Purim is one of those holidays where we don’t tell the whole story. (https://secularjewishweddings.com/why-do-we-tell-only-half-the-story/) But it is more than that we don’t tell the whole story. It’s that we don’t see the whole people.
The book of Esther, on which the holiday is based, is a historical fiction, written about 400 years after the events the book tells about in an almost-real Persian empire. When we think of the main characters – Esther, Mordechai, Haman and Akhashverosh, we remember them only as stereotypes: the pretty brave girl, the heroic and clever hero, the evil villain and the drunken stooge.
But when we look closer at the two heroes, we see a really mixed view. Sure, Esther is pretty (or good in bed, actually – read the book) and brave. But she is also devious. She hides her Jewishness and she tricks the king, plying him with food and wine, into a generous state so she can convince him to allow the Jews a fighting chance. And Mordechai? He’s sneaky – eavesdropping on the guards – and he seems to have no compunctions about using his young relative to get in good with the king, even though it involves a degrading audition. Both of them are pretty hard for me to like.
So why should we celebrate Purim? The bad guys are bad and so are the good guys!
We celebrate because there are elements of this holiday that speak to the human condition and teach some good lessons. It’s finally spring after a hard winter (ok, not in California, but there are Jews who live elsewhere, after all). A little revelry at surviving seems to be in order. Check out all the other raucous holidays celebrated by other cultures throughout the northern hemisphere at this time of year. And the lessons? Well, it is important to stand up for yourself and defend yourself. But the lesson I like best is the one about generosity. On Purim, it is traditional to dress up and bring treats to your friends and neighbors. It’s sort of a reverse Halloween. A holiday about survival and generosity seems to me to be worth celebrating, despite the difficulties of the story we tell about it.