Purim

🎉 🇮🇱 Israel • February 26, 2026

Days off: 1 days • Falls on Thursday

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Purim — holiday, Israel (February 26, 2026)

Purim Description

A joyous festival commemorating the salvation of Persian Jews from Haman's genocidal plot, as recounted in the Book of Esther. The day is marked by four mitzvot: hearing the Megillah (Scroll of Esther) read in synagogue (with noisemakers drowning out Haman's name), sending mishloach manot (food gifts) to friends, giving charity to the poor, and enjoying a festive seudah (meal). Costumes and masquerade parties fill the streets, with children and adults alike dressed in elaborate outfits. In Jerusalem, Shushan Purim is celebrated a day later. Government offices, banks, and most businesses close. It is the most carnival-like of all Jewish holidays, with an atmosphere of joyful abandon.

📜 History & Origins

Purim celebrates the events recorded in the biblical Book of Esther (c. 5th century BCE), when Queen Esther and her cousin Mordecai foiled a plot by Haman, vizier to King Ahasuerus of Persia, to annihilate the Jews of the empire. The name 'Purim' comes from pur, the lot Haman cast to choose the date of the massacre. The holiday was established by Esther and Mordecai and, according to the Talmud, was given final rabbinic sanction in the 2nd century CE.

🎉 How It's Celebrated

The centerpiece is the public reading of the Megillat Esther; every time Haman's name is spoken, the congregation erupts in noise from ra'ashanim (groggers) to blot it out. The day carries four mitzvot: hearing the Megillah, sending mishloach manot (small packages of food and drink) to friends, giving matanot la'evyonim (gifts to the poor), and the festive Purim seudah. Children — and increasingly adults — parade in costumes recalling Esther, Mordecai, or, for fun, any popular figure, and Adloyada carnivals fill the streets of cities like Holon and Tel Aviv.

🍽️ Traditional Foods

Hamantaschen (Oznei Haman), triangular pastries filled with poppy seed, prune, apricot, or chocolate, are the iconic Purim treat, said to represent Haman's three-cornered hat or his ears. Mishloach manot gift baskets brim with hamantaschen, wine, and packaged sweets. The festive meal is famously accompanied by wine, in keeping with the Talmudic injunction to drink until one 'cannot tell Haman from Mordecai,' and kreplach — small meat-filled dumplings — are a traditional Ashkenazi dish.

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