PURIM - PURIM SPECIAL

HaMaaaaaN!

The commandment of the Torah is to wipe out the memory of Amalek, remembering that the children of Israel were stabbed in the back when they were weak and exhausted on their way out of Egypt.

The tradition says that Haman was an Amalekite. It was therefore customary to erase Haman's name symbolically when the Book of Esther was read. The best known way of doing this is to use a gragger every time Haman's name is spoken, so that it is drowned out by noise and cannot be heard.

This happens 54 times during the reading of the Megillah, and an additional 54 times when Haman and his ten sons are hanged.

There were other similar customs:

PANOPTIKUM IN FRANKFURT

In Frankfurt, in the 18th century, it was the custom to make a waxwork of Haman and his wife and two guards and place it on the Torah reading table. The whole congregation would see it and when they began to read the scroll of Esther, they would light the wax house with the figures on it.

LONDON'S GENTLEMAN'S MANNER

In the 19th century, in a Sephardic synagogue in London, Haman's name was erased in a more gentlemanly way. It was written on a slip of paper many times in succession, and when Haman's name was read out in the story, everyone crossed one out.

THE HAMAN PEBBLES

In the 13th century, all over Europe, children would draw Haman or write his name on two flat pieces of stones and beat the two together until the writing was unreadable or the figure was unrecognisable.

The HAMAN-sole

It was also customary to write Haman's name on the sole of the shoe, and every time Haman's name was mentioned in the Megila, they would stamp their feet.

PLAY IN THE CAUCASUS

A 19th century Russian Jewish traveller described the custom of Caucasian Jews:

"On Purim, when the men return home from the synagogue after reading from the Scroll of Esther, the women prepare a black piece of wood in the kitchen by the fire. When the man enters the room, he asks his wife what it is. She replies: Haman. The man gets angry and shouts for her to burn it immediately. They kick him and throw him into the fire."

Special Purims

Purim is just one of the holidays that commemorate an event when Judaism was in danger and saved by a miracle. So many similar miracles have occurred in communities and families that they have also been named Purim, based on the biblical prototype, emphasizing the spiritual message of Purim, that the God is in control of the destiny of the Jewish people.

Families often institutionalised their own Purim, which commemorated the family or the head of the family who had escaped from a life-threatening situation. Many communities and families followed the important commandment of the universal Purim and celebrated their own story of rescue by distributing donations to the poor, not doing work during the day but devoting it to enjoyable activities. Special psalms and prayers were recited in the synagogue and traditional Purim customs were followed as much as possible.

Many of these Purim are described in special scrolls that parody the Book of Esther and are read on the anniversary of specific historical dates. Not all of these Purim and their histories are historically accurate, as many of them have faded into oblivion as communities have been dispersed and families scattered. The fact that these particular Purim were not held on the universal day of Purim may be because the rabbis were told not to "confuse joy with gladness".

These Purim are usually named after the geographical location where the miracle occurred, or some term that identifies it. Examples of the former are the Purim of Cairo or the Purim of Saragossa, and examples of the latter are the Purim of the Bandits, the Purim of the Syllables, Earthquake Purim or the Purim of the Christians. There must have been at least 100 such Purim.

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