Meaningful Moadim
  • Welcome to Meaningful Moadim
    • Index 2
    • Tu BiShevat - The New Year of the Trees >
      • Bearing Fruit
      • Lesson of the Trees
      • Pri Eitz Hadar
      • Tu BeShevat – A Day of Perceptible Belief
    • Mishenichnas Adar Marbim BeSimcha >
      • A Purim Thought
      • Mazal Adar Dagim - The Month of Adar is Symbolized by Fish
      • More on Mazel Adar Dagim
      • The First of "the Four Parshiyos" - Parshas Shekalim
      • The Month of Adar and Purim >
        • Holiday of Unity?
      • Why Megillas ESTHER?
      • Purim and Prayer >
        • Prayer in the Megillah
      • The Most Unhappiest Queen of them all
      • Purim and Charity
      • Making Purim Last Throughout the Year
      • Story: The Purim of Saragosa
      • KISLEV - Great Expectations >
        • What is Chanukah? >
          • The Name of the Holiday >
            • Chanukah: Renewal
            • Why is Shehechiyanu recited only on the first night of Chanukah?
            • Biblical Allusions
            • Another explanation of the name Chanukah
            • Ve-Al Hnissim, not Al Hanissim
            • Mai Chanukah?
            • Bais Shamai and Bais Hillel (2)
            • Mazal Kislev Keshes
            • Why didn't the Kohanim themselves defile the oil if everyone was tamei, ritually impure due to the war? >
              • Chanukah Always has a Shabbos >
                • Chanukah Always Falls our Around parshas Mikeitz
              • Tu B'shvat and Shabbos Shira
      • We blow the Shofar Throughout the Month of Elul
      • Shofar Throughout the Month of Elul
      • Reconnecting with our Father in Heaven
      • Month of Teves: Catastrophic Events
    • Chanukah: The Festival of Lights >
      • TAKING A MOMENT OUT FOR A CHANUKAH THOUGHT >
        • TAKING A MOMENT OUT FOR A CHANUKAH THOUGHT
      • Are we celebrating the victory over the Greeks or the Miracle of the Oil? >
        • Miracle Oil?
        • The Jewish People Are Above Nature
        • The Light of the Jewish Soul Glows on Chanukah
        • Chanukah: A Winter Festival
        • Chanukah: A War of Conflicting Philosophies >
          • Alexander The Great and The Jewish Sages
          • Uphold Good or Destroy Evil?
          • LeHashkicham Torasecha U’LeHa’aviram MeiChukei Retzonecha
        • Why was a holiday established specifically for the war that led to the Chanukah miracle?
        • U’Leamcha Yisrael Assisa Teshua Gedola U’furkan K’Hayom Hazeh…
      • Give the Gift of LIGHT!
      • Customs, Symbols & Observances >
        • More Reasons for Doughnuts on Chanukah
        • The Letters on the Dreidel
        • More Customs >
          • More About the Dreidel
          • More on Dreidel
          • Chanukah Gelt
          • The Lesson of "Chanukah Gelt"
          • L'Hodos U'LaHallel
        • More Symbolism >
          • Symbolism of Olive Oil
          • The Greeks vs. The Jews
          • The Little Jug that Traveled Through Time
        • The Custom to serve Dairy and Cheese Products on Chanukah
        • Tzedaka - Charity
      • The Shamash >
        • The Secret of the Shamash
      • Putting Away the Menorah?
      • Recommended Reading

Introducing
​the Month of Adar

Introducing the month of adar

3/2/2017

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Mishenichnas adar marbim b'simcha

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Although we are already in the midst of the joyous month of Adar, many authorities posit that increasing simcha is an obligation throughout the entire month.

How can we begin to manifest this heightened sense of simcha?  The Sefer Nimukei Orach Chaim (to Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim Chapter 685) writes that each person should engage in activities or do things that make him personally happy (within Torah guidelines and ethics, of course).  HaRav Yoel Schwartz (in Sefer Adar U’Purim) adds that it is an excellent custom to post signs in your home reading, “MiShenichnas Adar Marbin B’Simcha” – to have a constant reminder to feel and experience an increased level of Simcha.

This dictum that we should enhance our happiness in Adar is somewhat peculiar. It would seem that the month of Nissan in which the liberation from Mitzrayim took place represents a greater salvation than that of the relief from Haman that took place in Adar. Additionally, the gemarah in Megillah states that although Haman's plot was annulled and we were saved from annihilation, we do not recite Hallel because “אכתי עבדי אחשוורוש אנן – We are still considered the subjects of Achashveirosh.” Since that is the case, why didn't Chazal enact that we should increase joy when the month of Nissan approaches?

