Wikipedia's first sentence called it “term used to describe humorous and satirical writings customarily read on the jewish holiday of purim”. Today it says “humorous and satirical comments that constitute a parody of the learned style of talmudic or halakhic comments”.
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Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2020 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2020
Purim Torah authors, often displaying an amazing grasp of Jewish knowledge, playfully use some of the far-fetched methods of Talmudic logic and Biblical exegesis in order to reach absurd conclusions. Another popular method is "play on words" where a reasonable word or phrase is purposefully misinterpreted as something absurd that sounds similar. Parodies of Jewish life and the world have been found as early as the 12th century. In some examples, the boundary between humor and irreverence was very thin. An example of such is the 14th century Masekhet Purim by Kalonymus ben Kalonymus , condemned by many scholars. Ashkenazi culture has a variation of the Purim Torah that is acted out, often with elaborate costumes and is referred to as a Purim Shpiel , from the Yiddish for play . "Ask the Rabbi: Are all costumes allowed on Purim?" , The Jerusalem Post, 03/11/111
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 962799120.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Purim Torah can be simple or elaborate, and require no qualifications to write, other than a good sense of humor. Purim Torah authors, often displaying an amazing grasp of Jewish knowledge, playfully use some of the far-fetched methods of Talmudic logic and Biblical exegesis in order to reach absurd conclusions. Parodies of Jewish life and the world have been found as early as the 12th century. Ashkenazi culture has a variation of the Purim Torah that is acted out, often with elaborate costumes and is referred to as a Purim Shpiel , from the Yiddish for play .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 345296550.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Purim Torah can be simple or elaborate, and require no qualifications to write, other than a good sense of humor. Purim Torah authors, often displaying an amazing grasp of Jewish knowledge, playfully use some of the far-fetched methods of Talmudic logic and Biblical exegesis in order to reach absurd conclusions. Another popular method is "play on words" where a reasonable word or phrase is purposefully misinterpreted as something absurd that sounds similar. Parodies of Jewish life and the world have been found as early as the 12th century. Ashkenazi culture has a variation of the Purim Torah that is acted out, often with elaborate costumes and is referred to as a Purim Shpiel , from the Yiddish for play .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 649611204.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 7 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Humorous and satirical comments in the learned style of Talmudic or Halakhic comments Main article: Purim Purim Torah is humorous and satirical comments in the learned style of talmudic or halakhic comments customarily read, recited from memory or authored on or for the Jewish holiday of Purim .Purim Torah can be simple or elaborate.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1104519596.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Humorous and satirical comments in the learned style of Talmudic or Halakhic comments Purim Torah is humorous and satirical comments in the learned style of talmudic or halakhic comments customarily read, recited from memory or authored on or for the Jewish holiday of Purim . Purim Torah can be simple or elaborate.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1290698660. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “term used to describe humorous and satirical writings customarily read on the jewish holiday of purim”. Today it says “humorous and satirical comments that constitute a parody of the learned style of talmudic or halakhic comments”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
term used to describe humorous and satirical writings customarily read on the jewish holiday of purim
Now
humorous and satirical comments that constitute a parody of the learned style of talmudic or halakhic comments
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
