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80 free Purim trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Purim is the holiday where you are commanded to feast, give, drink and make noise, all to celebrate a genocide that never happened. This quiz covers the story first: Ahasuerus's 180-day banquet, Vashti's refusal, Hadassah becoming Esther, Mordecai and the tribe of Benjamin, Bigthan and Teresh, Haman the Agagite and his lots, the sleepless king, the second banquet and the gallows. It then covers how the day is kept: the 14th of Adar and Shushan Purim in Jerusalem, Purim Katan and Purim Meshulash, the Fast of Esther, mishloach manot and gifts to the poor, Rava's rule about drinking, the 54 mentions of Haman and the grager, hamantaschen and kreplach, masks, spiels, the Tel Aviv Adloyada, henna, Purim Vinz in Frankfurt and the holiday's darker echoes in the 20th century. Easy questions suit anyone who has been to a Megillah reading; the expert tier asks for tractates and calendar quirks. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Purim, the Book of Esther and its characters, and the supporting sentence is attached to each question. If you like this, try our quizzes on Hanukkah and on Passover.
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Q 01Purim commemorates the rescue of the Jews living under which ancient power?
The Persians (Achaemenids)
The villain was the royal vizier, and the heroine was a Jewish queen who hid her origins.
Q 02What does the Hebrew word Purim literally mean?
Lots
Haman cast lots to choose the date of the massacre, and the holiday took its name from them.
Q 03From which language did Hebrew borrow the word pur, 'lot'?
Akkadian
Esther 9:26 explains that the days were called Purim after the name pur.
Q 04On which day of the Hebrew month of Adar is Purim celebrated?
14th
In leap years it falls in Adar II, which happens seven times every 19 years.
Q 05Which part of the Bible tells the story behind Purim?
The Book of Esther
Read aloud in synagogue on the holiday, it is known simply as 'the Megillah', the Scroll.
Q 06The name Ahasuerus is believed to derive from the Old Persian name of which king?
Xerxes I
The Hebrew name derives from the Old Persian Xšayāršā, though tradition sometimes equated him with Artaxerxes.
Q 07What was Esther's original Hebrew name?
Hadassah
It means myrtle; the name Esther is Persian.
Q 08What was Mordecai's relationship to Esther?
Her cousin and foster father
Some rabbinic commentators read the Hebrew as saying she was actually his wife.
Q 09Mordecai belonged to which tribe of Israel?
Benjamin
His ancestor Kish had been carried into exile from Judah by Nebuchadnezzar.
Q 10Which queen was deposed for refusing to display her beauty to the king's drunken guests?
Vashti
The Midrash makes her the daughter of Belshazzar and great-granddaughter of Nebuchadnezzar.
Q 11How long was the king's opening drinking feast for the princes of his 127 provinces?
180 days
A seven-day feast for the people of Shushan followed, plus a separate feast for the women hosted by the queen.
Q 12Which two palace guards' assassination plot did Mordecai expose?
Bigthan and Teresh
His service was recorded in the court's daily record and forgotten until the king's sleepless night.
Q 13Why did Haman decide to destroy all the Jews of the empire?
Mordecai refused to bow to him
He obtained the king's permission and funds and picked the date by chance.
Q 21On which day of Adar do cities walled since Joshua's time keep Shushan Purim?
The 15th
Today it is kept on the 15th only in one city, while Hebron and Tiberias hedge by celebrating both days.
Q 22Which is the only city where Purim is definitively kept on the later, walled-city date?
Jerusalem
Fighting in the walled city of Shushan had continued a day longer, hence the extra day.
Q 23What is the name for the gifts of food and drink exchanged on Purim?
Mishloach manot
Halakha requires at least two different ready-to-eat foods sent to at least one person.
Q 14Haman is called 'the Agagite', linking him to which ancient enemy of Israel?
Amalek
The command to 'blot out the remembrance of Amalek' underlies the noise made at his name.
Q 15How many days did Esther ask the Jews of Shushan to fast before she approached the king?
Three
She declared: 'If I perish, I perish.'
Q 16What was the name of Haman's wife, who urged him to build a gallows for Mordecai?
Zeresh
The gallows he built was used to hang Haman himself.
Q 17What kept the king awake on the night that turned the story?
Insomnia
Having the court records read to him, he learned Mordecai had never been rewarded for saving his life.
Q 18Asked what should be done for the man the king wished to honour, what did Haman propose?
Dress him in royal robes and parade him on the royal horse
He assumed the honoree was himself, then had to lead Mordecai through the city.
Q 19At what event did Esther reveal she was Jewish and expose the plot against her people?
Her second private banquet
The king ordered Haman hanged on the gallows meant for Mordecai.
Q 20How many of the Jews' enemies were killed throughout the empire, according to the Megillah?
75,000
Another 500 attackers and Haman's ten sons died in Shushan; no spoils were taken.
Q 24What is mattanot la-evyonim?
Charity to the poor
Two donations to two poor people fulfil the obligation.
Q 25According to Rava in the Talmud, how drunk should one get on Purim?
Until one cannot tell 'Blessed be Mordecai' from 'Cursed be Haman'
The Aramaic phrase ad delo yada, 'until he does not know', gives the Israeli parade its name.
Q 26What is the Adloyada?
A humorous Purim parade held in Israel
The first one was held in 1912.
Q 27In which city was the first Adloyada parade held, in 1912?
Tel Aviv
Teacher Avraham Aldema of the 'Noisy Buddies' club started it.
Q 28How many times is Haman's name read aloud during the Megillah, prompting noise each time?
54
Congregants stamp, rattle and shout to blot out his name.
Q 29What is the Yiddish name for the ratchet noisemaker used at Haman's name?
Grager
The Hebrew term is ra'ashan, from ra-ash, 'noise'; many Sephardic communities reject it as an interruption.
Q 30Where did some worshippers historically write Haman's name so they could stamp it out at the reading?
On the soles of their shoes
Others knocked two smooth stones together until the name was worn away.