ONLY YOU CAN SAVE PURIM FOR BLAIR BLEICHMAN.

. Well, on Tuesday, high school sophomore Blair B. has to hand in her next paper for Mr. Crowley’s Social Studies class, her least favorite class ever.  

(Mr. Crowley, or so the students at Parker told me). 

  Once again, she thinks it will be easy if she writes about a Jewish holiday. Once again, this will be a disaster, as Blair never went back to study any part of Judaism after her Bat Mitzvah.  She has not gone back to synagogue once, even  when her brother dared her to do it for all the money in his Tootsie Roll bank!  (It was $137.67 and a 20 shekel bill from Bubbie  Eleanor). While she thinks she remembers everything perfectly, Blair has in fact forgotten in two years almost  all of what she learned about Judaism. She can only remember enough to get her in trouble.

 

Be nice and help her by correcting enough of her mistakes for her not to get a paper back from her teacher  with “ GRADE: 66% D-    SEE ME AFTER CLASS” written at the top. 

 

1.     Every mistake you catch (circle or underline it) earns you a point.

 

2.     Every mistake you correct (by writing down the right answer somewhere on the page) earns you another point.

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3.     Circle something that is actually true, and you lose  a point.

 

4.     Spelling mistakes, grammar errors and typos do not count towards points.

What Blair would have written if she had spent half as much time studying Torah as she has in gym: 

  The Book of Esther starts with a 6  month (180 day) drinking feast given by king Achash’veirosh , for the army of Persia and Media, for the civil servants and princes in the 127 provinces of his kingdom, at the conclusion of which a seven day drinking feast for the inhabitants of Shushan, rich and poor--   with a separate drinking feast for the women organized by the Queen Vashti in the pavilion of the Royal palace. 

 

At this feast Achash’veirosh  drinks alcohol and orders his wife Vashti to display her beauty before the people and the princess by wearing the royal crown. She refuses, and Achash’veirosh  decides to exile her.   He then orders all young women to enter into a beauty pageant , so he can choose a new queen to replace Vashti. One of these is Esther (Haddassah, who changed her name to Esther so that the king wouldn't know she was from Judea), who was orphaned at a young age and was being raised by her cousin Mordechai.

 She finds favor in the king's eyes, and is made his new queen. Esther does not reveal that she is Jewish. Shortly afterwards, Mordechai discovers a plot by courtiers Bigthan and Teresh to kill Achash’veirosh . They are apprehended and  executed, and Mordechai's service to the king is recorded.

 

Achash’veirosh  appoints Haman,  the Agagite,  as his prime minister. Mordechai, who sits at the palace gates, falls into Haman's disfavor as he refuses to bow down to Haman. Having found out that Mordechai is a Jew , Haman plans to kill not just Mordechai, but  all the Jews  throughout  the empire. He obtains Achash’veirosh ' permission to execute this plan, against payment of ten thousand talents (bricks)  of silver, and he casts lots to choose the date on which to do this - the thirteenth of the month of Adar. 

When Mordechai finds out about the plans he orders widespread mourning and fasting a response. Esther discovers what has transpired; she requests that all Jews fast and pray for three days together with her, and on the fourth  day she seeks an audience with Achash’veirosh , during which she invites him to a feast in the company of Haman. During the feast, she asks them to attend a further feast the next day. Meanwhile, Haman is again offended by Mordechai and builds a gallows for him.

 

That night, Achash’veirosh  suffers from insomnia, and when the court's records are read to him to help him sleep, he learns of the services rendered by Mordechai in the previous plot against his life. Achash’veirosh  is told that Mordechai has not received any recognition for saving the king's life. Just then, Haman appears, and King Achash’veirosh  asks Haman what should be done for the man that the King wishes to honor. Thinking that the man that the King wishes to honor is himself, Haman says that the man should be given royal garments and paraded around on a royal horse led by a man shouting “This is what the king does to a man he wishes to honor.” To Haman's horror, the king instructs Haman to do so to Mordechai.

 

Later that evening, Achash’veirosh  and Haman attend Esther's second  banquet, at which she reveals that she is Jewish and that Haman is planning to execute  her people, which includes her. Achash’veirosh  orders Haman hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordechai. The previous decree against the Jews cannot be annulled, and the King allows Mordechai and Esther to write another decree as they wish. They write one that allows the Jews to defend themselves. 

As a result, on the 13th of Adar, five hundred attackers and Haman's ten sons are killed in Sushan. Throughout the empire an additional 75,000 are slain (Esther 9:16). On the 14th, another 300 are killed in Sushan.  Mordechai assumes a prominent position in Achash’veirosh ' court, and institutes an annual commemoration of the delivery of the Jewish people from destruction every year.