Still shell shocked by the outrageous massacre in Yerushalyim that ushered in the month of Adar, I believe that we are all groping to find within Purim that which will to speak to us and our misery. It all happened as we were preparing to fulfill Chazal's mandate to celebrate, "mishenichnas Adar marbim besimcha".
Interestingly, this Talmudic dictum is not codified in Rambam and Shulchan Aruch and is only recorded in the great commentaries of the Shulchan Aruch. Some explain that this omission is simply because there are no defined observances to mark the happiness of Adar. Writing grammen and shpiels and preparing mishloach manos rhymes are not halachik events! This suggestion contrasts the vague joy of Adar with the clearly marked despondency of Av. In fulfillment of the sobriety of Av, which is codified, we are told to refrain from getting married and grooming ourselves, for example. Yet Chazal not only juxtapose the two ideas but actually connect them as they are recorded in Masechta Ta'anis, "[K'shem] similar to the way in which the month of Av enters bringing in increased sadness, the month of Adar brings with it increased joy". What a strange way to teach us that the entire month should be celebrated!
Perhaps Chazal are teaching us that both the appropriate observance of the fast of Tisha Ba'av and the proper performance of the Purim festivities require preparation, each in their distinct fashions. We understand well that would we come into the fast without any prior consideration, our painfully obvious distance from the Beis Hamikdosh would make the mourning and even the recital of kinos perfunctory at best. We may not realize that the same is true about the joy of Purim. Without some thought in advance, we would be marking a miracle no doubt, but one that is long behind us and separated from us by the destruction of the second Beis Hamikdosh, crusades, inquisitions, holocaust and rebirth. The celebration of a far off miracle would be a forced and mechanical celebration. However if we utilize the early part of Adar to view the Purim miracle as part of a pattern of Divine guidance and concern which we can still recognize today, then our joy can indeed be authentic and impactful in the long run. If we listen to the megilah with a renewed commitment to seek out the hidden hand of Hashem as the story unfolds before us once again, we will rejoice with our refreshed sense of bitachon and gain some respite from the spiritual exhaustion which haunts us from time to time.
Yet perhaps of greater importance for us this year is the reaction of our people in times of crises which successfully changed the course of our history. Indeed the megilah stresses that in addition to being the record of the miraculous sequence of events, it is equally intended to record our fasting and praying (9:31). Thus Purim celebrates our ability and our resolve to respond to a frightening crisis, even as we rejoice with the guiding hand of Hashem extended to us. That we had the integrity to return to Hashem, distance ourselves from the comfort of our hosts and unite as one in prayer, no doubt moved Heaven to accept our prayers and fasting.
We who hear the megilah have to respond in kind, to the murders of eight precious yerushalmi children as they studied in their bais hamedrash.
A concluding thought. One of the opening Rashis of Vayikra, the sefer that we were preparing to start as it all happened, describes the Heavenly voice which taught Moshe Rabeinu in the ohel moed. Though a thunderous voice filled the ohel moed, it was for Moshe alone to hear. It stopped abruptly at the curtains of he ohel moed, and not a sound could be heard outside. It was the booming voice that we heard at Har Sinai, with its awesome clarity. Many have wondered why Hashem would create a booming voice for a few feet and miraculously cut it short. Though I do not how to answer that question, I do know that our generation has heard a booming voice from the heart of Yerushalyim. The murder of eight children in the blood splattered home of fervent torah study is an earth shattering call to all of us, surely as a cloud hangs over the future of Yerushalyim and has been for some time now. Those of us who see ourselves as members of the ohel moed should hear this call differently than all others. To be sure, the voice is hardly heard if at all, by those who are not inside the ohel moed of our time. This places the responsibility to lead a response on those who do hear.
Our simcha may be muted but our trust in our tefilos and our teshuva will give us much reason to celebrate and to be inspired for much time to come.