Your Ears Do Not Define You — A Message For Purim

‘Ear’y tales of a Jewish grandmother, dog turds, plots, resistance, and humiliation

A possible depiction of Persia in 483 BC. Image created by the author in Canva with the help of AI.

With the Jewish festival of Purim fast approaching, it is with joy that I dig out my favourite recipe. Known widely by the Yiddish name as Hamantaschen — meaning Haman’s pockets — they are cookies folded inwards at three distinct corners and filled with traditional fillings of poppy seeds or, less-traditionally, fruit compotes.

As the story in The Book of Esther — the story behind Purim — goes, Haman was the evil perpetrator of a foiled plot to kill all the Jews back in around 483 BC (3406 in the Hebrew calendar). Haman, an Agagite (Canaanite) advisor to the king of Persia, where many Jews were in exile, came up with this plot after Esther’s uncle Mordecai refused to bow down to him. That damn Jewish resistance to subordination! Esther happened to be married to the Persian king after he deposed his first wife and held a beauty pageant to find a new one — which Esther, having hidden her Jewish identity, won. Due to Mordecai’s own wily plotting and Esther’s courage, they upturned Haman’s plot. Not only did they save the Jews from annihilation but they humiliated Haman after his arrogance got the better of him by ordering his execution first.