From context, I imagine the Yiddish expression, Eeinmohl a Purim — Once in a Purim, refers to an infrequent occurrence. For how often do we Jews find ourselves triumphing over our enemies, meting out justice, and celebrating with light, joy, gladness and revelry?

Clearly we do so once a year on Purim, named for the pur or lottery which Haman drew to determine the date on which to annihilate the Jews of Shushan.

Through the tenacity of faith and courage of the Jewish Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai, Haman’s wicked plot was overthrown, and Jews have celebrated the 14th of Adar as Purim, a day of commemoration and merriment, ever since.

Truth be told, Purim’s popular theme of redemption recurred countless times throughout Jewish history. Jews have chosen to mark other miraculous deliverances as "Second Purims" celebrated in a similar vein to that of our familiar festival. Special scrolls or megillot were written and rendered in the synagogue often to the cantillation of the Book of Esther, gifts or shalach manot were given to friends and neighbors, and tzedakah was shared with the poor, all while great feasting, drinking and celebration ensued. Here are some historically noted Second Purims:

• In 1323, a Jewish funeral procession was interrupted in Cairo, Egypt. Islamic law prohibited the public displays of Jewish or Christian ceremonies, so 23 Jews were arrested. After three days, Jewish leaders appealed to Caliph Al Hakim to spare the lives of the imprisoned Jews. The caliph found the Jews innocent and had them released. Henceforth, an annual feast was instituted to mark their deliverance and one of the prisoners, a Jewish scholar, Samuel ben Hosha’na, composed a special Cairo Megillah to commemorate the event, stating: "Remember this and place it before your eyes. Tell it to your children, and their children, and their children to another generation."

• According to a megillah written for the Jews of Saragossa in Spain, the Jews were forced to honor the king of Aragon by parading their holy Torah scrolls (in their Sephardic cases) at public rallies. Around 1420, Marcus, a Jewish convert to Christianity, revealed that the Jews of Saragossa were carrying empty Torah cases to the parade, since the rabbis had prohibited the use of Torah scrolls at secular events. The king ordered that the charges be investigated. The night before the next parade, according to the Saragossa megillah, Elijah, the prophet appeared and told the rabbis to place the scrolls back in the cases. The next day, when the king passed the synagogue, he ordered his guards to open the cases and he found them filled with Torah scrolls. Marcus was hanged by the king, and the Jews of Saragossa were saved, commemorating their special Purim on the 17th and 18th of Shevat.

• Again in Cairo, in 1524, the governor of Egypt imprisoned 12 of the leading Jews of the city, including the chief rabbi, in order to extort money. One day, this brutal governor prepared to massacre the entire Jewish community of Cairo after his bath. However, while in the bath, he was stabbed by one of his courtiers and the Jews of Cairo were saved. This Purim of Cairo was celebrated on the 28th of Adar.

• Another famous Second Purim was instituted in Frankfurt-am-Main on the 20th of Adar, 1616. A baker, Vincent Fettmilch, calling himself the "New Haman," organized attacks against the Jews. The Jewish community was forced into exile, their property and wealth confiscated. After several months, the Holy Roman emperor learned of the injustice and ordered Fettmilch hanged, beheaded and quartered, his house destroyed, and a pillar erected on his property inscribed with a German and Latin account of the "New Haman’s" fate. The Jews of Frankfurt returned to their homes with full honors, accompanied by a military guard. Thus, "Vincent Purim" was marked by a special fast and prayers of penitence and a megillah was composed entitled in German Das Vinz-Hans Lied.

• In 1731, David Brandeis, a Bohemian grocer, sold plum jam to a gentile girl on the fourth of Shevat. Members of her family became sick and her father died within a few days. The burgomaster of the city ordered the store closed and David Brandeis, his wife, and his son were imprisoned on the charge of poisoning Christians. A thorough investigation revealed that the girl’s father died of tuberculosis and Brandeis and his family were released from prison. Brandeis recorded the events in a personal megillah scroll entitled, Shir HaMaalot l’David, and declared that the 10th of Adar would ever be known as Purim Povidl or the Plum Jam Purim.

• A "Hitler Purim" was proclaimed by the Jewish community of Casablanca in North Africa on the 20th of Kislev, 1942, the day on which it was liberated from the Nazi invaders. The "Hitler megillah" proclaimed, "And the month which was turned for us from sorrow to rejoicing and the making of holiday and the giving of gifts to the poor. Cursed be Hitler, cursed be Mussolini."

These are among countless local Purims on which our ancestors gave thanks to God for their very lives. Perhaps they were more able to recognize the miracle of Jewish survival than are we. For from the perspective of history, once in a Purim is not a seldom occurrence.

Our people have been delivered time and again, and we remain vibrant, healthy, and free to celebrate, while our old foes have all but vanished.

May we open our eyes to the Purims of our own lives, the deliverances, both large and small, natural and "man-made," personal and communal. And as we watch with trepidation as a new Haman (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) arises from ancient Shushan (Iran), might we be heartened by the promise in the book of Esther: "These days of Purim shall not disappear from among the Jews, nor the memory of them perish from their descendants (9:28)."