It’s been five long winter months since we were last commanded to be happy. Comes Rosh Chodesh Adar and we joyfully sing out the well known song משנכנס אדר מרבים בשמחה. Chazal (Taanit, 29) teach us that we are obligated to increase our simcha beginning on Rosh Chodesh Adar and continuing throughout the month because of all the great miracles that are about to happen to Am Yisrael.

But what do Chazal mean exactly? It is not Yom Tov. There are no karbanot (sacrifices). We don’t even say Hallel. The beginning of the new cycle of the שלש רגלים is within our grasp- yet still looms quite a few weeks away. So what do Chazal exactly want from us this month? And why?

In order to understand what makes Adar a month embodied by happiness, we must first understand what is meant by happiness and how this is similar to, or perhaps different from, the simcha that the Torah commanded us a few months ago during the holiday of Sukkot.

The Torah tells us to be happy in connection with the Pilgrimage Festivals, שלש רגלים:

ושמחת בחגך אתה ובנך ובתך ועבדך ואמתך והגר והיתום והאלמנה אשר בשעריך (דברים ט”ז:י”ד)

The Torah commands us to be happy, yet makes it clear that this happiness is achieved only by celebrating with others and by ensuring that we take care of the less fortunate members of our community. Similarly, immediately following the commandment to bring the first fruit, ביכורים, to the Beit Hamikdash, the Torah tells us

(ושמחת בכל הטוב אשר נתן לך ה’ אלקיך ולביתך אתה והלוי והגר אשר בקרבך (דברים כ”ו; י”א

The reward for bringing the Bikurim is simcha but only inasmuch as it is shared with the have-nots, the Levite and the Sojourner in our midst. By no coincidence, the holiday of Shavuot is also known as Chag HaBikurim because that is the way the Torah wants us to understand the happiness of Yom Tov. It is attained by giving to others.

Even more so, when the Torah commands us to be happy on Shavuot (Devarim 16;11) Rashi comments that Hashem promises that if the Jewish people bring happiness to ‘His people,’ to the לוי גר יתום ואלמנה, then Hashem will bring happiness to ‘our people,’ בנך, בתך, ועבדך, ואמתך. There is a direct reward for bringing joy to others and including them in our celebration. This is what Hashem wants from us!

This concept of simcha is the essence of this month. In Megilat Esther, the Jews rejoice following their great victory and their salvation from the gallows of Haman. ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה! The Jews (הפרוזים) initially declare the day to be that of שמחה, משתה ויום טוב where we feast and give portions of foods to our friends.

But, when Mordechai issues his written decree that the 13th and 14th days of Adar should be marked for eternity in commemoration of the Jews’ victory over Achashveirosh, Haman and the Persians, Mordechai omits the description as a day of Yom Tov. Instead, in addition to the mitzvah of Mishloach Manot, he adds on the commandment to give מתנות לאביונים, charity to the poor; almost as if this is the compensation for not declaring Purim an official Yom Tov. According to the Gemara (Megilla 5b), the People were not prepared to take on the prohibitions of מלאכה at that time so it could not become an official Yom Tov. However, Mordechai still wanted to connect the simcha of Purim to the simcha of Yom Tov. He, therefore, retained the essence of Simchat Yom Tov by ensuring that the day would be all about giving to others, including others, and making sure that those around us were cared for.

Just as the simcha of Yom Tov is only achieved by sharing with others, Mordechai is teaching the Jewish people that the way to celebrate this יום משתה ושמחה is explicitly linked to our actions of the day, the מצוות היום; being a community and taking care of each other.

In fact, according to the Rambam (Hilchot Megillah 2:17)

It is preferable for a person to be generous with his gifts to the poor rather than to be lavish in his preparation of the Purim feast or in sending portions to his friends, as there is no greater and more glorious joy than to cause the hearts of the poor, the orphan, the widows, and the converts to rejoice. One who brings joy to the hearts of these miserable individuals is similar to the Divine Presence…

So after five long months of being in the dredge of a long and rainy winter, hunkering down during the short, dark, cold days, Adar arrives and wakes us out of our winter stupor. The cycle of the Jewish calendar reminds us that we are not alone. There is a community that needs us, a nation of which we are a part. It’s been five months. It’s time to reconnect.

And this in fact helps us understand the other part of the phrase in the Gemara. Just five months later in the calendar, along comes the month of Av and Chazal teach us that משנכנס אב ממעטין בשמחה (Mishna Taanit 4;6). Chazal comment that just as we minimize our happiness in the month of Av, so too we must increase our happiness in the month of Adar. Now this juxtaposition makes perfect sense. The complete antithesis to inclusion, caring for others, and rejoicing as a community is the very שנאת חינם (baseless hatred) that brought about the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash. Comes Av to remind us what happens when we forget the lessons of Adar; when we lose our connections; when we no longer act as a community. Because of this we lost our greatest treasure.

Albeit we are still without the Beit Hamikdash, we are gifted with Purim. On Purim, we are celebrating a miraculous victory, a day in which ונהפך להם מיגון לשמחה ומאבל ליום טוב. We celebrate that the Jewish people קימו וקיבלו, that they accepted and embraced the Torah on a whole new level. And we too can celebrate each of our own strides toward Torah learning and personal growth and the personal miracles that we see in our lives. We get a moment’s reprieve from the seriousness of life, the tragedy of our loss.

According to The New York Times, (Todd C., 2022, When Everything is Heavy, a Touch of Humor Can Help), “Taking things less seriously allows us to ‘travel more lightly’…. And saves the organism and the soul from too much of a bumpy road….”

