Purim’s Ancient Miracle Meets Israel’s Modern Reality, as Celebrations Move Underground

Purim, celebrated on the 14th of Adar, is traditionally the most joyous and spirited day of the Jewish year. It commemorates the miraculous deliverance of the Jewish people in ancient Persia, when Queen Esther and Mordechai thwarted Haman’s genocidal plot and secured the right of the Jews to defend themselves.

The day is marked by the public reading of the Megillah – the Book of Esther that tells the story – both evening and morning. Other holiday customs are giving gifts to the poor, exchanging packages of food with friends and neighbors, festive meals, generous drinking, and dressing up in costumes that hint at God’s hidden hand in history.

Purim is a celebration of Divine providence and Jewish resilience, of deliverance from evil even when all seems lost, and God has turned His face away. This year, as Israel continues to navigate a complex and ongoing security situation, they showed their faith and resilience once again.

Purim Celebrated Underground

Despite the home front guidelines regarding the ever present danger of missile strikes, Israelis proved that the joy of Purim is not dependent on location, but on spirit. Moving scenes from Monday evening showed families in costume, children celebrating, and entire communities reading the Megillah together, inside underground parking garages, bomb shelters, and even at the subway station in Tel Aviv.

All the Purim celebrations are down in the bunkers this year in Tel Aviv but spirits are higher than ever pic.twitter.com/tbiftbtqN9

— Saul Sadka (@Saul_Sadka) March 2, 2026

Today as in Those Days

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog chose to read the Megillah with the Duvdevan military unit:

כמה שמחתי לקרוא הערב את מגילת אסתר יחד עם עשרות לוחמי יחידת דובדבן.
מצדיעים ללוחמי ולוחמות ישראל השומרים עלינו בכל החזיתות.

לכל עם ישראל, בערב הזה של חג הפורים – מי ייתן כבימים ההם, שגם בזמן הזה – נדע אורה ושמחה ובשורה גדולה. pic.twitter.com/3ilA0XfwcT

— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) March 2, 2026

“On this eve of Purim”, he wished the Jewish people, “May we know today as we did in those days – joy, light and good tidings.”

May God reverse the course of events as He did all those years ago, and the days planned for Israel’s destruction become days of deliverance and renewed closeness to God.