A Purim Play - The Script

Scene 1: The banquet rooms of Ahasuerus and Vashti

Song: Tumbling Lots of Purim

Narrator: It happened in the days of Ahasuerus - the very Ahasuerus who ruled from India to Nubia, 127 provinces in all - that in those days, in the third year of his reign, as King Ahasuerus was sitting on his royal throne in the Fortress of Shushan, he gave a feast for all his princes and servants, the forces of Persia and Media, with the high aristocracy and the princes of the provinces in his presence, displaying the opulent wealth of his kingdom and the splendid honor of his greatness, for many days - 180 in all.

And when those days were over, the king gave, for all the people who were to be found in the Fortress of Shushan, from grandee to commoner, a seven-day feast in the courtyard in the garden of the king’s pavilion.

And oh the cloths of white, percaline and violet, bound with cords of linen and purple on silver rods and alabaster pillars, with couches adorned with gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry and alabaster, mother-of-pearl and dark marble, with the drinks served in vessels of gold and vessels of various sorts, and much royal wine lavished with kingly bounty! And the drinking proceeded according to law, no one setting restrictions, for thus had the king set down for all the palace butlers, to do as each and every man might wish.

Likewise Queen Vashti gave a women’s feast in King Ahasuerus’ palace.

King: Bring over Queen Vashti, wearing the royal crown, so the princes and people can look at her.

Eunuch: The king commands his servants to bring Queen Vashti, wearing the royal crown, to the king’s banquet, so the princess and people can look at her.

Friend 1: It is not proper. Does he think you are a concubine?

Friend 2: Has he forgotten that you are the granddaughter of Nebuchadnezzer?

[Vashti indicates that she will not come. The eunuchs leave Vashti’s banquet and walk back to the king’s banquet]

Eunuch: The queen refused to come.

[King appears angry, gets up and walks around the room while the following dialogue is spoken without him hearing]

Prince 1: The King is very angry.

Prince 2: Why didn’t the queen come?

Prince 3: Would you ask your wife to dance before a group of drunken men?

Prince 4: Well, does she think she is too good to appear before the King?

Prince 5: I heard that she has become leprous and has a tail.

Prince 6: I heard that the king used to be a stable boy in her house.

[King stops pacing and comes back to the table to face the princes]

Memuchan: It is not only the king whom Queen Vashti has offended, but all the princes and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. For report of the queen’s deed will get out to all the women, making them feel contempt for their husbands, for they will say, ‘When King Ahasuerus ordered Queen Vashti brought to him she would not come.’ This very day the princesses of Persia and Media, who have heard what the queen said, are saying this to all the princes of the king, and contempt and anger abound!

Song: Oh Vashti

Memuchan: Should it so please the king, let a royal declaration proceed from him, and let it be written into the laws of Persia and Media, so as never to pass away, that Vashti shall come no more before King Ahasuerus. And let the king give her queenship to another woman who is better than she. And the declaration the king shall make will be heard in all his kingdom - and magnificent it is! - so that all the women will show honor to their husbands, from grandee to commoner.

Narrator: The idea pleased the king and the princes, and the king did as Memuchan said, and he sent letters to all the king’s provinces, to each and every province in its own script, and to each and every people in its own language, to the effect that every man should be ruler in his household and speak the language of his own people.

Some time later, when King Ahasuerus’ wrath had subsided, he thought back on Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.

Attendant: Let there be sought for the king beautiful young maidens, and let the king appoint officials throughout the provinces of his kingdom to gather every beautiful young maiden into the Fortress of Shushan. And the maiden who pleases the king shall reign in place of Vashti.

Narrator: The idea pleased the king, and thus he did.

Scene 2: Mordecai’s house and the King’s courtyard/chambers

Narrator: Now there lived a Jew in the Fortress of Shushan, a Benjaminite by the name of Mordecai son of Yair son of Shimei son of Kish, who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem along with the exiles that were exiled with Jehoiachin king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile.

And Mordecai had been raising Hadassah (known also as Esther), his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the maiden was beautiful and lovely to look at. And upon the death of her father and mother, Mordecai had taken her to himself as a daughter. And when the king’s word and law were announced and many maidens were gathered into the Fortress of Shushan , Esther too was taken into the palace.

Now Esther had not revealed who her people and kindred were, for Mordecai had ordered her not to reveal it. And each and every day Mordecai would walk about in front of the harem courtyard to learn about Esther’s welfare and what would become of her.

Song: The Wind Cries Esther

Narrator: Now when each maiden’s turn came to go to the palace of King Ahasuerus, the maiden would go the king in this manner: Everything she asked for would be given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s quarters. She would not go to the king again unless the king took a liking to her and she was personally summoned.

