BS”D
As the month of Adar approaches, so does the phrase “Mishenichnas Adar marbin b’simcha.“ It’s playing over speakers as we walk through the streets. It’s printed on random products and Purim gear. Children sing it in school and at home and then we’re singing it. It’s kind of taken for granted that in the days leading up to Purim this phrase will be plastered everywhere.
But, what does it really mean?
On the surface, this statement seems pretty straight-forward. After all, Adar is, “the month that was reversed for them, from grief to joy.”1 It was during Adar that the Jewish people fully gained the upper hand over their enemies. It also contains the Yartzeit of Moshe Rebbeinu, our great redeemer, teacher and leader.
That these days are Divinely infused with simcha makes sense. So, Adar comes and we should just try to experience more joy in our lives, right?
Sounds simple enough…
But let’s take a closer look at this possuk:
First, the use of the word nichnas seems a bit odd here. “To enter” infers some type of action or movement– a change of place, situation, or status. We are leaving one state to emerge in another.
How exactly do we “enter Adar”? And to where do we go when we do? Also, marbin b’simcha litterally means to “increase with simcha.” What are we increasing and how are we to do it “with simcha”?
Spoiler alert: We aren’t given any explicit instructions.
Even more intriguing, here is the fuller quote of the gemara in which this idea appears2:
Just as when Av begins we decrease with joy,
so too when Adar begins, we increase with joy.
This implies that the experience of Av, during which we sit in mourning over the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, is equivalent in some way to the experience of Adar. The only difference is whether we “increase” or “decrease” with simcha.
What’s going on here?
Upholding the Illusion
On Purim we read Megillas Esther, which quite literally means “revealing that which is hidden.”
God’s Name does not explicitly appear in the megillah. Yet, we see that all the pieces of the puzzle come together in the end to form one magnificent tapestry. The events of the Purim story clearly reveal God’s hashgacha (providence) and continual Presence. Hashem may have been hidden over those nine long years, but He had never really abandoned His people.
The point that we’re meant to internalize is that behind the veil of the natural world, God actively creates, sustains, and manages every detail. He is always there with us pulling the strings.
Though Hashem may run the show, we are nevertheless commanded to do our hishtadlus— which roughly translates to making a personal effort. Rabbeinu Bachya in his sefer Chovos HaLevovos3 teaches that we are obligated to act in the ways of the world we live in. We all must engage ourselves in a range of physical activities— from eating, drinking, and sleeping to earning a living and taking medicine when sick.
As we do so we face the greatest paradox of human effort and achievement. In all worldly matters we need to go through the motions as if the results are fully dependent upon us. Our actions, we are taught, create the very space where Hashem can send the physical blessings and abundance that we are meant to enjoy. At the same time, however, we are to constantly remind ourselves that our accomplishments, as well as our failures, are really in Hashem’s Hands. We can hope and pray for a certain result, but He alone knows what is best for us at every given moment, and He alone determines the outcome.
The Nature of Spiritual Hishtadlus
Things change, however, when it comes to matters of ruchnius. In spiritual matters we are not bound by the same rules of nature. Though we must still make hishtadlus, accomplishment in the spiritual realm has its own system.
In the month of Adar we also read parshas Terumah which focuses on the building of the mishkan. In there we find an interesting Midrash about Moshe Rebbeinu’s struggle to make the Menorah4:
Moshe struggled with the design of the Menorah more than all the other vessels of the Mishkan, until the Holy One Who is Blessed showed him [what it was supposed to look like] with a finger… [As it says] “This is how the Menorah was made: it was hammered work of gold” (Bamidbar 8:4), which is to say how hard it is to make, since Moshe became weary on account of it. When he struggled, The Holy One Who is Blessed said to Moshe: take a talent of gold and throw it in the fire and take it out, and it will be formed on its own, as it says, “its buttons, flowers, and cups came out from it” (Shemos 37:17) – he would strike it with a hammer and it would be made on its own.
The question is: if Hashem knew that Moshe could not make the Menorah on his own, then why did He bother showing him what it would look like?
In the realm of spiritual growth and accomplishment, our thoughts and desires have more weight than our actions. Often the spiritual levels we are meant to reach are really too big for us. Yet, Hashem wants us to reach for them anyway.
But here’s the thing: to do the impossible, we need Sciata D’Shamaya.5 Getting it though depends on a combination of intent, desire, and resolve. These qualities create the necessary vessel to receive that Divine Assistance.
Moshe had to know what the goal was so he could yearn to reach it. Once he had a vision of what he was setting out to make and combined it with both an effort to get there and a request for Hashem’s help, Hashem could then assist him. After Moshe threw the lump of gold into the fire, Hashem took over, and the menorah was miraculously formed. Yet, the act itself was still credited to Moshe.6
If Moshe did not have a clear vision of what he was creating, then in no way could it be considered something he made.7
The same rules of spiritual hishtadlus apply to us. We need to go in with the clearest vision possible of a spiritual goal we want to accomplish. This includes all spiritual matters big and small from building a chesod organization or developing a course, to writing a dvar Torah, improving our performance of a mitzvah or working on ourselves. As we work towards achieving this goal, we are to remember that we need Hashem’s assistance and continually request it from Him.
With every effort we make to reach our goal we are throwing our lump of gold in the fire. Even if these steps seem small and insignificant, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that we don’t become discouraged and give up along the way.
It may take days, months, or years, but ultimately we may see that events of our lives are suddenly falling into place– seemingly by themselves– and that once distant goal is coming into focus.
The recognition of Hashem’s involvement in both physical and spiritual matters combined with our hishtadlus, is the path to achieving simcha.
