Ukrainian Jews celebrate Purim

The jolly festival of Purim is celebrated every year on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar (late winter/early spring). Purim 2018 begins on Wednesday night, February 28, and continues through Thursday, March 1 (March 2 in Jerusalem). It commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from Haman’s plot “to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, infants and women, in a single day,” as recorded in the Megillah (book of Esther).

Celebrations include:

• Reading of the Megillah (book of Esther), which recounts the story of the Purim miracle.
• Giving money gifts to at least two poor people.
• Sending gifts of two kinds of food to at least one person.
• A festive Purim feast, which often includes wine or other intoxicating beverages.

A traditional Purim food is hamantaschen (or oznay Haman), three-cornered pastries bursting with poppy seeds or another sweet filling. Literally translated as “Haman’s ears,” this name led to the myth that the pastries celebrate the cutting off of the wicked man’s ears before he was hanged.