When it came the turn of Esther the daughter of Abihayil the uncle of Mordecai, whom he had taken as a daughter, to go to the king, she asked for nothing ; so Esther gained the favor of all who saw her.

And Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus in his royal quarters, in the tenth month (the month of Tebeth) in the seventh year of his rule. And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she gained his favor and kindness more than all the other maidens, and he placed the royal crown on her head and set her to reign in place of Vashti. Then the king gave a great feast - the feast of Esther - for all his princes and servants, and he declared a remission of taxes to the provinces, and he gave out gifts with royal bounty.

While Mordecai was sitting in the King’s Gate, Esther still did not reveal her kindred and her people, just as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther obeyed the word of Mordecai just as when she was his ward.

Scene 3: The King’s gate and palace

Narrator: In those days, when Mordecai was sitting in the King’s Gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the King’s servants from the Threshold Guards, became angry at the king and sought to strike out at King Ahasuerus. But the matter became known to Mordecai, and he informed Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai’s name. The matter was investigated and found to be true, and the two [servants] were punished. And this was recorded in the book of the chronicles in the king’s presence.

Sometime later, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman son on Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and set his chair above those of all the other princes who were with him. And all the king’s servants who were in the King’s Gate would bow and prostrate themselves to Haman, for thus the king had commanded on his behalf. Mordecai, however, would neither bow nor prostrate himself.

Servants: Why do you transgress the king’s command?

Mordecai: I am a Jew and I cannot bow to Haman because he is an Agagite whose ancestors attacked my people Israel in the time of Saul when we wandered in the desert.

Narrator: And as they said this to him day by day, and he would not listen to them, they informed Haman, to see if Mordecai’s claims would prevail, for he had informed them that he was a Jew.

In the first month, the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, the pur (meaning “the lot”) was cast in Haman’s presence for each day in succession, and for each month, [to annihilate the people of Mordecai in one day. And it fell on the thirteenth day of the month,] on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

Song: Sympathy for Haman

Haman: There is a certain people scattered and unassimilated among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose laws are different from those of every other people and who do not obey the laws of the king. It is not worthwhile for the king to leave them alone. Should it so please the king, let it be written to have them destroyed, and I will pay out 10,000 talents of silver to the executive officers to put in the royal treasuries.

Narrator: Thereupon the king took his signet ring off his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, persecutor or the Jews.

King: The silver I grant you, as well as the people to do with as you please.

Narrator: So on the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned, and it was written in accordance with all that Haman had commanded to each and every province in its own script and each and every people in its own language. In King Ahasuerus’ name it was written, and it was sealed with the king’s signet ring. And letters were sent by means of couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy all the Jews on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, with their property as spoil.

The couriers went forth urgently at the king’s command, while the law was also issued in the Fortress of Shushan.

And the king and Haman sat down to feast, while the city of Shushan was thrown into dismay.

Scene 4: The City of Shushan and Esther’s chambers in the palace

Narrator: When Mordecai found out all that had happened, he tore his garments and put on sackcloth and ashes. And he went out into the midst of the city and cried out, loud and bitterly. And he came up to the King’s Gate but no farther, for it is forbidden to enter within the King’s Gate dressed in sackcloth.

And in each and every province, wherever the king’s word and his law reached, there was severe grief among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, with sackcloth and ashes being spread out for the masses.

Esther’s maids and servants came and informed her of this, and the queen was deeply shaken. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai and to take his sackcloth away form him, but he would not accept them. So Esther summoned Hatach, one of the King’s servants, whom he had put into her service, and commanded him to go to Mordecai in the city square in front of the King’s Gate, to find out the what and the wherefore of the matter. And Mordecai informed him of all that had happened to him and of the exact sum of silver that Haman said he would pay into the treasuries of the king for the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him a written copy of the law decreeing their destruction, which had been published in Shushan, that he might show it to Esther and inform her of the affair, and also to command her to go to the king and to implore and beseech him on behalf of her people. So Hatach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. And Esther spoke to Hatach and commanded him to go to Mordecai.

Esther: All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that for every man or woman who comes unsummoned to the king in the inner court there is but one law - to be put to death - unless the king extend to him the gold scepter, in which case he may live. But I have not been summoned to go to the king these thirty days.

Mordecai: Do not imagine that you alone of all the Jews will escape in the king’s palace. For if you are silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another source, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows if it was not just for a time like this that you reached royal station?

