SHUSHAN PURIM

15th of Adar, 5770

In Jerusalem today is still Purim. Better said, in Jerusalem today ISPurim. It’s called Shushan Purim..... Let’s start form the beginning…. In the times of Esther and Mordechai, the Jews of Shushan asked the King for an additional day to fight their enemies. So they waged war on the 14th of Adar instead of the 13th of Adar, and they celebrated their deliverance on the 15th of Adar, instead of the 14th.

Megillat Esther distinguishes between Shushan and all other places: "that’s is why all the Jews in the unwalled cities (be’are haperazot…) celebrate ... the 14th ….
Why does the Megillah mention unwalled cities? Because Shushan was a strongly fortified city, surrounded by a wall, a fact that gives certain preeminence to a city. Wishing however, to accord honor to the Land of Israel the Rabbis determined that any city which walls, from the days of Yehoshua bin Nun under whose leadership, the Jewish People first entered and conquered the Land of Israel, will have the same status as Shushan – although they might presently lack surrounding walls and might be in a state of ruin - and in those cities Purim will be celebrated the 15th of Adar.

In our times, the only city in which Purim is observed on the 15th of Adar is Jerusalem, "Yerushalayim.". According to some opinions the city of Tiberias, in the north of Israel, is also considered a walled city, one of the “walls” being the Kineret lake.

Happy Shushan Purim!