Dawn to nightfall
Eating and drinking are forbidden from dawn until nightfall. One who wants to eat before dawn should decide so before going to sleep.
Holidays13 Adar · The day before Purim
Remembering the fast of Esther and the people before she went to the king, and the half-shekel given before Purim.
Before she went uninvited to the king, Esther asked Mordechai: "Go, gather all the Jews in Shushan and fast for me... three days, night and day; I and my maidens will fast as well" (Esther 4:16).
The Jews also fasted on the thirteenth of Adar, the day they gathered to defend themselves. The custom of all Israel is to fast on that day, as a reminder that God sees and hears every person in the hour of trouble.
Keeping the fast
Eating and drinking are forbidden from dawn until nightfall. One who wants to eat before dawn should decide so before going to sleep.
Healthy adults fast. Following Sephardic practice, pregnant and nursing women do not fast on the minor fasts, and anyone who is ill should ask a rabbi.
Washing, leather shoes and work are permitted, unlike on Yom Kippur and Tisha B'Av.
We do not fast on Shabbat or on Friday before it, so the fast is moved earlier, to Thursday the 11th of Adar.
Mahatzit HaShekel
In Temple times every Jew gave a half-shekel in Adar for the communal offerings. Before Purim we give money in its memory.
Most Sephardim give the value of the biblical half-shekel, about 9.6 grams of pure silver; Ashkenazim usually give three coins of half the local currency.
Many give it at Minha of Ta'anit Esther or before the Megillah reading.
Give the half-shekelShaharit and Minha
"Vayehal Moshe": Moses pleads for Israel and God reveals the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy.
Many communities add the haftarah "Dirshu" (Isaiah 55:6–56:8), "Seek the Lord while He may be found."
Keep learning
Questions
To remember the fast of Esther and the people before she went to the king, and the day the Jews gathered to defend themselves.
The fast moves to Thursday, the 11th of Adar.
The fast ends at nightfall. If waiting for the reading is very hard, a small snack is allowed; a full meal waits until after the Megillah.
Most Sephardim give the value of the biblical half-shekel in silver, about 9.6 grams; ask your synagogue for the amount this year.