It often strikes me as odd, that when the month of Adar arrives, we begin to party; we dress up, play music, etc., but we are doing so 14 days before the holiday of Purim begins. You may be familiar with the phrase from our Chachamim משנכנס אדר מרבים בשמחה, “when the month of Adar enters, we increase our level of happiness.” Why does this month have this character? Other months have chagim of simcha and we do not begin to celebrate two weeks in advance?
In order to understand this, we need to go back to the original full statement as written in the Talmud. The Talmud in Ta’anit 29a states, כשם שמשנכנס אב ממעטין בשמחה, כך משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה, “Just as when the month of Av arrives, we reduce our level of happiness, so too, when the month of Adar arrives, we increase our happiness.” What does this mean, exactly, “כשם” or “Just as?” There is a connection between the month of Av and Adar. What is that connection and how can that help us understand why in one month we increase our happiness, while in the other we decrease it? The Meiri, one of our Early Rishonim explains that just as we bless and thank Hashem over the good He bestows upon us, so too, we should thank him for the bad. After all, we do not comprehend His master plan and have to trust that whatever He does is in our best interest. So perhaps that connects the months; just as we thank Hashem in the happy month of Adar as we celebrate our redemption on Purim, so too - as we enter the month of Av and prepare for mourning the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash - we should reduce our level of happiness.
There is one big difficulty with this resolution. Rav Eliyahu Chaim Cohen in his sefer Otzrot HaTorah on Purim asks that if the Meiri is correct, then the Talmud should have reversed the statement and said, “Just as we increase the happiness in Adar we decrease it in Av.” But the Talmud says it in the reverse? To further strengthen this question, Rav Cohen says that if we look at the Talmud in Brachot 54a we find the idea of כשם שמברכין על הטובה כך מברכין על הרעה, “just as we bless Hashem for the good we must bless Him for the bad.” So, as we thank Hashem for all the good he does, even when a loved one passes away, we must make the bracha of Dayan Ha’emet and bless Hashem. We see in this context that the כשם makes sense, but if our statement of the Talmud about the increase of simcha in Adar meant what the Meiri suggests, should it not have been stated in the reverse?
Therefore, Rav Cohen, suggests a different understanding of כשם שמשנכנס אב ממעטין בשמחה, כך משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה - just as in the month of Av, the mourning does not begin on the 9th of Av, but rather we have the “nine days.” These days give us an additional time period leading up to the 9th of Av, where we begin the mourning and reduce our level of simcha, just as when Adar comes, we don’t wait to celebrate on Purim, but we begin on Rosh Chodesh. The message is this: our happiness is an important feeling and we cannot simply turn it on and off to extreme degrees overnight. We need time to build it up in Adar so we can celebrate appropriately on Purim, and in Av we must decrease it over nine days so we can mourn appropriately on the 9th of Av.
There is one other important message that emanates from this discussion. I remember hearing Rabbi Paysach Krohn state the most important message of this Gemara is that whether it is Adar or Av, we are still obligated to be happy. The Gemara is telling us that in Adar we increase our level of happiness and in Av we decrease it, but we must always maintain a level of happiness. We see that happiness is a key ingredient in serving Hashem properly in the month of Adar, Av and throughout the year. Let us all merit only good things for our friends, family and all of klal Yisrael, so that it is less of a challenge for us to appreciate the happiness we are meant to feel in Adar, and come to celebrate Purim in the best ways possible.
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