Part II
Mishenichnas Adar, marbim besimchah. When Adar comes, we
increase our joy. This realization of Hashem's involvement in
every detail of our lives develops an intense feeling of
closeness to Hashem, and since coming close to Hashem is our
life's purpose, we will experience simchah. If we can
develop the feeling of meirov kol, that we have
everything we need, then we will acquire full contentment.
The lesson of Purim is to feel Hashem's involvement in our
lives. During the month of Adar, we can develop this feeling
by looking back at life circumstances that may have seemed
difficult or perplexing and see how they actually brought us
to a better situation.
Ahavas Hashem on Purim
During the entire month of Adar we should be preoccupied with
the message of Purim. It is a time to develop our ahavas
Hashem. Let's examine other practical ways of doing
that.
Chovos Halevovos delineates two stages in avodas Hashem.
The first stage is to accept Hashem's sovereignty and to
do our utmost to fulfill all the mitzvos that we can. The
next stage is to work on the duties of the heart and to
increase our fear and love of Hashem.
We clearly see these stages from the way the Jews accepted
the Torah. Chazal teach us that at Har Sinai, "Hashem
kofoh aleihem har kegigis," Hashem suspended the mountain
over the Bnei Yisroel like a barrel. Given the intensity of
the events at Har Sinai and the clarity of Hashem's voice,
they understood undeniably the Torah's crucial importance. As
Maharal explains, Bnei Yisroel realized that since Torah is
the true quality of life, if one would not fulfill it, then
what is the value of life? Upon accepting the Torah, the Jews
clearly realized that it was their absolute purpose for
living.
However, subsequently the Jews faced a problem. As time went
on, their appreciation of the essential nature of Torah
faded. Rashi explains that they could have defended their
laxness in service of Hashem with the excuse that they no
longer had the unmistakable clarity that they experienced at
Sinai.
This defense held true until Purim. After the threat of
annihilation, the Jews did complete teshuvoh and
returned to the ways of Torah. After reaching that point,
nothing seemed to remain for them to do.
But then they realized that the time had come to re-accept
the Torah in an even more complete way than at Har Sinai.
Looking back at their decline, the Jews realized that the
acceptance at Har Sinai had been flawed. The original
acceptance had been dependent on the tremendous awe of the
dramatic experience. Once the awe dissipated, so did the
commitment. Now they sought to receive the Torah without the
fire and lights.
Rashi raises the question of what prompted the Jews to re-
accept the Torah on Purim. He answers "from the love of the
miracle." He means that they did so out of love for Hashem
who performed the incredible miracle for them.
Now we know that there were many other times that the Jews
experienced miracles. For example, their end seemed near in
the times of Chizkiyohu, until miraculous events brought
about a complete turnaround as 186,000 hostile soldiers were
wiped out overnight. But they did not respond with ahavas
hanness, as they did on Purim.
The Miracles of Purim
The Purim story is unique, as is its setting. It took place
in Persia, in the exile that is called the exile of Bovel.
The Jews in the capital, Shushan, were invited to
Achashverosh's party. This was the first time the Jews had
received such kovod in Persia. Intoxicated with that
honor, the Jews fell to such a low level that they did not
even mourn when the Temple vessels were brought out at the
party. Nisyashnu min hamitzvos, they were sleeping
from the mitzvos. They were untouched. Sixty years in exile
had dimmed all hope of returning to Eretz Yisroel.
Another miraculous occurrence was the king's choice of Esther
as the queen. The Midrash describes her as green, an uncommon
-- and unattractive -- color for royalty. Yet, Achashverosh
picked her from all the maidens in Persia. As bizarre as this
was, Mordechai and Esther saw the hand of Hashem at work
here.
When the Jews suddenly faced a risk of total obliteration
simply because one Jew, Mordechai, had not bowed down to
Haman, they understood that Hashem was sending them a
message. After Haman -- born with a burning passion to
destroy the Jews -- rose to power, the Jews realized their
insensitivity to the sacrilegious use of the Temple vessels.
