The Curse of the Purim Weather

A Guest Post by Rafi G.

Considering some recent posts on this blog (e.g. the Golem, the Hazon Ish brain sketch, etc.), it seems appropriate to discuss this here.

Purim is a cursed day, supposedly. Supposedly, Purim has been cursed, in Israel, to have bad weather - cool, rainy, etc. The purpose of the curse is to avoid people dressing in untzniusdikke styles and costumes.

Personally I have heard the curse as having been wrought by the Hazon Ish, the Steipler, Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld and the Brisker Rav. Maybe others have heard other names as the source of the curse.

I have also heard the curse on Purim in general, Purim in Jerusalem, and Purim in Bnei Brak.

It could be that the curse, if it really exists, is the reason for the crazy weather we are about to have. We just went from stormy to nice. By shabbos it is going to get into heat wave weather with temperatures as high as 28-30 (mid 80's). By Monday-Tuesday - Purim - the forecasters are predicting rain again with cooler temperatures...



So, does anyone have credible information on the origin and specifics of the curse or is it just a myth?

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