In Tractate Ta’anit, it is stated: “Just as during the month of Av we decrease in joy, so too, during the month of Adar we increase in joy.” Indeed, the sages instruct us to encourage and amplify joy not only on the days of Purim itself but throughout the entire month of Adar.
Just recently, we “sat and wept” shedding tears together with Yarden Bibas, who laid to rest his wife Shiri and his young sons, Ariel and Kfir, who were brutally murdered by Hamas. Sorrow hangs in the air like a dark cloud. Yet, the month of Adar, the month of joy, is upon us, and the dissonance is striking. How can we embrace the joy of Adar as we face a tsunami of grief that had started over five hundred days ago? How do we celebrate when national circumstances trigger a sadness that cannot be ignored? Having true joy on Adar under the shadow of mourning leaves us discombobulated, at best?
The Hatam Sofer explains that the increase in joyfulness during Adar stems from the story of Megillat Esther, which recounts the transformation of the Jewish people’s destiny from annihilation to salvation, from the curse of Haman to the blessing of Mordechai. Therefore, the entire month of Adar symbolizes the triumph of good over evil. According to Rabbi Sofer’s teaching, we should rather draw encouragement from the spirit of the month of Adar.
The Baal HaTanya delves into human nature, asserting that true joy does not contradict sorrow but rather grows from it. He explains that genuine joy comes from the internal work of facing pain and overcoming it. Thus, both the grieving individual and a distressed nation have the opportunity during Adar to connect with joy not as an external state of mind, but as an internal journey of resilience, purification, and growth.
Knowing Rabbi Nachman of Breslov’s personal struggles with melancholy and depression, we can better understand his famous statement: “It is a great mitzvah to be always joyful,” a message that reinforces the teachings of the Baal HaTanya above. Rabbi Nachman explains that Adar grants a person special strength to overcome sadness and to embrace true joy. He emphasizes the importance of joy precisely during times of hardship, as joy has the power to overcome despair and sorrow. Even though a mourner as well as a person at war naturally feels sadness, they can perceive joy as divine. By strengthening their trust in God, they can find room for joy even within sorrow.
We learn about the theological essence of Adar from Midrash Tanchuma, which states: “The Holy One, Blessed Be, desired to have a dwelling place in the world.” From this, our sages concluded that humanity’s purpose is to reveal the divine light within physical reality through their actions in this world. Indeed this worldview is a cornerstone of Jewish faith.
The Hebrew word “Adar” (אדר) is composed of “Aleph” (א) and “Dar”, dwells (דר). When the letter “Aleph” symbolizes God (אלוהים), then the word “Adar” means “God dwells.” Therefore, this Adar, during which we are licking our wounds from the war, and burying our dead hostages, our joy is not exuberant but rather of a different quality. It is the deep joy of an archaeologist uncovering the beautiful mosaic floor after painstaking excavation through filth and dirt. It is a joy tinged with sorrow, the kind that stems from as well as touches the eternal spirit that dwelling within.
Now is the time, despite our mourning, to recognize and celebrate our strengths as a people who posses abundant resilience and excel at revival. During this Adar, we must recognize the astonishing proliferation of simple acts of kindness that emerged from the crisis. We must acknowledge how our covenant and shared destiny has strengthened, and remember the palpable sense of unity that has emerged.
Surely, we will continue to shed tears as long as it is necessary, but we will mingle our tears of sorrow with our tears of joy, each one of us in his/her own way. Our beloved Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas would have wanted nothing less. They have bequeathed us with the mandate to go on living, along with the imperative to embrace the joy of Adar no matter what.