Song: Oh Queen Esther

Esther: Go, gather all the Jews who are in Shushan, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night and day, and I too, with my maids, will fast in this way. And in this condition I will go the king, contrary to law, and if I perish, I perish.

Narrator: And Mordecai crossed over and did all that Esther had commanded him.

Scene 5: The King’s chambers/Esther’s feast room and Haman’s house

Narrator: On the third day, Esther put on royal garments and stood in the inner courtyard of the palace, in front of the king’s quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne in the royal quarters opposite the door of the building. As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she gained his favor, and the king extended to Esther the gold scepter he was holding, and Esther approached and touched the end of the scepter.

King: What troubles you, Queen Esther, and what is your request? Be it as great as half the kingdom, it shall be granted you.

Esther: Should it so please the king, let the king and Haman come today to the feast which I have prepared for him.

King: Bring Haman quickly to do what Esther has said.

Narrator: So the king and Haman came to the feast Esther had prepared.

[At the wine course the king said to Esther]

King: What is your wish? It shall be granted you! And what is your request? Be it as great as half the kingdom, it shall be fulfilled!

Esther: My wish and my request . . . If I have found favor in the king’s eyes, and should it please the king to grant my wish and to fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come to the feast I shall prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said.

Narrator: So Haman went out that day merry and lighthearted. But when he saw Mordecai in the King’s Gate, and Mordecai did not rise nor quake because of him, Haman was filled with wrath against Mordecai. But Haman controlled himself, went home, and called for his friends and his wife Zeresh.

And Haman described to them his opulent wealth and his numerous sons, and all the ways in which the king had promoted him and advanced him above all the other princes and servants of the king.

Haman: Moreover, Queen Esther invited no one but me, together with the king, to the feast which she prepared, and for tomorrow too I am summoned to her with the king. Yet all this is worthless to me so long as I must see Mordecai the Jew sitting in the gate of the king.

Zeresh (and his friends): Have a stake made fifty cubits high and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai impaled on it. Then come merry with the king to the feast.

Narrator: The idea pleased Haman, and he prepared the stake.

Scene 6: The King’s chambers and the city of Shushan

Song: Into the Mystic

Narrator: That night the king’s sleep forsook him, so he sent for the book of chronicles, the annals. And as they were being read aloud to the king, it was found written that Mordecai had informed on Bigthan and Teresh, two of the King’s servants from the Threshold Guards, who had sought to strike out at King Ahasuerus.

King: What was done for Mordecai for this by way of honor or promotion?

Young Attendants: Nothing at all was done for him.

[Knocking heard off stage]

King: Who is in the courtyard?

Narrator: Now Haman had come into the outer courtyard of the palace to tell the king to impale Mordecai on the stake he had readied for him.

Attendants: It is Haman standing in the courtyard.

King: Let him enter. [Haman enters] What should be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?

Haman: [aside] Now whom could the king desire to honor more than me?
The man whom the king desires to honor . . . [Haman thinks on how he should exploit this opportunity] Let royal garments be brought - ones the king has worn - and a horse upon which the king has ridden, and upon whose head the royal crown has been placed. And let the garments and the horse be given to one of the king’s princes of the ancient nobility itself. Have them put the garments on the man the king desires to honor, and have them set him on the horse in the city square and cry out before him: “Thus shall be done for the man whom the king desires to honor!”

King: Quick! Take the garments and the horse, just as you said, and do this for Mordecai the Jew who sits in the King’s Gate. Don’t neglect a word of all you have said.

Narrator: So Haman took the garments and the horse and clothed Mordecai and set him on the horse in the city square and cried out before him -

Haman: Thus shall be done for the man whom the king desires to honor. . . (repeating half-heartedly)

Scene 7: Haman’s house and the feasting room of Esther

Song: The Weight

Narrator: Then Mordecai returned to the king’s Gate, and Haman hastened home in grief, his head covered. And Haman described to his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him.

Zeresh and friends: If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, really is of the Jewish race, you will not overcome him, but will undoubtedly fall before him.

Narrator: So the king and Haman came to feast with Queen Esther. On the second day too, during the wine course, the king said to Esther -

King: What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you! And what is your request? Be it as great as half the kingdom, it shall be fulfilled!

Esther: If I have found favor in your eyes, O king, and should it so please the king: as my wish, may I be granted my life; and as my request - my people. For we are sold, I and my people, to be slaughtered, slain, and destroyed. But had we just been sold to be slaves and maidservants, I would have kept silence, for then the adversity would not have justified causing loss to the king.

King: Who is the one and where is he, who had the audacity to do this?

Esther: A man hateful and hostile - this evil Haman here!

Narrator: And Haman shook in terror before the king and the queen.