The Lion in the Way
But, there is a lion standing in the way of our simcha, and that is Amalek. Adar marks the fall and defeat of Haman, Amalek’s quintessential descendant. The Torah commands us:8
זכור את אשר־עשה לך עמלק
בדרך בצאתכם ממצרים— אשר קרך בדרך
Remember what Amalek did you on your way out of Egypt—
how he happened upon you on the way
The true nature of Amalek is embodied in the word karcha (קרך). Karcha is related to the word mikreh (מקרה), coincidence. Amalek’s war against the Jewish People is not really a physical struggle. It is a battle for the mind– a fundamental shift in how we view the world and our role in it. Amalek represents the philosophy of mikreh. They reject the idea of Divine Providence, and substitute it for the belief that the everything in the world is left to chance.9
Karcha is also related to the word kar (קר), meaning cold.10 Amalek cooled the fire of enthusiasm for mitzvos and Divine service that burned in the hearts of the Jewish People. In its place they injected despair and despondency.
Nothing in this world has the ability to cool one’s enthusiasm and simcha in serving God as much as the denial of God’s hashgacha. When God is taken out of the picture, then so are we. Under the influence of Amalek we focus solely on the events and actors in this world. This automatically leads to confusion, a growing disconnect and apathy towards our spiritual gifts and potential, and ultimately pulls us from the path of serving Hashem.
Increasing with Simcha
So, how do we slay this lion? The Torah gives us the answer:11
Amalek arrived and battled Israel at Refidim. Moshe said to Yehoshua: ‘choose men for us and go out to fight Amalek, for tomorrow I will stand at the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.’ Yehoshua did just as Moshe had told him to fight against Amalek, while Moshe, Aharon and Chur ascended to the top of the hill. And it came to pass when Moshe raised his hand then Israel would prevail, but when he put down his hand then Amalek would prevail.
On this incident, the gemara asks:12
‘And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed’. It may be asked: Did the hands of Moses make war when he raised them or break war when he lowered them? Rather, the verse comes to tell you that as long as the Jewish people turned their eyes upward and subjected their hearts to their Father in Heaven, they prevailed, but if not, they fell.
Whenever we direct our thoughts to Hashem, it automatically weakens the grip of Amalek. But, we need a two-pronged approach: turning our eyes upward, and subjecting our hearts to Our Father in Heaven.
In the first stage we need to actively seek out and recognize Hashem’s hashgacha within our physical lives. Our feet may be planted on the ground and our hands may be busy, but our sights are trained towards the Source of it all. Though this is something for the whole year, during the days of Adar, we should pursue every opportunity to increase it. We will receive more Sciata D’Shamaya in this process than usual.
When we recognize Hashem’s guiding Hand hidden behind the scenes, and acknowledge all the good that Hashem does and has done for us, then the automatic response is a desire to serve Him— not out of fear, but out of ahava.
Teshuva from ahava is the real goal of Adar. The Jewish people’s re-acceptance of the Torah in the days of Mordechai and Esther was not a planned process. It was a spontaneous outpouring of yearning– a soul desire to re-connect to its Source in truth.
The second stage involves what to do with this soul desire when it spontaneously bubbles up from within. The Baal Shem Tov teaches that when we experience an inner rousing of the soul, we should immediately attach it to an action. It can be an “external” action, like saying a tefilla or tehillim, giving tzedakah, dealing kindly with a fellow Jew or performing some other mitzvah with added kavanah. It can also be an internal cry out to Hashem from the depths of the heart.
Acting on a spiritual arousal is critically important. Such experiences are usually fleeting, but know that they are a gift from Above. Not acting on them in some way is a missed opportunity. Every act that we do creates an impression. When a spiritual arousal is given expression, it and its positive influence never ever leaves us.
Where does it go? It remains forever in the heart.
Someone pointed out that “Mishenichnas Adar” can also be roughly translated as: “one who the [essence of] Adar enters.”
It’s a beautiful insight.
We don’t enter Adar; it’s really Adar that enters us!
This corresponds to another insight (this time from my husband) on the gemara that “one is obligated to get drunk on Purim (מיחייב איניש לבסומי בפוריא) until he doesn’t know the difference between cursed in Hamon and blessed is Mordechai”13
Chayav inish l’vesumei B’poraiyah can also literally mean that “one is obligated to become drunk on Purim [i.e from the essence of Purim itself].”
When the goal during the days of Adar is strengthening our personal connection to Hashem based on the points mentioned above, then we will merit that “God will fight with Amalek from generation to generation.”
The truth is the battle with Amalek is not really our battle to win– it’s way above us. This is Hashem’s battle. But, Hashem wants us to jump into the fray anyway with our eyes turned upward and our hearts open to His assistance. This is our hishtadlus. In doing so, we “give” Him the ability so to speak to do the fighting for us. In the end the battle will not only be won, it will be as if we had done it ourselves.
Footnotes:
- Megillas Esther 9:22
- Tannis 29A
- Shaar Habitachon
- Bamidbar Rabbah 15:4
- Sukka 52b: “Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: A person’s inclination tries to overpower him daily and tries to kill him, as it says ‘The wicked waits for the righteous and seeks to slay him’ (Tehillim 37:32). And would it not be for God’s help, a person could not succeed against it, as it says ‘And God does not abandon him in his hand.'(Ibid. 37:33)”
- Based on a series of articles by Rabbi Ben Tzion Shaffier. See here.
- Indeed, this is the case with Cheit HaEigel. Aharon Hakohen threw the gold into the fire, but he is not credited with making it, because he had no idea what would come out. “Then I cast it into the fire – and I didn’t know that this calf would emerge” See Rashi Shemos 32:24
- Devarim 25:17-18
- See Rashi on Devarin 25:17
- Tanchuma 2, Ki Tetzeh 14
- Shemos 17:8-11
- Rosh Hashana 29a
- Megillah 7b