As we enter the first week of the Hebrew month of Adar I, Rabbi Josh examines what our tradition has to teach us about joy, stemming from the Talmud’s suggestion that, “During the month of Adar, joy increases (BT Ta’anit 29A).”
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (z”l) critically examines the association between joy and Adar, questioning the suitability of responding to the tale of Purim with joy. After all, for the people who narrowly escape destruction, relief may feel more appropriate than joy and celebration. He also notes that we do not sing psalms of joy and praise (hallel), as we do on most festivals.
The joy we experience during Adar, Rabbi Sacks reasons, must therefore be distinct from the joy born of gratitude that we feel during traditional harvest festivals, when hallel is recited. It is, rather, a defiant joy, a selective response to the vulnerability arising from Jewish life. By making merry in the face of menacing forces, our ancestors showed us how to diminish their effectiveness.
This Adar, we are called upon once again to choose joy in the face of alarming circumstances, to acknowledge and hold the fears gripping us while simultaneously finding ways to rejoice. Joy, however, remains a powerful antidote. “Terrorists aim to terrify,” Rabbi Sacks writes, “To be a Jew is to refuse to be terrified.”
How might our defiance increase our sense of joy during these months of Adar?
— Rabbi Josh Knobel