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We pride ourselves on generating and maintaining clear, high-quality, serious questions and answers about Judaism. Once a year, though, for a couple of weeks, we also go in for something a little ... different.

Purim Torah Q&A

Purim Torah, silly parodies of real Torah discussion, is a way to loosen up during the Purim season, and look at Torah concepts from a new and creative vantage point:

A man's image distorted in a fun house mirror
"Henry & The Funhouse Mirror," by mob mob, used with permission

We want to have this fun1 without compromising our carefully-cultivated regular Q&A, so there are some rules:

When

Post Purim Torah questions between Rosh Chodesh Adar [Bet, if there is one] and a day or two after Purim, only2.

  • 5784/2024: Nightfall on March 9 until nightfall on March 26.

Please don't edit or otherwise bump old Purim Torah posts except during this period.

What

It's gotta be distinctly "Purim" (not serious), distinctly Torah, and distinctly Q&A. Purim Torah questions that don't have all three of these qualities may be closed.3

So, post sincere-looking questions (you know, the kind that invite answers) that:

  • misinterpret a real Torah concept or Jewish text

or

  • apply a distinctly Torah style (e.g. Talmudic analysis) to an irrelevant topic

Post answers in the same spirit4 as their questions, so no completely serious answers to Purim Torah questions, and no silly answers to serious (non-Purim-Torah) questions.

Please try to put as much attention into question quality, answer quality, and above all, Being Nice!, as you would for regular Mi Yodeya content.

And (Don't skip!)

We don't want to confuse anyone, so please mark your Purim Torah questions in these three ways:

  • Apply the tag and no other tag.5

  • Begin your title with PTIJ:

  • Include the following disclaimer text at the bottom:

    ---

    # This question is [Purim Torah](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim_Torah) and is not intended to be taken completely seriously. See the [Purim Torah policy](https://judaism.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/797/). #


Moderation Stuff

  • Close6 Purim Torah questions that aren't "Purim", Torah, and questions.

  • At the end of Purim Torah season, delete all Purim Torah questions that were closed as not ""Purim", Torah, and questions."

  • At the end of the Purim Torah season, close all open Purim Torah questions as "Off-Topic" with the close comment:

Purim Torah questions are on-topic only once a year, and will be closed after Purim. For details, see: Purim Torah policy

  • Remember to close open PTIJ questions on meta, too.

  • If you want an old Purim Torah question re-opened during this year's season, ask the moderators.


1. For what it's worth, Joel Spolsky endorsed this policy Stack Exchange Podcast #32 (~33:50 - 36:40) and again on #55 (~44:00 - 47:30).
2. Of course, serious questions are also allowed and encouraged during this period!
3. On Meta, Purim Torah has to be about Mi Yodeya, not necessarily about Judaism itself.
4. No pun intended.
5. On Meta, apply the tags and .
6. Use "Off-topic/Other" as the reason.

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  • 1
    Rosh Chodesh Adar (I and II) is always a two day rosh chodesh. Is 30 Shevat / 30 Adar I included or excluded from play?
    – Double AA Mod
    Feb 22, 2012 at 19:15
  • 23
    @DoubleAA, depends when sanhedrin announces the new month. Stay tuned.
    – msh210 Mod
    Feb 22, 2012 at 19:43
  • 2
    @DoubleAA, They started in with the "Shoshanat Ya'akov" tune in my shul already this past Shabbat, at Birkat Hachodesh. I think the first day of Rosh Chodesh is fine. Note that in the post, I specified tonight at sundown as the start point for this year. Note also that as I said above, I think that we don't need to enforce the time limits with very close precision. We just want to keep this feature reasonably in check.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Feb 22, 2012 at 20:11
  • 1
    @IsaacMoses My minhag is to begin "Shoshanas Yaakov" Motzoei Shabbes Mevorchin Adar Rishon. May I post Purim Torah in Adar I too?
    – Adám
    Jan 29, 2014 at 20:13
  • 11
    @NBZ In accordance with a famous ruling of R' Moshe Feinstein, you may follow your differing minhag around here, but only silently. So, you may post your Purim Torah in Adar I and delete it before anyone else reads it, then undelete in Adar II.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Jan 29, 2014 at 20:18
  • 11
    Let's encourage good intelligent and funny Purim Torah. However, I am disappointed at the quality of some of the posts. It may be Purim, but the Torah still requires refined, respectful behavior. I think the posts should be monitored for questions that don't meet the ethical and quality standards we expect from Mi Yodeya.
    – LN6595
    Feb 19, 2015 at 23:28
  • 2
    How is "sundown" and "the evening hours" marking the start and end of this period calculated when the site is on UTC? Mar 2, 2015 at 23:32
  • @Thunderforge not calculated, observed, imprecisely but strictly, by people.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Mar 3, 2015 at 2:20
  • 3
    Can we post purim torah on Purim Katan? Feb 23, 2016 at 11:21
  • @SamuelManuel Nope.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Feb 23, 2016 at 14:07
  • I wasn't sure how best to include that you shouldn't edit old posts to apply PTIJ to the title, so i included a link. if oyu have a better way please edit
    – Double AA Mod
    Feb 14, 2018 at 20:45
  • I'm assuming yom kippur is not considered purim for this. Right?
    – Shababnik
    Sep 21, 2023 at 11:43
  • @Shababnik No need to assume. The dates are specified in this post.
    – Isaac Moses Mod
    Sep 21, 2023 at 13:39
  • 2
    We may need to include something about ChatGPT generated content
    – Double AA Mod
    Mar 10 at 20:50

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