They were beginning to see Hashem's direct involvement in
their lives.
"Greater was the removal of the ring than all forty-eight
prophets" (Megilloh 14a). Chazal tell us that Haman's
rise to power shook up the Jews more than any fiery rebuke
could have.
Haman was such an influential figure, and such a mastermind
of propaganda, that no one dared to interfere with his plans.
Hashem would have preferred a more pleasant way of waking up
the Jews, but He knew that an archenemy would accomplish the
most. And the Jews heard the message and they fasted for
three days.
Shlomo Hamelech says in Shir Hashirim,the Jewish
people's song of love to Hashem (5:2), Ani yesheinoh
velibi er, I am sleeping and my heart is awake. Chazal
explain this to mean that I am sleeping from mitzvos, but
Hashem is awake. This means that someone is concerned that I
not stay in a comatose state. Hashem knows how to get to my
heart, because He is my heart.
Through the rise of Haman, the Jews were awakened to the
realization that Hashem was talking to them. Once they gained
this awareness, Hashem initiated their salvation.
The miracle of Purim was unique. At that time Hashem
manipulated history so dramatically that at the beginning of
the Megilloh the entire world was called upon to
destroy every Jewish soul, but by the end of the Megilloh
no one dared to touch a Jew. This unprecedented
turnaround led the Jews to examine why they had grown so
distant from Hashem. They concluded that Hashem had not been
very meaningful to them, and they vowed to change that.
Upon introspection, they quickly realized that their problem
stemmed from insensitivity, as their indifference to the
desecration of the Temple vessels displayed. They realized
that their entire approach to avodas Hashem had been
rooted just in reverence and trepidation (yir'oh), and
they decided that they now needed a more effective approach
to Torah.
Now that they were keenly aware of Hashem's incredible love
for them, they knew that they must develop their love for
Him. Although the Bnei Yisroel experienced many miracles,
they had never sunk so far as to be threatened with total
annihilation and therefore they had never experienced a
salvation of those proportions. That experience called for a
new dedication to avodas Hashem.
They realized that henceforth Hashem's open revelations would
be select and scarce and they could not base their avodas
Hashem on reverence. However Hashem's unlimited kindness
would always be available and His love would remain
unconditional. They could always discover Hashem's concern
for them from behind the curtains, as it were, and could
respond to it out of love. They therefore resolved to change
their initial commitment to Hashem and base it on His love
for them and their reciprocal love for Him.
Our Response to Adar
How does all this relate to us? What is our feeling supposed
to be in Adar?
When we see Hashem's expression of love towards us, we too
should respond. The first step is to dedicate ourselves to
mitzvos and to increase our reverence for Hashem.
But as we have seen, that is not enough. If we fully sense
how much Hashem loves us, we will want to go above and beyond
the call of duty out of love for Him.
When something is important to us, we put our hearts into it.
By way of analogy, if we invite guests who are important to
us for a meal, we go all-out. We may buy special napkins, and
prepare an elaborate feast. These outward gestures portray
the inner feelings of respect we have for our guests and the
joy we feel in hosting them.
Similarly, we have continuous opportunities to embellish our
mitzvos. As the Bnei Yisroel declared upon crossing the Yam
Suf, Zeh keili ve'anveihu, This is my G-d, and I will
adorn him. How can we adorn Hashem? By beautifying the
mitzvos, by doing them out of love and joy.
One practical suggestion for implementing one's love for
Hashem's Torah is in the mitzvos connected to Purim. For
example, to fulfill the mitzvah of matonos le'evyonim,
one can simply give money to the local tzedokoh
distributor, and he has fulfilled his duty. Or one can
make a full tasty meal for a poor family in the neighborhood
-- a true beautification of the mitzvah.
This completes Rashi's comment on the message of Adar: to
appreciate how fortunate we are to be the object of Hashem's
love. The natural response to this realization is to
reciprocate, to show Hashem how much we care for Him, by
beautifying the mitzvos and serving Hashem out of love.
Click here to view Part I.
