Rejoicing in Adar- How?

“When Adar comes in, we increase our rejoicing (Simcha).” We all are familiar with this statement. Yet have we ever stopped to think about what this means? Are we supposed to drink wine? Act foolish? Set off firecrackers? What does this statement mean- in practical terms?

To answer we need to focus on another theme of Purim- the destruction of Amalek.

Haman, the antagonist of the Purim story, is a descendant of Amalek. That fact is mentioned numerous times throughout the Megillah. It's clear that the battle against Haman is really part of the battle against Amalek. What is the nature of this battle? To answer this we must understand: What is Amalek?

To understand why we increase rejoicing in Adar, we must first understand what Amalek is. 

Amalek was the nation which attacked the Jewish people right after they left Egypt, on the way to Mt. Sinai (Ex. Chap. 17). The Torah commands us to never forget what Amalek did to us, and we must blot out the memory of Amalek (Deut. Ch. 25). (Amalek refers to both the nation of Amalek as well as the progenitor, Amalek the grandson of Esav.).

No other nation must be completely eliminated. Why is Amalek different? True, they were the first ones to attack us when we left Egypt; but plenty of other nations also attacked us and oppressed us, yet we are not commanded to annihilate them. Even the Egyptians, who enslaved us and actually attempted genocide, are allowed to convert and join the Jewish people. We bear no permanent grudge against anyone but Amalek. Why is this?

Why is Amalek worse than all other nations?

Amalek differs from all other nations in one fundamental way. Every idol-worshiping nation starts off with the understanding that the world must have a creator. They recognize that “the heavens proclaim the honor of Hashem” (Ps. 19). They are sensitive to the Divine imprint on the world.

However, they make an intellectual mistake. They attribute Divinity to the creation, instead of the Creator. While this is wrong, the mistake is in their understanding, not in their essence. This is why, when Moshiach (the Messiah) comes, and “the world will be filled with knowledge of Hashem like the water covers the sea” (Isaiah 11:9) then the nations will gain a true understanding of how the world works. They will be able to appreciate that the Jews were correct the whole time, and they will join in the Messianic reception.

Amalek is totally different. The ideology of Amalek isn’t idolatry; it’s cynicism and doubt. They look at facts all around them and sneer, “Who says?” They are not interested in intellectual understanding; you cannot prove anything to them.

The other nations recognize the Divine imprint upon the world; they just misattribute it.

Amalek's essence is doubting reality. In the Messianic era, there is no room for doubt.

This is the explanation of the Oral tradition describing Amalek’s attack on the Jewish people. Commenting on the phrase ??? ??? they “chanced upon you,” the Medrash explains that the root ?? also means cold; they “cooled you off.” It describes a bath full of water so hot that nobody would go inside. Then a fool jumped into the water. Even though he was scalded, he cooled it down enough for other people to go in.

So too, when the Jews left Egypt among all the tremendous miracles and plagues, all the nations were scared to start up with them. This is Hashem’s chosen people! Suddenly, Amalek attacked them in battle. Even though they lost, they sowed doubt among the other nations- maybe Israel really is vulnerable? Maybe they can be beaten?

Such feelings of doubt can only exist in this world, where Hashem's presence is hidden. When the messianic era comes, and the whole world recognizes Hashem, there will be no room for doubt. Everything will be clear, we will understand every step of human history, and the doubt will cease to exist. Amalek has no part in such a world, and as such they will not exist either.

In line with this, it’s important to contrast the state of the Jewish people at the Splitting of the Sea, with their state prior to the attack. By the sea it says, “And they believed in Hashem and His servant Moshe (Ex. 14:31).” But after they were tested by not having water (Ex. 17), they questioned “Is Hashem with us or not? (ibid:7). Immediately afterwards it tells of Amalek attacking them.

When the Jewish people are strong in their faith and belief in Hashem, then there’s no room for Amalek. In fact, no nation could possibly harm us. But when we have doubts in our emunah, when we react to challenges by questioning Hashem’s role in our lives, then we have strengthened the forces of Amalek.

The battle against Amalek is the fight to strengthen our awareness and clarity of Hashem's role in running the world.

So far we have discovered a new element in the commandment to “blot out the name of Amalek.” The battle against Amalek is really the fight to strengthen our awareness and clarity of Hashem’s role in running the world. To the extent that we recognize Divine Providence in our daily lives, to that extent we have blotted out Amalek.

This is why Amalek features prominently in the Purim story. G-d’s presence is hidden throughout the whole affair. There are no open miracles; every single detail could be explained away in a purely naturalistic way. This is the battle: do we view the story from the Amalekite perspective, as pure politics and happenstance? Or do we see the Hand of G-d manipulating events from behind the scenes to ensure our salvation?

With this in mind, we can approach our original question – how is this related to rejoicing?

There’s a famous Jewish saying, “There is no greater simcha than that of resolving doubt.” (See Proverbs 16:30 in the metzudos Dovid commentary.) The root of all negative feelings is doubt and confusion. A person can handle almost anything as long as they understand it. That’s why people have such difficulty waiting to get back results of a test. They almost feel a sense of joy when they finally get back a negative answer- at least they know what the story is and can make plans going forward. Likewise, the greatest Simcha comes from Torah study- the process of gaining clarity about the true nature of the world.

Let’s connect the dots now. Amalek represents doubt. The mission to blot out Amalek is the command to identify, and internalize, the Divine Providence purposefully guiding our existence. Purim is the holiday most strongly identified with this commandment, since it’s the holiday without overt Divine intervention. And true happiness and joy comes from obtaining clarity.

Put it all together and we understand “When Adar comes in, we increase our rejoicing.” It’s not just a command to “rejoice.” It's telling us to utilize these special days of Adar to strengthen our awareness of Hashem, and thus “blotting out Amalek’s name,” which will result in increased simcha. This rejoicing then carries over into the month of Nissan, the month of redemption, the month of open miracles, the month about which it says, “In Nissan we were redeemed and in Nissan we will again be redeemed.” May we merit it, joyfully, very soon.

Rabbi Binyomin Fishman is the associate director of V’chol Bonayich Community Programs, based in Tel Zion, Israel. A graduate of Ohr LaGolah and kollel Toras Chaim, he is a highly regarded lecturer in halachah and hashkafah. He is involved in numerous projects that promote a balanced Torah lifestyle in Eretz Yisrael. For feedback about this article, to find out more about his projects or for information about speaking arrangements, he can be contacted at  [email protected]