Erasing Hate

Welcome to Adar.

On the Jewish calendar (a solar-adjusted lunar one) this month is known as Adar (strictly speaking, as this is a leap year, the new month is Adar II after the insertion of a leap month, known as Adar I). Adar has within it the festival of Purim -- a celebration of victory over evil as the Jews in Persia, led by Esther and her uncle Mordechai rebelled against the murderous decree of Haman the Aggagite.

As part of our commemoration, the sages, in Talmudic tractate Ta'anit, page 29B write, "Mishenichnas Adar, Marbin B'simcha" ( משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה), once the month of Adar begins, we increase in our joy. However, there is no real manifestation liturgically of that increase of joy. There are no particular observances which reflect this status of joy. Hold on to that -- I'll circle back in a moment.

There is another aspect to this month in that it includes the holiday of Purim. Haman, the local bad guy was, as stated, an Agaggite -- from the family of Agag. This was the remnant of the nation of Amalek whom Saul did not kill off when given the chance (I Sam 15). Jews are commanded to blot out the memory of Amalek in Exodus 17:14 (מָחֹה אֶמְחֶה אֶת זֵכֶר) and, again, in Deut 25:19. In each year, on the Sabbath before Purim (therefore, in the month of Adar) we read a portion from Deuteronomy in order to steel ourselves in our resolve to get rid of Amalek, the same Amalek who drove our persecution and existential crisis recorded in the story of Purim. On Purim, when we read the Megillah, the story of the event, we make noise when Haman's name is mentioned so as to "blot out" the name of Amalek as per those verses. As to what exactly Amalek is, these days, there are a variety of opinions, some of which point to the external and some to the internal. A simple search reveals plenty of voices on the matter.

So we increase our erasing, not our joy! Is there a way to understand the rabbinic edict to increase something by seeing it as something beyond simple joy? I think so.

If you look at exactly what we are to increase, the word in Hebrew ("b'simcha", in joy) is written בשמחה -- bet-shin-mem-chet-hey. If we don't look at the root word as שמח (sin-mem-chet), happiness, and recognize that there were no vowel points in the written texts, we may be able to see the word as something else. The "bet" and "s(h)in" letters in Hebrew serve as prefixes, meaning something along the likes of "in" and "that which". As such, the word becomes "In that which מחה (mem-chet-hey)".

מחה? Where did I see that word before? Oh yeah -- Ex. 17:14. The word means "erase/blot out" in structure of a command (you shall erase). If we look at the word as this structure, it means "in that through which you must erase". משנכנס אדר מרבין בְּ שֶׁ מָחֹה Once the month of Adar begins, we must increase our attention to and our work to eliminate all of that which is related to Amalek. While we have to be aware of evil at all times, it is the time of the year when we become even more attuned to it and must rise up and defeat it, wherever it is found.

There is hatred and evil all around us. Now, in the midst of our joy, even a we want to celebrate our victories, we must be mindful of the fact that we are still outnumbered and surrounded. We must embrace the light and rebel against the forces (in and out) that would see us divided and conquered.