The pouch was brought to the Pasha. He started to count the coins—and then he saw his wife’s necklace! “Now I understand that the Almighty watches over His people,” he said. “He sent the Patriarchs Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov to rescue them from harm.”
The Pasha returned the money to the Jews, and the fourth of Kislev became a day of thanksgiving for the Jews of Chevron.
Tevet: The Purim of Medzibuzh and the Curtain Purim of Prague
Should we give thanks when we are spared from even coming close to danger? The Jews of Medzibuzh decided to do so in 1648. That was the year Chmielnicki and his hordes slaughtered Jews by the thousands, massacring entire communities. When the rasha bypassed their town, the Jews declared that the 11 of Tevet should be celebrated as a Purim Katan.
In the year 1623, some beautiful and extremely costly curtains went missing from the palace of the Bohemian governor, and the Jews were accused of stealing them. The trail led to the shammash of Prague’s Meisel synagogue, Chanoch ben Moshe Altschul, and he was sentenced to be hanged. He was saved when it was revealed that an unsuspecting Jewish man had bought the curtains from two soldiers, thinking it was a legal transaction. After Altschul was released from prison, he recorded the story in his Megillat Purei Hakelayim and asked his family to read the scroll every year on the day of his salvation, the 22nd of Tevet.
Shevat: The Torah Case Purim of Saragossa
This may have happened in 1380 or 1420. Whenever the Spanish ruler made an appearance in Saragossa’s Jewish quarter, the sexton of each shul would bring a Torah case outside, as a show of respect. The Spanish ruler was very pleased, until a Jewish apostate named Marcus informed the king that the cases were empty. Marcus suggested that the king make another visit to the Jewish quarter and this time demand the cases be opened.
The night before the planned visit, each of the sextons had a dream in which someone—some say it was Eliyahu HaNavi—gave him a warning. The next day, when the king demanded that the sextons open the cases, he saw a Torah scroll sitting inside each one. Instead of punishment falling upon the Jews, it was Marcus who was hanged.
After the Jews of Saragossa were expelled from Spain, this Purim—which was celebrated on either the 17th or 18th of Shevat—traveled with them to Constantinople, Smyrna, Jerusalem, Salonica and other places.
Adar: The Purim of Rav Yom Tov Lipmann Heller and the Plum Jam Purim of Bohemia
Adar has so many special Purims you could celebrate at least one a week. One of the most famous family Purims was established by Rav Yom Tov Lipmann Heller, the Tosafos Yom Tov. Rav Heller, the chief rabbi of Bohemia, had the unenviable task of deciding how much tax each member of his kehillah had to pay. Some of his enemies took their revenge in 1629 by slandering him to the authorities. Rav Heller was given a long prison sentence, as well as a large fine. It took him many years to clear his name, and it was only after he became the chief rabbi of Krakow in 1644 that he asked his family to observe the 1st of Adar as a family Purim. Rav Heller recorded the events of this troubled time in his Megillat Eiva (The Chronicle of Enmity).
To end on a sweet note, here’s a special Purim about jam. In 1731, a Christian girl bought some plum jam from David Brandeis, a Jewish grocer who lived in Jung-Bunzlau, Bohemia. Later, the girl’s family became very ill and her father died. Brandeis was charged with selling the Christian family poisoned jam and imprisoned. The case was eventually sent to the Prague court of appeals, where it was revealed that the girl’s father had died of consumption. Brandeis was freed on the 10th of Adar, a day that his descendants celebrated as a Purim Katan for many generations.
