During the period of time between the destruction of the First Temple and the building of the Second Temple, the Jews came very close to being destroyed because of the evil scheming of Haman with the King of Persia, Achashverosh.
Because of the clandestine intervention of YHVH, using Queen Esther and her uncle Mordechai as His messengers, the Jews were spared, and instead the nation of Israel was able to avenge themselves against their enemies. In order to commemorate these miraculous turn of events, we celebrate Purim on the 14th of Adar (and in walled cities such as Jerusalem, on the 15th of Adar) with feasts, sending gifts of food to our friends and the needy, and with the reading of the Megilla, the story of Purim.
On this day we remember the dire situation that the Jews were faced with in those days and many times throughout history.
