Finish the Job: Why Esther Made a Second Day of Purim

This past Friday, Jews worldwide celebrated Purim, commemorating their deliverance from Haman’s plot to annihilate them in ancient Persia. Yet today—Sunday—marks a special extension of this celebration called Shushan Purim, observed uniquely in Jerusalem and other ancient walled cities from the time of Joshua. Why the difference? The Book of Esther records that while Jews in unwalled towns fought their enemies on the 13th of Adar and rested on the 14th, those in Shushan (the Persian capital) fought on both the 13th and 14th, resting only on the 15th: “Therefore, the Jews of the villages, who live in the unwalled towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of gladness and feasting… while the Jews who were in Shushan assembled on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth day, and rested on the fifteenth day” (Esther 9:19, 21). This established the tradition: unwalled cities celebrate on the 14th of Adar, while ancient walled cities like Jerusalem celebrate on the 15th—Shushan Purim.

This distinction raises a challenging question: Why did Queen Esther request a second day of fighting in Shushan? The text states: “Then Esther said, ‘If it pleases the king, let the Jews who are in Shushan be allowed tomorrow also to act according to this day’s decree'”.

By this point, the Jews had already killed 500 enemies in Shushan and 75,000 throughout the provinces. Haman was dead. His plot was foiled. The danger had passed! What justified Esther’s request for more bloodshed when victory was already assured?

In Exodus 17, we read: “Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, ‘Choose some men for us and go out, fight against Amalek'”.

As Moses held his hands up, supported by Aaron and Hur, Joshua led Israel to battle. The text tells us that “Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword”.

Yet this wasn’t a complete victory. Moses’s hands grew heavy, and Joshua merely “weakened” Amalek rather than destroying them entirely. The consequences of this incomplete victory would continue as the Amalekites attacked Israel periodically, causing immense suffering.

The pattern continued centuries later with King Saul, who was commanded to completely destroy the Amalekites: “Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them”

These harsh instructions reflected the existential threat Amalek posed.

Yet Saul faltered at the crucial moment. Despite achieving military victory, he spared King Agag and the best livestock. The prophet Samuel condemned this half-measure: “Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king”.

According to rabbinic tradition, during the short time Agag remained alive, he impregnated a maidservant, establishing a lineage that would eventually produce Haman the Agagite—the very man who nearly accomplished a Jewish genocide in Esther’s time.

Each time Israel failed to fully destroy a committed enemy, that same enemy returned to attack again. Half-measures against genocidal foes simply delay the next war.

The remaining 300 enemies in Shushan might have seemed insignificant after the deaths of 75,000, but Esther—descended from the tribe of Benjamin and the line of King Saul—recognized the dangers of letting any enemy survive. She understood what her ancestors had failed to grasp: when facing an enemy dedicated to your extinction, half-measures guarantee future attacks.

Modern Israel has struggled with this same recurring pattern. The Six-Day War of 1967 brought stunning military successes—reclaiming Jerusalem and securing strategically vital territories. But the victory was incomplete. As Itamar Segal writes: “In the six days of the Six-Day War, Sinai was conquered, the Golan Heights were conquered, Jerusalem and parts of Judea, Samaria, Hebron, and Benjamin were conquered. If only we had been given one more day then—if we had also been granted tomorrow to act according to the decree—decades of pain, struggle, and war might have been avoided.” Segal means that Israel should have finished the job by keeping the Temple Mount under Jewish control instead of giving it to the Jordanian Waqf, and by removing the Arabs committed to Israel’s destruction from Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.

The pattern of half-measures continued throughout Israel’s history. The First Lebanon War failed to fully neutralize the PLO. The Oslo Accords left terrorist infrastructure intact. Operation Protective Edge ended with Hamas still in power. Each time, Israel stopped short of victory—often due to international pressure or war fatigue—and each time, the enemy regrouped and attacked again.

Today, Israel faces the same choice after the October 7 attacks, which saw Hamas murder 1,200 Israelis and take over a hundred hostages. Israel’s initial response has been strong, but now comes the familiar pressure to stop: calls for ceasefire, warnings about humanitarian concerns, and demands to end the fighting before Hamas is completely destroyed.

As Israel continues its defensive war against Hamas—a group that, like Amalek, has vowed to annihilate the Jewish people—we face the same question Esther faced: Will we allow the remnants of our enemies to escape, because we are understandably exhausted? Or will we learn from our history and from the Bible that evil must be completely destroyed?

The Jews of Persia established Purim as an eternal reminder that survival sometimes requires difficult choices and resolute action. They didn’t celebrate the bloodshed, but they did celebrate their victory and the courage of a queen who understood that half-measures against genocide are no measures at all.

Just as Esther seized her moment by requesting that second day of fighting, we too must seize our moment to ensure Israel’s security. Right now, the World Zionist Congress elections present a critical opportunity to transform biblical wisdom into practical policy. These elections will directly impact funding for Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and determine whether Israel’s call for total victory against Hamas will be supported internationally.

Israel365 Action (SLATE #7) stands firmly on the biblical principles demonstrated in the Book of Esther. Like Queen Esther who insisted on complete victory, Israel365 Action believes we must utterly destroy Hamas, remove the radicalized Gazan population from Gaza, and annex Judea and Samaria. These aren’t extreme positions—they’re the logical application of the pattern we see throughout the Bible.

If you’re Jewish, your vote for Israel365 Action / Slate #7 is crucial. It costs just $5 to vote and only takes about 2 minutes of your time. If you’re not Jewish, please urge your Jewish friends to vote for these biblical values in this critical election. Please don’t wait – we need you to vote Slate #7 TODAY.