Once upon a time, Purim was considered a minor Jewish holiday. It doesn’t have the kind of name recognition among the world at large that Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Chanukah do. You probably won’t see Purim listed on government calendars. But it is actually a major holiday disguised in a minor one.
The holiday of Purim began as a celebration of the miracle Hashem did for the Jewish People in the 6th Century BCE when a Persian “Hitler”, Hamman, made a plan to annihilate the exiled Jews, but who ultimately was defeated through a series of apparently isolated incidents described in the Book of Esther. The holiday emphasizes joy, gift-giving, eating and drinking and celebrating.
What is interesting about Purim is that, while it may sound like it is all fun and games, it is quite a serious holiday. In Jewish texts, there is a comparison between Purim and Yom Kippur. In Hebrew, Yom Kippur is “Yom Kippurim,” or KiPurim (like Purim). How can a holiday associated with eating, drinking and merriment have any resemblance to the holiest day of the year, when we spend all day refraining from food, drink, rest and pray in the synagogue, asking for Hashem to forgive our sins?
The self-sacrifice demonstrated by the Jews in the days of Esther amounted to a second and more sincere acceptance of the Torah (the commandments). When the Torah was given at Sinai, there were open miracles, for all to see. It is also said that G-d suspended the mountain above the heads of the People of Israel until they agreed to accept the commandments. The Jews accepted the Torah in a state of complete awe, as the witnesses of inescapable supernatural evidence of G-d.
The miracles of Purim occurred through nature and the sequence of events that had no obvious divine influence. G-d’s name is not mentioned in the entire Book of Esther. This represents G-d’s desire to sometimes be hidden and to provide us with tests so we can realize our own sincerity and self-sacrifice. The fact that the Jews in Persia were clinging to their Jewish identity even as they were threatened with a death sentence, in the face of almost certain destruction, demonstrated a greater dedication and self-sacrifice than their acceptance of the Torah at Sinai, when they saw obvious miracles.
So while on Yom Kippur we fast, on Purim we eat and drink, on Yom Kippur, we are every moment in the synagogue, on Purim, we rush in the streets to the houses of our neighbors to give gifts, there is a similarity between these two holidays after all. Both represent a connection with the divine; on Yom Kippur, we aim to rise higher, to reach an aspect of G-d that is beyond the physical world. On Purim, we bring G-d closer to us and realize the holiness in every object we use and every moment we enjoy. This is the way it will be in the time of the Redemption, when the world will be transformed into Paradise.