Weekly Dvar Torah: Adar Joy Sixty Days

The Gemara in Taanis teaches: משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה

When the month of Adar arrives, we increase in joy. Why?

Explains Rashi, that in these days many miracles happened to the Jewish people, like Purim and Pesach.

Meaning, that the month of Adar brought us Purim and Pesach, and we don’t limit our joy to the day of Purim, or the week of Pesach alone, but we rejoice the entire month of Adar.

But wait a minute, isn’t Pesach in the next month of Nissan, so why are we celebrating the joy of Pesach in the month of Adar?

The Gemara in Megillah describes the excitement of Haman when he drew lots to choose an “auspicious” day (for him) to kill the Jews, and when the lot fell on the month of Adar he got very excited, because in this month Moshe passed away, and this was a bad omen for the Jews.

What Haman did not know, was that in the month of Adar Moshe was also born, and Rashi explains, that the day of the birth cancels out the day of death.

Even this doesn’t make sense, in real life death cancels out the birth, first you’re born and then you die, so how is the birth cancelling the death?

Besides, the day of Moshe’s birth and the day of his passing, both happened on the seventh day of Adar, so even if there is reason to celebrate, how does the joy extend to the entire month?

The explanation is; even Haman realized that the fact that Moshe passed away in Adar, it affects the entire month, therefore he didn’t choose the exact day of Moshe’s death, the 7th of Adar, but he picked another day, the 13th day of Adar, to implement his evil plan against the Jews, to him the entire month worked.

On the other hand, when we think of Moshe’s birth, we also realize that the entire month works for us as reason to celebrate, because of Moshe’s merit we got Purim on the fourteenth day of Adar.

And not only Purim came about as a result of Moshe’s birth, but also Pesach, the redemption of Jews from Egypt, came about directly by Moshe, therefore when we celebrate Moshe, we also celebrate the miracles of Pesach, which he made happen.

But when did we really comprehend the influence of Moshe’s birth, this happened on the day of his passing, when all his accomplishments came to full fruition after a lifetime of work, and only then did we fully understand to celebrate his birth.

Another thing we learn about the passing of Moshe, the Magen Avraham teaches that in a leap year we celebrate Moshe’s death, by fasting, on the seventh day of Adar one, and not in Adar two, when we celebrate Purim.

From this we learn, that the full effect of Moshe’s life, starts from the beginning of the first Adar, even if Purim is celebrated in the second Adar, so everything connected to celebrating Moshe, the miracles of Purim and Pesach, start already in the first Adar.

It’s the birth of Moshe which we only learn to appreciate at the time of his passing that causes joy, and therefore in a leap year we end up having two months of joy.

The Rebbe taught us during the leap year of 5752, that in such a year we have 60 days of joy, and as Halacha says that if we have 60 times of Kosher vs one item of non-Kosher, the non-Kosher becomes nullified, so too when we indulge in joy for 60 days, we nullify all the negativity which brings the opposite of joy, and we will merit to have only joy.

Indulge in 60 days of joy, and G-d will nullify all the sadness of Golus, and we will merit the revelation of Moshiach, Now, Now, Now!

Have a miraculously joyous Shabbos,
Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Yosef Katzman