The Contrast between Purim and Chanukah

Dovid Eidensohn

At first glance, Purim and Chanukah are very similar holidays. Both are rabbinical holidays. The heroes of both periods put their stamp on Jewish life for generations. A close study of the two holidays, however, and the inside stories of the heroes involved, paints a different picture. Both periods had their terror and their triumph. Both periods had their heroes and their villains. But the actual outcome for the heroes of the two holidays was much different.

Let us begin with Purim. The Purim story is about the Persian King Achashverush, a man of enormous wealth, who, originally, as taught by a commentator there, hated Jews more than Haman! He was changed when Mordechai, who knew the Seventy Languages, overheard officers of the king plotting to murder him. The king investigated and killed them. He wrote down that Mordechai the Jew saved him, but did nothing to honor him. And so it was for a long time. Then Mordechai had a falling out with Haman, who decided to kill him. It seems that at one time Mordechai was traveling somewhere with Haman when Haman ran out of money. He asked Mordechai for money and Mordechai replied that only if he would become Mordechai’s slave would he give him the money. Haman having no choice, agreed. Now Mordechai noticed that Haman walked around with royal clothes bedecked with pagan images. Mordechai refused to rise for Haman and his pagan images and when Haman objected, Mordechai showed Haman the paper signed by Haman that Haman was the slave of Mordechai. The Jews were terrified at the act of Mordechai to torment such a powerful person as Haman, and they protested to Mordechai, but he was obstinate.

Ultimately, we know what happened, that Queen Esther came to the king uninvited in his special palace, an act which could result in her being killed by the king, but he accepted her and proffered to her his royal specter, a sign of respect. She told him she came to him to invite him to a banquet to honor her, the king and Haman. The king accepted and ordered Haman to come. The king asked her during the banquet why she had invited him and she said she would tell him tomorrow at the next banquet. He agreed and they parted and came together the next day.

Until now Esther told the king nothing about her background. He only knew that she was a great beauty, which sufficed for him. He also suspected that her refusal to divulge her past was negative, probably indicating a lower level of birth, which would make it impossible to have a child from her, unless she was from royal blood. Thus, although they were married, the king limited himself to making sure he would have no children from her.

Now, at the second banquet, the king again asked Esther what her request from him was. She replied that she was requesting that the plan of Haman to wipe out the Jews would be reversed. The king was startled and went outside of the royal room to the place where his beautiful trees were planted. He noticed, in great dismay, that people were chopping down these trees. He asked why this was being done, and they, who were actually heavenly angels, sent to implicate Haman, told the king that Haman had instructed them to chop down the trees. Now the king was doubly furious. First of all because Haman wanted to kill his wife the queen, and secondly because Haman had told people to chop down the royal trees. He came back to where Haman and Esther were and noticed that Haman was actually on the royal recliner where the queen was sitting. The king exploded and roared at Haman, “Do you force yourself on the queen in my castle?”

Somebody told the king that Haman had constructed a huge tree to hang Mordechai on it. The king ordered, “Hang him on it.”

Haman was immediately draped so he could not talk or object to anything and was prepared for his death. The king then turned to Esther who, for the first time, told the king about her royal birth, as a descendent of the Jewish king Saul. Now the king, for the first time, spoke to her as a royal person to a royal person and treated her with great honor. For Esther, this was a great tragedy. For when she discussed with Mordechai about her attempt to reach the king she added, “And if I will be destroyed, I will be destroyed.” This could have meant that the king might be upset by her visit to him and kill her. But it could also mean that until now when the king forced himself upon her, she was not a sinner, and could continue relations with her husband Mordechai. But now that she had come to the king on her own, and he for the first time wanted to have a child from her, she could no longer relate to Mordechai. One reason was that if the baby emerged with the appearance of Mordechai the king could not use him as the next king. Also, Esther feared that her willingly going to the king without being forced would itself make her forbidden to ever be with Mordechai. Thus, Purim was a tragedy for both Esther and Mordechai, who deeply loved each other, and now were permanently separated.

 All of this is in contrast to the Chanukah story. There the group of Cohanim priests who fought successfully to drive the Greeks from Israel did not suffer in any way like this. True, some of them died in the battles, but they died as heroes in war, without the pain and the shame of being forbidden to their dear husband and wife. Furthermore, in the Chanukah story, the most prominent person was not a man at all, but a woman. She was a great beauty, the daughter of the High Priest, who was selected by a Greek as was their style, to be with him against her will. She came, and agreed to his wishes, but suggested that they begin with some delicious food she had prepared. He ate some, and drank some, and eventually, simply fell down unconscious. She then killed him, and took his head to the Greek general. When he saw the decapitated head, he became terrorized, and he and the entire Greek army fled Israel.

Thus, the heroine of the Chanukah story was a woman, who completely retained her honor. But the heroine of the Purim story lived the rest of her life in great shame and pain, although she gave birth to children of Achashverush who became beneficiaries of the Jewish people. And Mordechai, who lived without our knowing any more children from him, achieved great honor from the king, the Jews and Persians, but the pain of the loss of his beloved wife remained.

So, until we know the entire story, we are missing important details, which to us may not seem crucial, but for Mordechai and Esther they were crucial. May their memory be honored for all time, in this world and the next.

Yes, the Jews never had such easy lives. But there are various times and various problems. Purim and Chanukah are, in this sense, instructive. Whatever the Jews suffer from, their pain lasts in this world, and the hope is that that when they go to a higher world, they find the full glory they truly deserve.