ב"ה
To view Shabbat Times click here to set your location

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Halachic Times (Zmanim)
To view Halachic Times click here to set your location
Shushan Purim
Jewish History

The battles fought between the Jews and their enemies, which took place on Adar 13 throughout the Persian empire (see "Today in Jewish History" for that date), continued for two days -- Adar 13 and 14 -- in the capital city of Shushan, where there were a greater number of Jew haters. Thus the victory celebrations in Shushan were held on the 15th of Adar, and the observance of the festival of Purim was instituted for that day in Shushan and all walled cities. (See Laws and Customs below).

On this date, in the year following the Holy Temple’s destruction, G‑d tells Ezekiel to take up a lamentation for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and for the Jewish nation’s other enemies, foretelling their ultimate downfall.

Read the prophecy here: Ezekiel ch. 32

Laws and Customs

In cities that are surrounded by a wall dating from the days of Joshua (13th century BCE) -- a prominent example is the city of Jerusalem -- the festival of Purim is observed on the 15th of Adar (instead of the 14th), in commemoration of the fact that in the ancient walled city of Shushan, the first Purim was celebrated on this day (see "Today in Jewish History").

All over the world, Tachanun is omitted due to the special joy of the day.

(For an overview of the Purim observances and links to more information, see "Laws and Customs" for Adar 14.)

Daily Thought

“They are stronger than us.” —The spies.

“They meant to say that the people of the land are stronger than G‑d. So to speak, the homeowner can’t remove his own belongings from his home.”—Talmud, Sota 6b.

They saw the miracles in Egypt, they witnessed Pharaoh and his army drowning in the sea.
They ate manna from heaven and they heard the mighty voice of G‑d at Mount Sinai.
How could they imagine any people or any force in this world to be more powerful than the G‑d who created everything from nothing?

But the problem was that they had witnessed G‑d disrupting the natural order of things. They had yet to see Him play by the rules of the game.
They had witnessed a G‑d beyond all things, but had not yet seen that the same G‑d was also within all things.

And so now, when they were to enter the land themselves, as mortal beings with mortal powers, to conquer the land, plow the land, sow and harvest from the land by their own hands—

Now they said, “Only by an open miracle can we win. But here we are asked to win by natural means. That is not possible.”

If they had asked Moses, what would he have said?

That these laws of nature, they are nothing but G‑d's miracles in disguise, doing His will and concealing themselves within a weave of endless patterns.
Go out into the world and you will see: He created a world in which He can achieve anything He desires in any way He pleases.

And not only that, but He can do it through you.

Likutei Sichot, Vol. 4, pp. 1041-1047