Copyright 2005 Darche Noam Institutions
"When the month of Av begins, we minimize joy... Rav Yehuda the son of Shmuel
the son of Shilat says in the name of Rav: 'Just as one is required to minimize
joy when the month of Av begins, so too when the month of Adar begins, we increase
joy."
The formulation "JUST AS one is required to minimize joy...SO, TOO, … one increases
joy" implies that the two laws emanate from a similar construct. What single
factor mandates both minimization of joy during the month of Av and an increase
in joy during the month of Adar?
An additional difficulty is Rashi's comment: "(When Adar begins) These were
times of miracles for the Jews- Purim and Pesach." Why include Pesach in the
discussion of increasing joy in the month of Adar, which is the month of Purim?
In telling about Haman's lottery to choose a date to destroy the Jews, the Talmud
(T.B. Megillah 13b) teaches: "Since the lottery came out on the month of Adar
Haman was very happy. He said 'My lottery fell in the month that Moshe died.'
But he didn't know that although on the seventh of Adar Moshe died, on the seventh
of Adar he was (also) born."
The implication is that Haman's joy was basically justified. The month that
Moshe died would have been most suitable for the destruction of the Jews. His
only miscalculation was that Moshe Rabbeinu was born on the same day that he
died. What made Adar a month so suitable for Haman's decree? And why should
his birth and death taking place on the same day alter the equation so significantly?
The Mishna in Taanit (T.B. Ta'anit 26a-b) lists five tragedies that occurred
to the Jewish people on the 17th of Tammuz and five others that occurred on
the 9th of Av. The tragedies of Av were conclusions of destruction that had
their origins in the month of Tammuz.
For example, on the 17th of Tammuz, after receiving the Torah, the Jews committed
cheit ha'egel, the sin of the Golden Calf, and when Moshe came down from Sinai
he broke the Tablets. G-d was prepared to forgive the nation's sin and allow
them to continue on to the land of Israel. On the other hand, the sin of the
spies, with the refusal of the Jewish people to enter the Land of Israel on
the 9th of Av, was the termination of the process that was to have brought the
Jews from Egypt into Israel. It would now have to be a different generation
that entered Israel.
In Tammuz, the walls of the City of Jerusalem were breached, beginning the process
of the destruction of the Temple. Three weeks later, in the month of Av, the
destruction was completed. Until that time, there was still hope that the Temple
could be salvaged. Av was the time that the end was reached.
Joy is always associated with potential. The unlimited possibilities of life
are the source of the great joy associated with the birth of a baby. Death,
on the other hand, brings sadness, since opportunities and potential that existed
in life are gone forever with death, and this termination is the source of our
sadness.
An endpoint can be reached because a process is terminated. But it can also
be reached because a process has reached completion, with the completed process
serving as the basis for a new process to begin.
When Moshe Rabbeinu died, the process of receiving the Torah seemed to have
ended. With the destruction of the first Temple, due to the nation's abandonment
of that Torah, followed by G-d's apparent failure to redeem the Jews from their
exile according to the expected schedule, the time appeared ripe for the total
destruction of the Jewish people. When Haman's lottery fell in the month of
Adar, the month of Moshe Rabbeinu's death, he viewed it as a propitious sign.
The termination of the Jewish people was most suitable in the month that the
process of receiving the Torah, the Jewish life force, had ended. Adar, as the
end of the year, would be the end of the Jewish people.
Yet the Rabbis teach us that he missed something. Where was Haman's mistake?
Moshe Rabbeinu was an exception to the norm. His death on the day that he was
born indicated that he actualized his potential to the fullest. The reality
matched the expectations. His death wasn't the termination of actualizing potential,
but was the fulfillment, the proper conclusion, of that potential. It set the
stage for a new beginning, starting with an even higher level of potential.
So the month of Moshe Rabbeinu's death could signify the end. Or it could signify
a new beginning.
On what would it depend?
