Today, several students of Harlow College’s Creative Writing course dressed up to commemorate the Jewish holiday Purim, which celebrates the time a Jewish queen by the name of Esther prevented a massacre of the Jewish people in Persia. This was organised by Jewish student Mica Isaacs who encouraged his classmates to come into college adorned with extravagant costumes, as is customary during Purim.
The tradition of dressing up at Purim is, in fact, not based in any specific historical occurrence. It is disputed from where this custom originates. Some say it represents how throughout history Jewish people were forced to pretend not to be Jewish (wearing the ‘costume’ of different races), while others say it mirrors the dressing up of Mordecai in Achashverosh’s royal garb in the story of Purim. Most likely, however, is that somewhere along the line somebody decided it would be fun to dress up on Purim, and this became an annual tradition. The students who participated in this custom and dressed up today (shown in the photo) were Alex Mustafa, Beth Gourpinar, Frank Calnan, Mica Isaacs, and Tiana Rajamahendra.
Additionally, although he did not dress up, student Theo Dunstone brought along his home-made Hamantaschen — biscuits with a sweet filling traditionally eaten during Purim. ‘Hamantasch’ (plural ‘Hamantaschen’), originating from Yiddish ‘Homentash’ (plural ‘Homentashn’), directly translates to “Pocket of Haman”, referencing the shape of the biscuit being like a pocket holding its filling, and the evil Haman, a significant figure in the Book of Esther, which Purim commemorates. Strangely, in Hebrew, Hamantaschen are referred to as ‘אוזני המן’, pronounced ‘oznei Haman’ (singular ‘אוזן המן’, ‘ozen Haman’), meaning “Ears of Haman”. Student Mica Isaacs also brought in his own Hamantaschen baked by his mother.
During lunchtime, Mica hosted a reading of the Book of Esther in the food court at Harlow College to be attended by members of his own class and by any passersby at the food court who wished to join in. As an added element of audience participation, the tradition encourages listeners of the story to make noise using percussive noisemakers known as graggers whenever the reader utters the name ‘Haman’ as an attempt to blot out the name of this evil person. Since they did not have any graggers today, the listeners of the story instead made noise by banging on their tables.
Haman was a prime minister in the Persian empire around the 5th century BCE. He attempted to have an order put through which would allow him to find and kill all the Jews in the country. This plan was agreed upon by the King Achashverosh and was set to be carried out on the 13th day of the Jewish month of Adar. However, King Achashverosh’s wife, the Queen Esther, was secretly a Jew, and her cousin/adoptive father Mordecai was the leader of the Jews at the time. Esther knew about Haman’s plan to wipe out the Jews, but was scared to confront the King about it as she knew that anybody who approached the King uninvited would be put to death unless the King extended his golden sceptre to this uninvited guest. Before marrying Esther, King Achashverosh had put his previous wife Vashti to death for disrespecting him, so Esther knew that he was likely to do the same to her.
To encourage Esther to confront the King, Mordecai told her this:
“Do not think that you will escape the fate of all the Jews by being in the king’s palace. For if you will remain silent at this time, relief and salvation will come to the Jews from another source, and you and the house of your father will be lost. And who knows if it is not for just such a time that you reached this royal position.”
This was enough to bring Esther to face her fears and approach King Achashverosh. She begged him to rescind his order to massacre the Jews, and he agreed, as his mind had been changed regarding the Jews when he found out that Mordecai had foiled a plot of two conspirators planning to kill the King. However, once an order from the King had been put through, it was not able to be rescinded. Instead, the King had Haman hanged and put through a new order allowing the Jews to defend themselves against their incoming enemy. When the 13th of Adar came, the Jews were ready, and a battle commenced where the Jews emerged victorious, having killed everybody who had planned to kill them.
Nearly every single Jewish holiday commemorates a time where Jews stood up to an oppressor of theirs. On Passover, it’s the Egyptians. On Hanukkah, it’s the Greeks. This is what us Jews have had to deal with for all of history: hatred, dehumanisation, and genocide. Our entire culture is built on us having been rejected by others and finding community amongst ourselves. This Purim, try to find community with the people around you, and make efforts to prevent hatred before it starts. We could all use less Hamans in the world.
Our photograph shows from L to R: Beth Gourpinar, Tiana Rajamahendra, Alex Mustafa, Frank Calnan and Mica Isaacs.