Purim, festival of joy: When is it?

Felegosh, my havruta (Aramaic term for study partner)
with some of her holiday-costumed
students at their Bnei Akiva Purim party in Atlanta, Georgia

QUESTION: Tamar, I wanted to ask you the dates of Purim — would you know? If not, I'll just look it up online.

ANSWER: Thanks, Linda, for asking. Purim falls on the 14th day of Adar (and in Jerusalem and all ancient walled cities, it falls on the 15th of Adar). Adar is the sixth month of the religious year and the twelfth month of the civil year in the Hebrew calendar, also called the Jewish calendar.

For most of us, who follow the Gregorian calendar year (which runs from January 1 to December 31), this year Purim falls on March 20-23, 2008.

We mark the date of Jewish holidays according to the Hebrew calendar, and therefore the corresponding date in the Gregorian calendar year is not the same each year. (The same is true for Muslim holidays, which follow the Muslim calendar, and do not "fall" on the same date each Gregorian calendar year.)

In the same way that Christmas is always December 25, Purim is always the 14th day of Adar, etc.

I hope this answer helps. It takes some getting used to the different calendars among religions and belief systems. All this is an aspect of differences among cultures, traditions, and world views among members of the human family!

Happy Purim!