McCain had even had to be corrected by Joe Lieberman when he described Purim as sort of like the Jewish Halloween (really)
Queen Esther
Queen Esther saved the Jews from annihilation in Persia.
The Biblical Book of Esther (Megillat Esther) relates how Esther became the Jewish Queen of Persia and the heroine of the Purim story.
A Jewish orphan named Hadassah, she was raised by her cousin Mordechai. She later assumed the name Esther. When the King of Persia, Ahasuerus sends his wife Vashi away for disobeying him, he chooses Esther to be his new wife. Esther, without revealing her Jewish identity, became queen of Persia. Haman, the king's prime minister, decides to kill all Jews because he is angered when Mordechai refuses to bow down to him. Haman manages to get the king to agree to his plan by telling him that there is a scattered people in the land who refuse to obey the king's laws. Haman casts lots (purim) to decide in which month to murder the Jews. Haman then distributes orders to slay all Jews on the thirteenth day of the Hebrew month of Adar. The Jews fast and mourn. Mordechai asks Esther to appeal to the king. Esther risks her life by going to the king and asking him to end Haman's plan. The king is angered by Haman's mischief, and Haman and his sons are hanged. Thus, the Jews are saved. Mordechai then declares the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the Hebrew month of Adar as days of rejoicing, as the feast of Purim.
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