Overview
- Following a coordinated Israel–U.S. operation against Iran, Iranian missile salvos triggered a national state of emergency and sent Israelis to shelters during Purim.
- IDF Home Front Command banned large public gatherings and closed schools and events, redirecting traditional festivities into bomb shelters, safe rooms and underground parking areas.
- Communities rapidly decentralized observance, with Chabad and local volunteers staging dozens of small Megillah readings in shelters and delivering mishloach manot door to door.
- Religious guidance emphasized pikuach nefesh and set wartime protocols, allowing readings in protected spaces, solo readings from a kosher scroll, and, per some authorities, live online listening when no safe in‑person option exists.
- Diaspora congregations held local celebrations and drew explicit parallels between the Purim story and the current Iran–Israel confrontation, underscoring messages of unity, resilience and charity.