It was gray and mild this morning, ice thick on the lake, the sky flat, everything still, not a goose around. But colors in the woods! – almost harlequin, bringing to mind Purim costumes, orange and green.
This morning we welcomed the month of Adar. In the Torah, the Israelites are wandering in the desert after receiving the Ten Commandments at Sinai. In biblical Israel, Adar began the agricultural season, with plowing of fields, and sowing of chickpeas, vegetables, and millet. Here in the Great Lakes we are still deep in winter – but the daily light is slowly growing, and this week we heard morning bird song in the cold. Spring will come!
The highlight of Adar in our tradition is the Purim holiday, a celebration of victory after a near-miss attempt by villain Haman to annihilate the Jews. The day is marked by the reading of the triumphant story of Esther in the synagogue, amid hilarity and absurdity, costumes, games, clowns, farces, and plenty of liquor. The absurdity of telling jokes in the face of tragedy was not lost on our sages. But they taught nevertheless that we enter into joy just by living in Adar. We are obligated to laugh and be funny, no matter the circumstances.
Our resource Jill Hammer notes that Adar is a “double month”. In the Great Lakes, this season is marked by a dual personality, alternating mildness and fierce storms. This is not a Jewish leap year, but when one occurs, we insert an extra Adar II in order to catch up our lunar calendar with the seasons of the sun.
As inhabitants of the earth, we are aware of the great peace and connectedness of nature, when we are awed by the majesty of mountains or the silence of a forest – and yet we also must consider the terrible forces that devastate – drought, fire, earthquake, tsunami, landslide, flood, predator. In our stories this month, we face terrible enemies – Haman in the Purim story, and in the Torah, Amalek – and yet both were ultimately overcome, and our victories celebrated. And so in Adar we are aware of the duality of life: the sorrow and the joy, the bad and the good, the terrible and the funny, the frightening and the awesome. We are aware that growth and healing come through pain and suffering – and also through joy and laughter. According to Hammer, “Our lives flow through good and bad times. The key to Adar is to know this and still to believe happiness is possible.”
We start the month in darkness, and then on the 14th of Adar, approaching the full moon, we welcome Purim joy. Whether we are in a place to be happy or not, the joy of our community rises, and brings us with it. It is said that if we put on a smile, we will smile inside; if we put on a costume and tell jokes and laugh, it brings us and others joy, and brings us closer together.
Whatever our challenges, whatever the news may bring — may we all find and share joy with each other in the coming month. Chodesh tov – and Shabbat shalom! — Kirby
Rosh Chodesh Cleveland 