The Difference Between Purim....And Shushan Purim

                  We all....hopefully....know the story of Purim. Esther becomes queen....and says...."If I perish...I perish"....as she approached the king to save her people. The king gave the Jews a day to defeat their enemies. Queen Esther dedicated the day after the victory as a day of celebration....observed right up to today....Purim! If only it were that simple?
                  The Jewish holiday of Purim begins in Israel this Saturday....March 23....at sundown. Six hours ahead of our Eastern time....and sundown being about 6 PM....the holiday will start our time about noon this Saturday....and last until their sundown the following day....but it gets a little complicated in that they have something called....Shushan Purim.
                  So Purim is celebrated on the 14th of the month of Adar....but since this is a leap year in the Jewish lunar cycle to make up for lost days....they have two consecutive months of Adar....Adar I and Adar II. Are you still with me. I'm not sure I'm with me. So Purim this year is on Adar II...beginning on the fourteenth day....this Saturday.
                  Purim is a day of rejoicing. The Jews defended themselves on Adar 13....one day....so the celebration was to be Adar 14....with an exception....that being in walled cities....where the day is celebrated on the 15th! You see....the king allowed the Jews to defend themselves for two days in the city of Shushan....so the day of rejoicing is a day later. Today Shushan Purim is applied to Jerusalem....the walled city....so the day after is the 15th of Adar....not the 14th. Thus Purim in Israel is celebrated on two different days....the 14th in most of Israel....(and the world)....but Shushan Purim on the 15th in the walled city of Jerusalem.
                 Going back to last year....the officials in Jerusalem had planned ahead on a big celebration....including a parade....with about thirty floats....this on Shushan Purim 2024....but they planned this before the horrific attacks at the end of the October 2023 week-long celebration of Sukkot. So do they cancel the plans...or go ahead with them? Well they decided to go through with the major celebration anyway....(it had been over forty years since they had a parade.) 
                 This is a holiday of dressing up in costumes...and giving gifts...and doing charitable works. How they handle the celebration along with the war and the sadness we will have to find out.
                  As for us....we are to pray for the peace of Jerusalem....and If we in any way gave our word to Israel....we had better keep it!