[Instrumental] [Verse] On the fourteenth of the month they rested, and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing. The Jews in Susa, however, mustered on the thirteenth and fourteenth of the month. But on the fifteenth they rested, and made it a day of joyful banqueting. That is why the rural Jews, who dwell in villages, celebrate the fourteenth of the month of Adar as a day of joyful banqueting, a holiday on which they send food to one another. Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews, both near and far, in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. He ordered them to celebrate every year both the fourteenth and the fifteenth of the month of Adar as the days on which the Jews obtained rest from their enemies and as the month which was turned for them [Chorus] from sorrow into joy, from mourning into celebration. They were to observe these days with joyful banqueting, sending food to one another and gifts to the poor. [Instrumental] [Verse] The Jews adopted as a custom what they had begun doing and what Mordecai had written to them. [Chorus] from sorrow into joy, from mourning into celebration. They were to observe these days with joyful banqueting, sending food to one another and gifts to the poor. [Instrumental] [Verse] Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the foe of all the Jews, had planned to destroy them and had cast the pur, or lot, for the time of their defeat and destruction. Yet, when the plot became known to the king, the king ordered in writing that the wicked plan Haman had devised against the Jews should instead be turned against Haman and that he and his sons should be impaled on stakes. And so these days have been named Purim after the word pur. Thus, because of all that was contained in this letter, and because of what they had witnessed and experienced in this event, the Jews established and adopted as a custom for themselves, their descendants, and all who should join them, the perpetual obligation of celebrating these two days every year in the manner prescribed by this letter, and at the time appointed. These days were to be commemorated and kept in every generation, by every clan, in every province, and in every city. These days of Purim were never to be neglected among the Jews, nor forgotten by their descendants. [Chorus] from sorrow into joy, from mourning into celebration. They were to observe these days with joyful banqueting, sending food to one another and gifts to the poor. [Instrumental] [End]