The source of our belief in G-d is the compelling and overt miracles of Pesach
and Divine revelation at Sinai. These miracles were unique in the clear and
overt manifestation of G-d's intervention in and control over every element
of nature and history. Through the period of the first Temple, G-d's presence
continued to be manifest, with daily miracles and ongoing prophecy. With the
destruction of the Temple, these miracles ceased, never to return. During the
Babylonian exile prophecy was on the wane, and G-d's presence was becoming hidden.
If miracles aren't occurring, if G-d isn't com
This was the state of the Jewish people when Achashveirosh made his feast to
celebrate the apparent failure of G-d to redeem the Jewish people on schedule.
The Jews felt compelled to participate in the feast despite protests from Mordechai
that it was improper. Nine years later, the Jews were faced with a decree of
total annihilation. G-d sent no prophecy to tell them why it was happening or
how they should be saved. His face was hidden. How were they to know what was
happening to them?
Through the eyes of an observer, the events of the Purim story can easily be
interpreted as normal historical and political occurrences. Vashti being executed;
a new queen being appointed; Haman being promoted; his hatred of Mordechai who
wouldn't subjugate himself; the resulting desire of Haman to destroy the Jews;
his striking a deal with the King; Esther revealing the plot and the consequences
for her personally; the King executing Haman for his treachery. Even the apparently
less significant events could be attributed to those interesting quirks and
coincidences of history. None of these events seem to point conclusively to
any Divine intervention in the natural running of the world.
As we are further removed historically from our observation of G-d's miraculous
intervention in nature, it becomes easier for us to attribute the natural running
of the world to historical forces, political forces, coincidence. It has become
the natural human reaction to look for forces outside the Divine to explain
what we observe. This has a parallel in the development of our calendar year.
The month of Nisan, with its rebirth of nature, and the holiday of Pesach, with
its overt miracles, are times when G-d's creative and miraculous powers are
manifest. Adar, at the end of a dark winter, is the conclusion of the year.
As with any process, by the time one reaches the end, things have become routine.
One may not see G-d so clearly anymore. Man becomes susceptible to the forces
of Amalek, forces that belittle things of significance and elevate the power
of coincidence.
The name of G-d does not appear even once in the entire Megillah. The Purim
miracles were G-d's hidden intervention in and control of history. Performance
of these miracles was dependent on the moral and ethical activity of man. Everything
was in place for the decree of annihilation to be executed. Had the Jews not
understood the true source of the decree and repented properly, that decree
would have been carried out. Instead, G-d redirected and inverted each element
of potential destruction into an outcome of salvation. But it was done behind
the scenes, with miracles done within the natural order.
The miracles of Pesach begin the annual cycle of Holidays. The miracles of Purim
close the cycle. There is an evolution from G-d's overt miraculous intervention,
with man playing no role, to G-d's hidden miraculous intervention, which is
dependent on human actions (ethical and spiritual) to bring them about, along
with human insight to recognize them.
As a conclusion, the month of Adar is suitable for the destruction, the conclusion,
of Klal Yisrael. The death of Moshe was viewed by Haman as the conclusion of
the force that gave the Jews the Torah.
But every conclusion has the ability to be inverted (nehepach) to a completion.
And as such it can serve as a new beginning to greater accomplishments. Moshe's
birth on the day that he died showed that a conclusion can serve as a new birth.
The same force of "conclusion" which dictates minimization of joy in Av, dictates
maximization of joy in Adar, for Adar's conclusion was inverted from termination
to completion.
The source of great joy in Adar is the recognition that the miracles of Purim
had their origin at Pesach. The manifest presence of G-d in the miracles of
Pesach serves as the foundation of our recognition of His hidden intervention
in the miracles of Purim. The conclusion of prophecy and overt miracles that
preceded the time of Purim could have been a termination point in our relationship
with G-d. If no relationship is seen between the hidden intervention of G-d
(Purim) and the overt miraculous control of nature (Pesach), then G-d remains
hidden (Hester). But we have the ability to recognize G-d even when He is hidden.
It requires effort to discover the hidden relationship that exists between G-d
and the Jewish people. But when we succeed, it deepens that relationship, turning
the conclusion into the foundation for a new beginning. The joy in renewed potential
is the special joy of Adar and Purim.
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Copyright 2005 Darche
Noam Institutions