Mordecai recorded how the Jews had gained relief from their enemies. He sent letters to every Jew throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus, whether near or far. The letters instructed them to observe the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar every year.
Those days would remember the time when sorrow turned to joy and mourning became a holiday. Mordecai told the people to celebrate with feasting, to send portions of food to one another, and to give gifts to the poor. The Jews agreed to continue what they had begun and to follow the letter he sent.
The letter also recalled how the days received their name. Haman, the enemy of the Jews, had cast pur—that is, the lot—as part of his plan to destroy them. The king issued a written order that turned Haman’s evil plan back upon him, and Haman and his sons were hanged.
The people therefore called the days Purim, after the word pur. Because of what they had seen and experienced, and because of the words in Mordecai’s letter, they established an annual observance at the appointed time. The commitment included their descendants and everyone who joined them.
Purim was to be remembered in every generation, family, province, and city. The Jews determined that the festival would not disappear from among them and that its memory would not end among their descendants. For a people who had faced destruction, continuing the memory became part of the observance itself.
Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew then wrote a second letter about Purim with full authority. It went to the Jews in all one hundred and twenty-seven provinces of Ahasuerus’s kingdom. They confirmed that Purim should be kept at its appointed time, and Esther’s command established the regulations, which were recorded in a book.