Judaism Unbound Episode 422: Purim 2024 – Miriam, Dan, and Lex
This year, Judaism Unbound’s executive director Miriam Terlinchamp, senior Jewish educator Lex Rofeberg, and senior fellow Dan Libenson dig into all things Purim: the darkness of the book of Esther, the yonic nature of hamantaschen, and the appropriate ratio of comedy to tragedy when it comes to honoring the holiday.
[1] As Dan says, this is our ninth Purim on the podcast. To see some of the other ways we’ve celebrated Purim over the years, check out:
[2] The origin story of Purim ties to the Book of Esther.
[3] Miriam mentions that hamantaschen – the triangular, jam-filled cookies commonly understood to represent the hat donned by Haman, the villain in the Purim story– can be traced to worship of Ishtar, the ancient Mesopotamian fertility goddess from whose name Esther derives. Or, as Hey Alma puts it in the title of their article, "Yes, There’s a Reason Hamantaschen Look Like Vaginas."
[4] Miriam cites the oft-quoted line of the Purim story, “U’mi yodea?” or “Who knows?” a question at the center of Mordecai’s plea to Esther to reveal her Jewish identity to King Achashverosh in order to save her people (Esther 4:14).
[5] Dan mentions the Shalom Center’s Chapter 9 Project, an effort to re-write the section of the book of Esther in which the Jews commit mass murder in retaliation against their enemies (Esther 9).
[6] Lex quotes the verse from the book of Esther, “La-Yehudim haita orah v’simchah v’sasson v’ikrah” or “For the Jews there was light and happiness and joy and honor,” which is quoted weekly on Havdalah, the ritual to end Shabbat (Esther 8:16).
[7] Lex states that we need to better integrate the darkness of the Purim story into our celebration of the holiday. Check out this op-ed by past guest, Shaul Magid, “The Dark Side of Purim.” Listen to our episodes with Magid at Episode 13: American Post-Judaism and Episode 296: Radicalism, Power, Violence, and Meir Kahane.
[8] Dan, Lex, and Miriam discuss whether the usually silly and joyous celebration of Purim appropriately reflects either the holiday itself or our contemporary moment. For more on this dissonance, particularly in relation to the current war in Israel/Palestine, we recommend these articles: “Reclaiming Purim from the Supremacists” published by scholar Lexie Botzum last year and “This Purim, Stand Against Kahanism” published by Maya Rosen in 2019.
