Purim

Here are seven reasons why Queen Esther hosted two parties for King Achashverosh and Haman.

I’m going to sound like a nerd, but I’m not. Do I have to drink on Purim?

Why is this seemingly trivial detail of Haman's plot magnified to the extent that the holiday is named after it? And why is the holiday given a name drawn from the Persian language?

Purim tells a story of the victory of life. Halloween contains an awful lot of the opposite.

Trekking swiftly towards Passover, I’m clinging to a bag of insight I grabbed from the forever mysterious celebration of Purim. Two holidays, only a month apart—yet conceptually so distant. Both about redemption. Both about wonder. But while the Passover ...

Why do we give a haf-shekel to charity, and why is it done on Taanit Esther?

"המן הרע הזה" “This wicked Haman” (7:6) QUESTION: In the Haggadah of Pesach we are told that the way to deal with a rasha is to knock out his teeth. There is no doubt that Haman was a rasha, so why didn’t Mordechai knock out Haman’s teeth? ANSWER: Accordi...

תענית אסתר 13th of Adar — Fast of Esther QUESTION: Why is the fast on the day before Purim called “Ta’anit Esther” — “the Fast of Esther”? (The three-day fast which Mordechai proclaimed upon Esther’s request took place during Pesach, see Megillah 15a.) AN...

Why must the mishloach manot comprise of two foods, each with a separate blessing, like a cluster of grapes and a cookie? Why can't I just send two items with the same blessing?

This is a story about G‑d miraculously saving us. If so, why do we leave Him out of the story?