To this day, no one really understands what the word “Purim” means. You probably learned in Sunday School that the word means “lots,” referring to the lots that Haman cast to determine the date on which the Jews would be destroyed. (Esther 3:7 and 9:24). Like so many other things that you learned in Sunday School, however, there is more to it.

In fact, scholars simply do not know. As Hayyim Schauss points out in his classic Guide to Jewish Holy Days: “The origin of Purim cannot be stated with certainty” (p. 252). In a note, Schauss explains: “The meaning that the name ’Purim’ originally had is also obscure to this day. The explanation that the Book of Esther gives for the name was conceived in later times. For a festival must acquire its name from the essence of the day, not from an unimportant incident. Of what importance is it that Haman decreed the day through the throwing of lots? The various explanations offered by Jewish and Christian scholars for the name Purim are mere hypotheses and none of them wholly satisfactory.”

Over the years, scholars have speculated that “pur” was related to “purah” (wine-press), or parur (pot), or parar (to split or divide). All of these are wrong and have been discredited.

Until now, that is. For here I reveal the true hidden meaning of “pur.” How was I able to discover this hidden meaning?

One day I was studying the famous saying of the first century Rabbi Ben Bag Bag, referring to Torah: “Turn it and turn it, for everything is in it. Reflect on it and grow old and gray with it. Don’t turn from it, for nothing is better than it. (Avot 5:22)” (I study this portion often because I identify with the gray part.)

This time I took the first command literally. I wrote out the word and turned it upside down. You need to try this now. This Hebrew word written upside down, according to the prescription of Ben Bag Bag, becomes the English word “GIL.”

Ingenious as this is, it led to more questions. Was this a prophetic reference to the Wizards basketball player whose foolishness mocks our weak attempts to be ridiculous for Purim? Probably not. In order to understand the hidden meaning, however, one needs to understand the English “GIL” as transliterated Hebrew. In Hebrew, “gil” (lyg) means “age.” This interpretive technique follows Ben Bag Bag: “Turn it and turn it…” In other words, when we turn the word “pur” twice, we come up with “gil,” or “age.”

Age is indeed a central theme of the Book of Esther, as we all know. The King Ahasuerus banishes his long-time (older) Queen Vashti and seeks not just a new queen, but a beautiful YOUNGmaiden as the new queen. Shamelessly, the King throws off his life partner for a young virgin, seeking only YOUTHFULreplacements. It is our good fortune – and we thank God – that Esther came from a good family and was wise beyond her years.

A parallel plot, often overlooked, is revealed when Haman’s wife, Zeresh, tells him, along with his trusted advisors, “If Mordecai … is of Jewish stock, you will not overcome him; you will fall before him to your ruin.” Haman, of course, ignores the wise counsel of his mature wife and goes off on his own, making a pass for the YOUNGEsther. Some people never learn.

Clearly the message of the Purim story is to respect age and not chase after youth, especially if you are an old king who has trouble setting limits. I am so pleased that I discovered this hidden meaning before I retired, so I could share it with you. And how meaningful that the key was provided by Ben Bag Bag, who instructs us to “grow old and gray with it.”

So be sure to read parts of this newsletter upside down, or in the mirror, to look for hidden meanings and solutions to everyday problems. You never know what you will find.

- Rabbi Fred N. Reiner