Today is the Fast of Esther, in preparation for Purim. Y’all know the Purim story, yes? Well, in Esther 4:16, she says
Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which [is] not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.
We do not, of course, fast for three days and nights. In fact, most of us don’t fast at all—Your Humble Blogger certainly never has. I have mentioned here, probably most years, that Purim makes me uneasy, altogether. It’s possible that observing the Fast of Esther would help with that, somehow, although honestly I can’t see how.
Still, this is the first time in years that I have thought about the fast of Esther on the day of it, largely thanks to an attempt of mine to find blogs that write about Scripture from a similar standpoint to mine. This attempt has been largely unsuccessful, although I did discover some interesting things about the Purim traditions… anyway, to go along with the drinking and cross-dressing and triangular cookies, there’s a fast day. Which is probably pretty much over for all of you now. Ah, well.
Tolerabimus quod tolerare debemus,
-Vardibidian.