Mordecai ben Yair

Shalom!
My name is Mordecai, the son of Yair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, who is the father of King Saul.
The meaning of my name means "pure myrrh", it comes from two Hebrew words, "mor" means myrrh, and "decai" means pure. Some have even said my name indicates that I come from a royal lineage of kings and born of the blood of princes. I have been called man of refinement and of nobility.
My story really begins as a royal scribe, one of the king's officials. I work under the rule of King Xerxes at the king's gate, in the capital city of Susa, ancient Persia. I raised my orphaned cousin, Hadassah, as my own daughter. Her parents died, and her father, Avihail (or also known as Abihail), was my uncle.
It was some time later, after King Xerxes banned Queen Vashti from his presence, that he commanded a royal edict to bring all the young beautiful girls into his palace, in order to find a new wife. They took my sweet Hadasseh, and I told her to be strong and not reveal her nationality. So, her new name in Persian, became Esther. Every day, I walked from the king's gate along the courtyard of the king's harem, to see how she was doing and what was happening to her.
After the 12 months of beauty treatments, she was brought before the king and immediately won his favor. He made her queen and placed a crown upon her head. He gave a great banquet, Esther's banquet, and proclaimed a holiday throughout the all the 127 provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality.
Later on, as I was sitting at the king's gate, I heard two of the king's officers plotting to assassinate King Xerxes. I reported this to Queen Esther and she reported this to the king and it was recorded in his presence in the books of the king's annals.
The king honored Haman the Agagite, giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all of the other nobles. One day, all the royal officials at the king's gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for this was commanded by King Xerxes. But I would not kneel down or pay him honor.
Haman became enraged at this. He learned that my people were the Jews, and didn't want to kill only me, but my people throughout the whole kingdom of King Xerxes. He plotted and told the king that our customs were different and we did not obey the king's laws. He told the king that it would be in his best interest to not tolerate the Jews, and to set a decree to be issued to destroy all of them.
They cast the pur, or the lot, to select the day and the month. The lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
Purim is on Friday, March 21, 2008.
Shushan (Susa) Purim is on Saturday, March 22, 2008, with some of the customs being performed on Sunday March 23, 2008.
On Purim, Jews are also enjoined to exchange gifts and make donations to the poor.
br