We are still praying for complete Redemption, fighting to recognize Hashem. This indeed is a very bumpy road. We strive to remember our blessings and to be authentic and devoted Jews and we need to celebrate that- ליהודים היתה אורה ושמחה וששון ויקר – we should rejoice, but in order to do that, we must cling to each other to get through the darker days. We lose ourselves in a יום משתה ושמחה, a day filled with happiness, levity, and humor but we do it together.

Even before the science of psychology existed, Chazal understood that through humor, laughter and levity, bonds are forged among groups and communities, creating cohesion and unity (Serani D., 2022, The Benefits of Humor, PsychologyToday.com). These are bonds that are needed for the Jewish people to survive.

Living with levity can help people feel better…There are small studies that connect laughter, humor, and feeling amused to increases in optimism, feeling in control, and life satisfaction… humor helps build stronger bonds with each other, with links to greater satisfaction in both romantic relationships and the workplace… (Todd, 2022)

The perfect antidote to Chodesh Av.

And perhaps this explains why on Purim, Chazal instruct us to drink to the point that we can no longer differentiate between Mordechai and Haman. This is in sharp contrast to the feasts that surrounded the שלש רגלים in which we are prohibited from becoming drunk at all! In fact, according to the Rambam (Hilchot Yom Tov), there was such a strong prohibition from getting drunk or acting with excessive levity, that guards were stationed around the cities in order to make sure that people were behaving in an appropriate manner. Too much levity led to frivolity and that type of feast is completely prohibited. So, what changes with Purim that drunkenness, jovialness and levity is not only permitted but is encouraged?

Perhaps the difference lies in the essence of the celebration. Because as happy as we are on this day, we know that really this is a fleeting moment in our story, a flimsy, somewhat unsettling happiness. Because we know that on the 16th day of Adar, the Jews were still in Persia. They were still under the rule of Achashveirosh. They were still without the Beit Hamikdash. They were still in the Diaspora. And this in fact is the reason given by the Gemara (Megillah 14) explaining why there is no recitation of Hallel on Purim. Our happiness is incomplete, unstable. The morning after our Purim celebration, we wake up and remember that we are still on our journey, that we have not yet reached our ultimate destination, that we still have work to do. We still do not have the Beit Hamikdash.

The Rambam recognizes that, on Purim, in order to fully rejoice, we need to have a temporary reprieve from the harsher reality. So we are permitted to get drunk, to be frivolous, to be light, to rejoice in the moment without thinking about tomorrow. Because we need to. But it is unstable. Tomorrow we must wake up. We may drink so that we can rejoice. But through our joy, we must find meaning.

According to recent research, “Levity is one of the ways that people can change.” And so, as we feast and drink and celebrate, the atmosphere of Purim becomes a medium of joyfulness and frivolity, levity and laughter, in which we take care of each other and strengthen our community bonds. We pause in the moment and give tzedakah to the needy, we give portions of various foods to our friends, we feast together, and we rejoice. We reach out to our brothers and sisters and know that we are in this together. We drink until we forget the sorrows of yesterday and the challenges that lie ahead tomorrow. We practice simcha the way Hashem has taught us. And we do wake up the next day, but we are a changed people. We have bonded. We are a step closer. Now, we appreciate what we must do.

Purim ends. Immediately we turn to thoughts of Pesach… But we are ready. We have changed. We understand what we must do to bring about the ultimate redemption.

And so, the first thing we do as we sit down at our seder is to invite in a guest, to make sure everyone has a place to be, to make sure we are taking care of our people. הא לחמא עניה. We ourselves are eating bread of a poor person, but we immediately invite anyone who needs a place. Hashem, we are ready. We know what it means to epitomize עבדו את ה’ – בשמחה (serve God with happiness).

Just like we need time to prepare ourselves from Rosh Chodesh Av until Tisha B’Av to properly mourn the tragedy of the loss of the Beit Hamikdash, we also need time to start preparing for and reflecting on the meaning of the simcha of Purim. In other words, what we stand to gain from this month is no laughing matter. We start today to work on the lessons of Purim to be able to be worthy of the redemption of Pesach.

May we all fill our lives with simcha, peaking with the joyous and jovial celebration of Purim and the fulfillment of the mitzvot of the day in order to strengthen us as a nation and bring about complete ahavat Yisrael and with Hashem’s help see the actualization of the prophecy of Isaiah:

כִּֽי־בְשִׂמְחָ֣ה תֵצֵ֔אוּ וּבְשָׁל֖וֹם תּוּבָל֑וּן הֶהָרִ֣ים וְהַגְּבָע֗וֹת יִפְצְח֤וּ לִפְנֵיכֶם֙ רִנָּ֔ה וְכׇל־עֲצֵ֥י הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה יִמְחֲאוּ־כָֽף (Isaiah 55; 12)

May we enter the Days of Redemption through our simcha and merit the return of all of Am Yisrael to Eretz Yisraelל and the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash in peace and may all our days be filled with true simcha!

Chodesh Tov!

Bayla Samter is a student in the Matan Bellows Eshkolot Educators Institute, fulfilling her dream of becoming a Tanakh educator. She is originally from Oceanside, New York and made aliyah in 2016 from North Woodmere to Modiin where she now lives with her husband and their five children. Bayla practi
ced as a certified Nurse Practitioner and taught as a professor at the Adelphi University School of Nursing.

Matan Women's Institute for Torah Studieshas been at the cutting edge of Torah learning for women since it was established in 1988.