returns to Esther with a copy of the edict and instructions from Mordechai that she should beg the king for mercy on behalf of her people. Now, even though she was the king’s wife, this was not a simple request, as it had been 30 days since the king had summoned her and appearing before him without a summons was punishable by death. But Mordechai urges her to take action anyways, saying that perhaps she became queen so that she could save her people. Esther decides to fast before taking action and requests that her fellow Jews fast along with her.
After fasting for three days, Esther puts on her finest clothes and appears before the king. He is pleased to see her and asks what she desires. She replies that she would like the king and Haman to join her at a banquet. Now wasn’t she a smart cookie! Haman is delighted to hear this but is still so upset with Mordecai that he can’t stop thinking about it. However, that night the king decides to honor Mordecai because earlier in the story Mordecai had uncovered a plot against the king. The king commanded Haman to put the king’s own robe on Mordecai and to take him around the city on the king’s horse while proclaiming, “This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!” (Esther 6:11). Haman reluctantly obeys and soon after goes to Esther’s banquet.
At the banquet, the king asks his wife Esther again, what does she desire? She answers: “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life — this is my petition. And spare my people — this is my request. For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated” (Esther 7:3).
The king is outraged that anyone would dare threaten his queen and when he asks who has done such a thing Esther declares that Haman is to blame. Gonna say this again, she was brilliant to plan that this was done at a banquet. The king was told that Haman had built gallows specifically to have Mordecai hung and PLOT TWIST, the king commanded that Haman was to be hung in those gallows. He then takes his signet ring from Haman and gives it to Mordecai and he was also given Haman’s estate.
Esther issues an proclamation giving Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves against anyone who may try to harm them. Do you have a friend with Esther like qualities? I do :) I made this canvas for a friend of mine who is Jewish and loves this holiday. She also happens to be a tough one, just like Esther.
If you are Jewish, happy Purim and to those of you who aren’t (like myself), I hope you salute a strong woman you know. :)
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