rear pew mirror • doug brook
St. Purim’s Day
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March 2022 • Southern Jewish Life
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In the latest sign of divine “everyone better start getting along, don’t make me come down there,” this March 17 brings a crossover holiday so rare that nary a mention has been found in the Talmud, nor come out of the Vatican. Granted, Purim and St. Patrick’s Day combined still represent only part of the world’s populace, but everyone learning how to get along (again?) has to start somewhere. As Nick Saban would probably not bother telling you, there’s no such thing as a 20-point touchdown. Purim and St. Patrick’s Day are an unexpectedly well-aligned merger, more so than many institutional conglomerates. So, for anyone who can’t tell their Mordechai from Mardi Gras, on St. Purim’s Day there’s no need to. St. Purim’s Day brings together the best of both bashes, into a mega-festival that could shut down many bars and liquor stores due to running out of inventory. A rabbi in the Talmud, Rava, famously said that on Purim one’s supposed to drink until they can no longer tell the difference between Mordechai (the good guy) and Haman (the bad guy). Unlike contemporary society where people’s inability to tell the difference between who’s good and bad leads many to drink. Similar to Rava’s ruling, St. Patrick’s Day is a one-day break from Lent’s restriction on alcohol, letting observers drink as if they’re only partway through foregoing it for 40 days and 40 nights. (Because they are.) Why all the celebrating? St. Purim’s Day celebrates the arrival of Christianity in Ireland along with the not killing of all the Jews in Persia. Specifically, it honors both the day St. Patrick died and the day after Haman’s plot to wipe out the Jews in Persia was itself wiped out. Both events happened in the fifth century – C.E. and B.C.E., respectively. St. Purim’s Day owes much to Roman roots. St. Patrick was Romano-British. The onset of costumes and Baking green general masquerade on Purim is often connected to Carnival — a pre-Lent hamantaschen occurrence which started in Rome and through more of Europe. Bead as two drinking spread collectors today might recognize this holidays collide tradition in one of its modern manifestations: Mardi Gras. Speaking of costumes, on all other Purim nights people wear all manner of costumes and masks. But on St. Purim’s Day night, people wear masquerade attire in various shades of green. St Purim’s Day features three-cornered Hamantaschen which are made green, and such that the corners appear to be the shape of clover leaves. It’s said that Queen Esther was a vegetarian while in the king’s palace, so she could keep kosher while there, and so some eat a vegetarian diet this one time each year in her honor. March 17 is the one day during Lent where eating meat is allowed, to whatever extent people abstained from it for Lent. So, regarding St. Purim’s Day, Rav Shrodinger says that one should both abstain from eating meat and, at the same time, indulge in eating meat. St. Purim’s Day has two primary symbols based on the number three. The shamrock has three leaves, and Hamantaschen has three corners. A shamrock is often worn in one’s hat, and Hamantaschen is an homage to the notoriously unfashionable hat worn by Haman. Contrary to popular rumor, which originated later in this sentence, St. Purim’s Day is not a day for eating shamrocks or wearing Hamantaschen. continued on previous page