Torah from HACD
Purim and Chaos: Parashat Pekudei, March 15, 2024
Mi shenikhnas Adar marbin beSimchah מִשֶּׁנִּכְנַס אֲדָר מַרְבִּין בְּשִׂמְחָה.. When Adar comes in, we increase our joy. I had the pleasure of covering class with the Nesharim on Rosh Hodesh רֹאשׁ חָדָשׁ this week while Morah Keren took the Dolphiniim to engage in a mitzvah project at the food bank. On the lesson plan was going around to all of the classes and disturbing them by walking in and singing a rousing chorus of “Mi she Mi she Mi she Mi she Mi she Mi she Mi she Mi she Mi shenikhnas Adar…”.I had never experienced this particular aspect of HACD culture before, but I found it refreshing. It reminded me of one of the crucial messages of Purim פּוּרִים.
But before I get to that, I have to admit that I was a bit wary of the custom. I don’t like chaos, and I felt nervous about introducing that element of chaos into other classrooms. Since I was hesitant, I delayed with a brief conversation of why we experience that joy. Most of the students made analogies to how they look forward to their birthdays. I didn’t share that I find the chaos and message of Purim difficult and that maybe we start celebrating Purim at the beginning of the month because we need time to practice and get ourselves into the mood.
I randomly asked a bunch of educated Jews where they expected to find the comment that we increase joy beginning with Rosh Hodesh Adar, and most people guessed it would be found in Tractate Megillah מַסֶּכֶת מְגִלָּה in the Talmud which deals with the scroll of Esther (and other issues related to holy scrolls). Actually, the text is found in Tractate Taanit מַסֶּכֶת תַּעֲנִית dealing with fast days. It is not even connected to a discussion of Taanit Esther תַּעֲנִית אֶסְתֵּר . Mishnah Taanit 4:6 concludes, after a harrowing list of things that happened on the fast days 17 Tammuz and 9 Av
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When Av begins, one decreases joy |
מִשֶּׁנִּכְנַס אָב מְמַעֲטִין בְּשִׂמְחָה |
The Talmud (Taanit 29a) comments on this Mishnah
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Rav Yehuda, son of Rav Shmuel bar Sheilat, said in the name of Rav: Just as when Av begins one decreases rejoicing, so too when Adar begins, one increases rejoicing. |
אָמַר רַב יְהוּדָה בְּרֵיהּ דְּרַב שְׁמוּאֵל בַּר שִׁילַת מִשְּׁמֵיהּ דְּרַב: כְּשֵׁם שֶׁמִּשֶּׁנִּכְנַס אָב מְמַעֲטִין בְּשִׂמְחָה — כָּךְ מִשֶּׁנִּכְנַס אֲדָר מַרְבִּין בְּשִׂמְחָה.
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The message of the conclusion of Tractate Taanit is that we structure our response to the grief of the destruction of the Temple on the 9th of Av by using the calendar to structure the time and slowly escalating the intensity of our mourning–stopping listening to live music after 17 Tammuz, not eating meat after the 1st of Av, etc. Taking the unpredictable and chaotic life of destruction and providing it a structure undoes the experience of chaos.
Rav’s comment that our increasing joy around Purim should be like the structured increase in sadness around 9 Av, is echoed informally in our lived experience of Purim if not in halakhah הֲלָכָה (Jewish law). We have crazy hair day and interrupting classes with rousing choruses of Mi shenikhnas Adar on Rosh Hodesh. Some time after that, we prepare our costumes, bake our special Purim pastries, hamantaschen אָזְנֵי הָמָן, and put together our mishloach manot מִשְׁלוֹחַ מָנוֹת. If we are really good, we research tzedakot צְדָקוֹת (recipients of righteous giving) to support for the mitzvah מִצְוָה (commandment) of matanot l’evyonim מַתָּנוֹת לָאֶבְיוֹנִים (gifts to the poor).. Many of us prepare to read from Megillat Esther מְגִלַּת אֶסְתֵּר (the Esther scroll). We read the passage about remembering to forget Amalek on the Shabbat preceding Purim, Shabbat Zakhor שַׁבַּת זָכוֹר. Finally on Purim, we pull out our graggers/ra’ashanim רַעֲשָׁנִים (noisemakers) and experience the joyous reading of Megillat Esther מְגִלַּת אֶסְתֵּר (the Esther scroll) and then eat the festive Purim meal, the Purim Seudah סְעוּדַת פּוּרִים. When my children all lived at home, we began the discussion of our family costume theme months in advance, even if we didn’t make much progress on it until Shabbat Zakhor.
Most of these preparations are not done according to the calendar, but the experience is similar to how we gradually increase our mourning before the 9th of Av. So why do we need all of this time to prepare to celebrate?
I worked with the Nesharim on Tuesday also, and we looked at the Al haNissim עַל הַנִּסִּים (on the miracles) prayer for Purim, and I was sadly not surprised that most of these very bright young people didn’t know that Purim included the threat to the lives of the Jewish people. We tend not to share those details with our children, or we disguise them, because Purim is hard. It is hard living under threat. It is hard facing the story of Jews killing tens of thousands of Persians in self-defense. Everything about Purim is hard. So we do all of these preparations to build up the strength to rejoice, even though the reality of threats on the Jewish people seem more real than ever, even though the reality of Jews needing to kill non-Jews to defend ourselves is more real than we want to admit.
I encourage you to take each of the steps along the way to build up our capacity for joy, because we need it.
Shabbat Shalom,
Jeffrey Spitzer