In the times of Esther and Mordekhai the Jews of Shushan asked King Ahashverosh (Xerxes, 486-465 sec) for an extra day to fight against their enemies. The King granted their request and the Jews of Shushan fought on the 13th of Adar and on the 14th of Adar and celebrated their victory on the 15th of Adar. In chapter 9 of Megillat Esther it is told that Mordechai wanted the Jews to celebrate 2 days in a row, as if it were a Yom Tob, on the 14th and 15th of Adar. This new “festival” was not easily accepted. As is the case today with the celebration of Yom haAtzmaut or Yom Yerushalayim or the commemoration of Yom haShoa, some Jews argued that we should only celebrate the festivities mentioned in the Tora.
For this reason, some resisted that Purim was declared a day of celebration and others, who accepted to celebrate Purim, refused to celebrate for two days in a row (verse 27). Why? Although the text of the Megillah does not make any direct reference to it, there are indications that there was some tension between the Jews of Shushan and the Yehudim who lived in the land of Israel. Where was the center of the Jews? Shushan or Yerushalayim? On the one hand, Shushan was the Empire’s Capital and everything that happened in the Empire was decided there and influenced all the Jews of the world. What happened in Purim was the best example! Jerusalem, on the other hand, was only a “small” province of the Persian Empire, and although the Second Bet haMiqdash was already functioning, the city was in ruins. But it is still the heart and soul of our nation.
To avoid these tensions and finding a consensus among all Jews, the Megillah tells (v. 29) that Queen Ester and Mordekhai send a second royal edict (et kol hatoqef), mentioning, very succinctly, an apparent agreement between the Jews of Shushan and the Jews of the rest of the empire, dibre shalom ve-emet, words of peace and truth. What was this agreement about?
Part of this agreement is mentioned in the text of the Megillah, the other part, in the Mishna.
DIBRE HATSOMOT
Verse 31 of chapter 9 says: “[And Esther wrote and sent the second royal edicts] to establish these days of Purim in their appointed times, as they had established for them Mordekhai the Yehudi and Queen Esther, as they had set for them and his descendants the times of fasting and lamentations. “
According to Rabbi Abraham Eben Ezra, “the fasts” mentioned in this verse do not refer to the fast of Esther. What it actually means is that finally all the Jews of the empire, including the Jews of Israel, agreed to celebrate Purim in the same way that they had already agreed to observe the fasts decreed a few years earlier, mentioned by the prophet Zechariah (8: 19): “Thus haShem said, God of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth month, will be converted for the house of Yehudah into joy and joy …”. These fasts, like Purim, had not been mentioned in the Torah but had been universally accepted. The Megillah says that ALL Jews finally accepted to celebrate Purim, and compared the accepting of observing this new Holiday with the observance of the public fasts.
SHUSHAN PURIM
The Megillah also mentions the celebration of the second day of Purim. But, as an alternative day, not as an additional day of celebration. The Jews who live in towns and villages, the vast majority of Jews, would celebrate Purim on the 14th of Adar. While Jews who live in “walled” cities, these are fortified cities (usually, capital cities) would celebrate Purim on the 15th of Adar
Now, the second Beth haMiqdash had already been built, albeit precariously, by Zerubabel, but the city of Jerusalem was still in ruins. Jerusalem, then, did not have a wall! This situation only changed about 25 or 30 years later, with the arrival Nehemia to Yerushalayim, who built the wall to protect the city. In order to keep the dignity and honor of Yerushalayim, and consider it a walled city, the Rabbis established that cities that were walled since in the days of Yehousha bin Nun would receive the status of “walled cities” and that would include, therefore, Jerusalem.
Since then, in Jerusalem, Purim is observed on the 15th of Adar. According to some opinions, the city of Tiberia in northern Israel is also considered a walled city. Tiberias has walls in some parts of the city and the Lake Kineret, a natural fortification of the city, is also considered part of the city “walls”.
