The Jewish festival of Purim starts on the evening of March 2. As a scholar of Esther, the book that holds its supposed “origin” story, I always think of it more vividly on the days it is traditionally celebrated by…
On Purim in wartime, Jews wrestle with a biblical story of retribution
The Jewish holiday of Purim is traditionally a wild and woolly festival in which costumes, noise making and drinking are encouraged — in synagogue no less — as Jews gather for a public reading of the biblical Book of Esther….