I
"Just as when Av arrives we decrease joy, so too when Adar arrives we increase joy" (Ta'anis 29a). While many detailed halachos apply to Av, commonly known as the restrictions of the Nine Days, nothing is specified for Adar. While some engage in various forms of merriment, a better approach is to delve into what enables one to be truly happy, and focus on it to better prepare for Purim.
The Metzudas David (Mishlei 15:30) states, "there is no happiness in the world as great as the resolution of doubts." Doubts can agonize a person and prevent him from experiencing true happiness. Adar is described as the month that was transformed from agony (yagon) to joy (simcha) for Jews (Esther 9:22). On the thirteenth of Adar, the very day that Haman planned to destroy us, a great turnabout resulted in the Jews destroying our enemies instead (9:1).
Haman descended from Agag (3:1), King of Amalek (Shmuel I; 15:7,8). Amalek's first attack (Shemos 17:8) was preceded by the doubts of Am Yisrael who said "Is Hashem among us or not?" (ibid. 17:7). Their doubts, according to Rashi, led to Amalek's attack. The numerical value of Amalek is the same as safek - doubt. The way to overcome Amalek is to resolve doubt and to establish absolute faith in Hashem and His Torah. To doubt is normal and acceptable, but if doubts are not resolved there can be no joy.
Questions about Hashem's providence have arisen when the righteous suffer, even on high. The angels asked Hashem when R' Akiva was cruelly martyred, "this is the reward for a life of Torah?!" (Menachos 29b). Moshe Rabbeinu asked Hashem a similar question, "why is there a righteous person who suffers?" (Berachos 7a). The angels and Moshe received answers from Hashem and accepted them, resolving their questions and doubts. We do not receive direct communication from Hashem, but we must reach the same conclusion: "Perfect is Hashem's work, for all His ways are just" (Devarim 32:4). This is the opening passuk of tzidduk hadin, the acceptance of judgment, when a person passes away. We must have perfect faith that Hashem is perfect.
Similarly, questions about Hashem's Torah arise when its laws seem unfair and even cruel. In every generation challenges reflect the mores of society which are ever changing. Torah leaders respond that the Torah is perfect (Tehillim 19:8) and human reasoning is not. Therefore, even if one is not satisfied with the answer he receives, he must resolve his doubt by acknowledging the perfection of Hashem's Torah. We must exclaim with absolute faith that the Torah is immutable - "ani ma'amin be'emuna sheleima she'soz haTorah lo tehei muchlefes". Hashem gave the leading Torah scholars of every generation the right to interpret and to innovate in response to changing realities and events, but only within the eternal halachic system. Doubts about laws that clash with human values must be resolved by recognizing that the Torah is perfect, but human actions and reasoning are not.
When Adar enters we increase joy by resolving any doubts that may have entered our minds about Hashem's Providence or His Torah. Doing so represents a victory over Amalek who attacks when we have unresolved doubts, and attempts to create safek - doubt. The joy reaches its peak on Purim with the joy of our salvation via the Providential turnabout, as well as our reacceptance of Hashems's perfect Torah (Shabbos 88a).
II
The prevailing culture in large portions of American society is known as postmodernism, which reject any notion of absolute truth. Postmodernists are skeptics and relativists, and reject any objectively rational knowledge. They criticize ideas of objective reality, morality, and truth (see, e.g., Wikipedia on Postmodernism). In other words, for postmodernists, everything is a safek - doubtful, and resolution of doubt is impossible. After rejecting moral truth for decades, postmodernism now even rejects scientific and factual truth, such as biological facts. This makes for confusion over even the most basic facts of life. While progressives applaud the removal of all barriers to personal choice as a gateway to happiness, when there is non-resolution there is no joy, as the Metzudos David taught. Clearly, postmodernism cannot coexist with Orthodox Judaism, which believes in the absolute truth of the Torah.
In their book Life in the Balance, Rabbi and Dr. Pelcovitz quote words of the Metzudos David (p. 29), and continue with the following insight of Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair: The letters of Amalek also spell me'ukal - twisted. Happiness requires a straight line in the direction of achieving one's goals. In Rabbi Sinclair's words:
"In a straight line, every step in that line is a product of the one that precedes it. A straight line will never stop. A line that twists and turns must eventually falter and end. It has lost its connection to what preceded it. It expresses neither history nor purpose. The world is random. There is no purpose. No beginning. And no end."
Purpose is a prerequisite for happiness. Religion, the ultimate purpose, is a transgenerational line. "Hashem fights against Amalek from generation to generation" (Shemos 17:16). Pachad Yitzchak (Purim p. 65) interprets this to mean that Amalek seeks to exploit a generation gap to ensnare one's children. We fight Hashem's battle when we transmit our parents' Torah legacy to our children, in a straight line. This sense of purpose, more than wealth, yields happiness.
When Adar arrives we increase joy by eliminating the doubt - safek, which Amalek represents, by joyfully continuing the straight path of the Torah, and by exuberantly passing the immutable truth of Torah to the next generation. We avoid the twisted - me'ukal path of Amalek, and win the war against Amalek by eliminating the generation gaps.
Hashem made man straight (yashar) but they sought many sinful thoughts (Koheles 7:29 with Rashi). Sadly, progressivism and postmodernism has misled many away from the straight path, i.e. the traditional and accurate understanding of Orthodoxy. By reinforcing our commitment to the perfection of Hashem and His Torah, we will resolve doubt and relive a month that is transformed from yagon to simcha, from sadness to joy.
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