Purim : Adar is Here!

Ah…the joy of the month of Adar!

 

As is the custom, my oldest son and I met my usual group on Monday, in Yerushaliyim to bake our matzos.  Thankfully, I was working with a fellow Chicagoan, so everything was nice and smooth.  Before going, I took my son to the yeshiva that I learned in to meet the rabbeim there.  My rav came out to speak with us and he said to my son, “There is only one word that is forbidden to say in this yeshiva.  Do you know what it is?  I’ll tell you: ‘Normal.' Nothing is normal here.  We don’t like normal!"

 

I think my son has a better grasp on why I came out the way I did.

 

The Jewish year is often said to be circular, it starts at Pesach and it makes a circle, ends at Purim and begins anew with Pesach.  It’s not entirely true.  It’s more comparable to a helix, which is circular but moves up to a new level with each passing year.  Being that it still is circular, different periods of the year have different beams running vertically through the helix.  So the "beam" of Tisha B’Av starts from the bottom and goes through each and every Tisha B’Av in the helix.  That is why Tisha B’Av is not just a matter of mourning over the past, but is known to be a more dangerous time for the Jewish people even today, because the power of the original Tisha B’Av carries up through the helix through all Tisha B’Avs.

 

Adar is the same: the Arizal says that the original power of Purim runs through the years.  We are not merely celebrating what once occurred, but rather we have the ability to tap into the power of the original Purim and use it even today.

 

So, what exactly is that power?

 

When Haman and Achashveirosh decreed the destruction of the Jewish people, Mordecai knew that the main danger did not lie with Haman, but with Hashem.  If the decree of Achashveirosh could not be annulled, then certainly the official decree of the King Himself could not be annulled.  It was one thing for Hashem to WARN of bad things, but to make a decree?  That’s something else completely.  From Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur to even Sukkos, yes, Hashem makes decrees for the next year.  However, the “ink does not dry” until Shmini Atrzeres, so there is still a way to make changes.  However, once the ink is dry, things get a bit trickier.  

 

The power of Purim (and in many respects, the month of Adar) is that Hashem changed the spiritual nature and rules of the world to allow us to rip up that decree.  During this month, and specifically on Purim, Hashem gives us an opening to change decrees that were made against us.  It’s something that goes against the rules of “nature,” and is comparable to throwing an object up in the air and gravity never taking hold of it.  By properly learning about the hidden miracles of Purim and seeing those hidden miracles in our lives, and by increasing our davening and trust in Hashem, we can use the exact same spiritual power that our fathers used so many centuries ago.

 

Have a great Shabbos!