Harav Shraga Feivel Schneebalg z’l in Shraga Hameir suggests that although the redemption from Mitzrayim was accompanied by extraordinary miracles such as the Ten Makos and Kriyas Yam Suf, which were undoubtedly supernatural, it was evident that these miracles were performed by Hashem. On the other hand, the miracles that occurred leading up to the climax of Haman's downfall appeared as natural occurrences, they simply seemed like typical palace intrigue. Therefore, it was not so evident that Hashem orchestrated the events for the benefit of Israel. The nations didn’t take notice and did not point to the hand of Hashem that was responsible for the outcome. Only the Jewish people who understood that all is from Hashem could testify to this truth. Only they discerned that Hashem was working hidden miracles and transformed the month of Adar from mourning to jubilance.

This is the reason that about Adar, we say, “Mishenichnas Adar Marbim Besimcha.”  The source of this gaiety was that we acknowledged and recognized this truth.  But, in Nissan, in which all the nations realized that the hand of Hashem facilitated the redemption from Mitzrayim it was not such a great simcha. For the Jews, it resulted, in a stronger commitment to Torah, as the Gemarah says, “The Jews reaccepted the Torah willingly in the time of Mordechai and Esther.”  These days were therefore earmarked as days of unbridled joy. For in every year when the month of Adar arrives there is a reawakening of the awareness that the Jewish people recognize the greatness of Hashem and that everything that transpires in the world is from Hashem.

Our holidays are replete with lessons, and their breadth and depth are all-encompassing and all-embracing. There is so much for the Jew to learn. That is what we hope to accomplish at meaningfulmoadim.com, a website that aims to highlight the beauty, symbolism and the life lessons inherent in the Moadim.
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    Eliyahu Zukierman

    My hobby is learning new things about the Jewish months,

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  • Welcome to Meaningful Moadim
    • Index 2
    • Tu BiShevat - The New Year of the Trees >
      • Bearing Fruit
      • Lesson of the Trees
      • Pri Eitz Hadar
      • Tu BeShevat – A Day of Perceptible Belief
    • Mishenichnas Adar Marbim BeSimcha >
      • A Purim Thought
      • Mazal Adar Dagim - The Month of Adar is Symbolized by Fish
      • More on Mazel Adar Dagim
      • The First of "the Four Parshiyos" - Parshas Shekalim
      • The Month of Adar and Purim >
        • Holiday of Unity?
      • Why Megillas ESTHER?
      • Purim and Prayer >
        • Prayer in the Megillah
      • The Most Unhappiest Queen of them all
      • Purim and Charity
      • Making Purim Last Throughout the Year
      • Story: The Purim of Saragosa
      • KISLEV - Great Expectations >
        • What is Chanukah? >
          • The Name of the Holiday >
            • Chanukah: Renewal
            • Why is Shehechiyanu recited only on the first night of Chanukah?
            • Biblical Allusions
            • Another explanation of the name Chanukah
            • Ve-Al Hnissim, not Al Hanissim
            • Mai Chanukah?
            • Bais Shamai and Bais Hillel (2)
            • Mazal Kislev Keshes
            • Why didn't the Kohanim themselves defile the oil if everyone was tamei, ritually impure due to the war? >
              • Chanukah Always has a Shabbos >
                • Chanukah Always Falls our Around parshas Mikeitz
              • Tu B'shvat and Shabbos Shira
      • We blow the Shofar Throughout the Month of Elul
      • Shofar Throughout the Month of Elul
      • Reconnecting with our Father in Heaven
      • Month of Teves: Catastrophic Events
    • Chanukah: The Festival of Lights >
      • TAKING A MOMENT OUT FOR A CHANUKAH THOUGHT >
        • TAKING A MOMENT OUT FOR A CHANUKAH THOUGHT
      • Are we celebrating the victory over the Greeks or the Miracle of the Oil? >
        • Miracle Oil?
        • The Jewish People Are Above Nature
        • The Light of the Jewish Soul Glows on Chanukah
        • Chanukah: A Winter Festival
        • Chanukah: A War of Conflicting Philosophies >
          • Alexander The Great and The Jewish Sages
          • Uphold Good or Destroy Evil?
          • LeHashkicham Torasecha U’LeHa’aviram MeiChukei Retzonecha
        • Why was a holiday established specifically for the war that led to the Chanukah miracle?
        • U’Leamcha Yisrael Assisa Teshua Gedola U’furkan K’Hayom Hazeh…
      • Give the Gift of LIGHT!
      • Customs, Symbols & Observances >
        • More Reasons for Doughnuts on Chanukah
        • The Letters on the Dreidel
        • More Customs >
          • More About the Dreidel
          • More on Dreidel
          • Chanukah Gelt
          • The Lesson of "Chanukah Gelt"
          • L'Hodos U'LaHallel
        • More Symbolism >
          • Symbolism of Olive Oil
          • The Greeks vs. The Jews
          • The Little Jug that Traveled Through Time
        • The Custom to serve Dairy and Cheese Products on Chanukah
        • Tzedaka - Charity
      • The Shamash >
        • The Secret of the Shamash
      • Putting Away the Menorah?
      • Recommended Reading