And the king arose in his wrath from the wine course and went out to the pavilion garden, while Haman stood to beseech Queen Esther for his life, for he saw that the king was bent on his ruin. When the king returned from the pavilion garden to the hall of the wine feast Haman had fallen across the couch on which Esther was reclining.

King: What, would you even approach the queen right here in the house with me at home?

Harbona: What’s more, a stake is standing at Haman’s house - fifty cubits high - which he prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king.

King: Impale him on it!

Song: Cypress Tree

Scene 8: The King’s throne room and the city of Shushan

Narrator: So they impaled Haman on the stake that he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king’s wrath subsided. That day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, persecutor of the Jews, and Mordecai came into the king’s presence, for Esther revealed how he was related to her. And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken away from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai, and Esther set Mordecai over Haman’s estate.

Then once again Esther spoke unto the king. Falling before his feet, she wept and implored him to do away with the evil of Haman the Agagite and the plan he had devised against the Jews. The king extended the golden scepter to Esther, and Esther arose and stood before the king.

Esther: Should it so please the king , and if I have found favor with him, and if the idea seem proper to the king, and if I am pleasing to him, let it be written to revoke the letters - the plan of Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote with the intent of destroying the Jews in all the king’s provinces. For how can I bear to see the evil that will befall my people, and how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?

King [to Esther and Mordecai]: See, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther, and him they have impaled on the stake, because he struck out at the Jews. Now as for you, write in the king’s name as you please concerning the Jews and seal it with the king’s signet ring. For a document written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring can not be revoked.

Narrator: The royal scribes were summoned at that time, on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan, and it was written in accordance with all that Mordecai had commanded . He wrote this in King Ahasuerus’ name, sealed it with the king’s signed ring, and sent letters by the hand of couriers on horseback - that the king has permitted the Jews in each and every city to gather and to make a stand for their lives: to defend themselves against any who attacked them, in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

The couriers, rider of swift horses, went out urgently and hastily at the king’s command, and the law was (also) issued at the Fortress of Shushan.

Then Mordecai went out from the king’s presence in royal clothing of violet and white, in a large golden turban and a cloak of linen and purple. And the city of Shushan rejoiced and was merry. And the Jews had light and merriment and joy an honor. And in each and every province and in each and every city, wherever the king’s word and law reached, there was merriment and joy for the Jews, feasting and holiday. And many from among the peoples of the land supported the Jews, for respect for the Jews had fallen upon them.

Song: Serve Somebody

Scene 9: Mordecai 's room inside the palace and the city of Shushan

Narrator: Now on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, when the king’s word and his law were due to be carried out - on the very day when the enemies of the Jews had expected to gain control over them, whereas things would be turned about, in that the Jews would gain control over their adversaries - the Jews gathered in their cities in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to strike out at those who sought to harm them, and no one could stand up against them, because support for them had come from all the peoples.

Now all the princes of the provinces and the satraps and the governors and the king’s’ executive officers were promoting the Jews, because the respect for Mordecai had fallen upon them. For Mordecai was important in the palace and his reputation was spreading throughout all the provinces, since the man Mordecai was growing increasingly important.

And the Jews defended themselves by the sword, and so wreaked their will on their enemies.

In the Fortress of Shushan the Jews defended themselves against 500 men, including the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, persecutor of the Jews. But upon spoil they laid not a hand.

Then the Jews in Shushan gathered also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they defended themselves against 300 men in Shushan. But upon spoil they laid not a hand.

Now the rest of the Jews in the king’s provinces had gathered and made a stand for their lives, gaining relief from their enemies and defending themselves against their adversaries, some 75,000 in all - but upon spoil they laid not a hand - all on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, so that on the fourteenth day they had respite and celebrated a day of feasting and merriment.

The Jews in Shushan had gathered on the thirteenth day and also on the fourteenth; thus it was on the fifteenth day that they had respite, making that their day of feasting and merriment.

That is why village Jews, living in unwalled towns, celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, with happiness and feasting and holiday and the sending of portions to one another.

Then Mordecai wrote these things down and sent letters to all the Jews in all the province of King Ahasuerus, near and far, to confirm upon themselves the celebration of the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth day thereof, each and every year, to correspond to the days in which the Jews had respite from their enemies and the month that turned about for them - from misery to merriment and from mourning to holiday - to celebrate them as days of feasting and merriment and the sending of portions to one another and gifts to the poor.

Song: What’s so Funny 'Bout Peace Love and Understanding

END

© 2005 Michael Raddock

Top of Page      Songs      Photos of Celebration      Kol HaLev Home