Belated thoughts about Purim

[lethargic_man]

aviva_m and I were talking about Purim the other day, and she said, in the context of discussing the trope from Lamentations embedded in the reading of the Book of Esther:

This made me having philosophical thoughts about how Purim and Tisha beAv may be very much related holidays; the story with the happy ending and its opposite; like mirrors of each other, and the unanswerable question, where is God in history.

That's interesting (I replied); it's not one of the comparisons that are normally drawn: between Tisha BeAv and Chanukah, and Purim and Yom Kippur (Yom Kippurim = "a day like Purim"), which are calendrical opposites. (Have you heard the one about how the Jewish calendar is structured like a yin-yang, with Chanukah being the spot of light in the middle of the dark, and Tisha BeAv the spot of dark in the middle of the light?)

It had not struck me beforehand how we don't have anything to celebrate the building of the Second Temple and the return from the Babylonian Exile. This, it seemed to me, is probably because the building of the Second Temple was problem-beset from the outset, with antisemites stopping the construction for some years; and the return from the Babylonian Exile only involved a small minority of the Jewish people.

Though I suppose if there were to be a festival celebrating this, it would be not Purim but Chanukah, according to the account in the Second Book of Maccabees, which gives a completely different account of the origin of Chanukah to the one we all know about.

I learned only fairly recently that after the Hasmoneans recaptured the Temple on 25 Kislev, the Seleucids retook it, and it wasn't until 13 Adar that the Hasmoneans were able to take it back permanently. I'd heard about this beforehand in the context of considering why the rabbis chose to turn the first of these dates into a festival and not the second. I suppose possible answers from a calendrical perspective would include a clash with the Fast of Esther, and it being too close to Purim; but from what I've said above you'd have thought there was actually a good reason to merge the two festivals.

So why didn't they? Suggestions, anyone?

Comments

[aviva-m.livejournal.com]

I think, I compared Tisha BeAv and Purim, because I tend to focus at Tisha BeAv more on the human catastrophe then on the temple. When I hear Eicha, I think about the countless people who suffered then - and in later centuries, as we are reminded in the kinnot. So there is this interpretation of the Purim story, that although God is not mentioned, He was present and prevented the worst from happening. But why then and not later? Therefore, I think, both days raise the questions, whether one can believe in a God, who has influence on human history.
I'd like to know, what parallels you would draw between Purim and Yom Kippur. Similar sounding name, calendrical opposite, this doesn't sound like a big connection. I also can't think of anything in common between these days.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

I think, I compared Tisha BeAv and Purim, because I tend to focus at Tisha BeAv more on the human catastrophe then on the temple. When I hear Eicha, I think about the countless people who suffered then - and in later centuries, as we are reminded in the kinnot. So there is this interpretation of the Purim story, that although God is not mentioned, He was present and prevented the worst from happening. But why then and not later? Therefore, I think, both days raise the questions, whether one can believe in a God, who has influence on human history.

Good point. Though for (almost) all premoderns, along with a substantial number of the Orthodox to this day, the explanation for the Destruction of the First Temple is that given in the Book of Kings: that it was in punishment for the people's idolatry; and that for the Second was because of שִׂנַת חִנָם—causeless hatred (which latter you don't need to be a literalist to accept as the cause).

I'd like to know, what parallels you would draw between Purim and Yom Kippur. Similar sounding name, calendrical opposite, this doesn't sound like a big connection. I also can't think of anything in common between these days.

Well, I wouldn't draw the connection, but others have (http://www.ou.org/holidays/purim/every_day_purim_every_night_kippurim).

[aviva-m.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't know how (modern )orthodoxy sees it, but I dislike believing in catastrophes, be they human made or natural disasters, as a punishment from God. For example I also struggle with the second verse of the Shema, which touches this subject too...

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

The second paragraph of the Shema, along with the more extended תּוֹכָחָה sections of the Torah, I see as intended to frighten the reader into obeying the commandments.

As for myself, I interpret them as: You should act as if these would be the consequences of disobeying: Let your conscience take the part of the actual divine retribution.