HaMelech then continues:
אֱ -לֹהִים מִשָּׁמַיִם הִשְׁקִ יף עַל־בְּנֵי אָדָם לִרְ אוֹת הֲיֵשׁ מַשְׂכִּיל דֹּרֵ שׁ אֶת־אֱ -ל ֹהִ ים׃ ַם־אֶחָד׃ וֹ סָג יַחְדָּו נֶאֱלָחוּ אֵין עֹשֵׂה־טוֹב אֵין גּ כֻּל
G-d looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any man of discernment, that did seek G-d. Is every one of them dross? Are they altogether filthy? Is there no one who does good? No, not even one.
If you see one who is doing wrong, it is because they do not believe in לֹהֵ ינוּ ה' אֶ חָ ד-שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ה' אֱ. One who does believe does good, as the rest of the Luchot are adjoined to it. This is what Moshe Rabbeinu told the Elders. They cannot be separated just as the Keruvim cannot be separated.
The Gemara (Sanhedrin 11a) tells us, Rabban Gamliel asked seven sages to meet him early in the morning in order to form a Beit Din that would convene to add an extra month to the year. The next morning, he found eight sages, and he asked the extra, non-invited, person to leave. Shmuel HaKatan stood up and claimed he was the uninvited person, saying he came only to learn from the process. Rabban Gamliel praised him, saying he was worthy to lead such cases in the future, but reminded him that only invited sages could make the decision. It turned out that Shmuel HaKatan was not the uninvited guest; but he responded as he did to prevent the actual uninvited person from being embarrassed.
The Gemara then continues with another story. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi was teaching when he suddenly smelled garlic. Keep in mind this was not the synthetic garlic we’re familiar with today, but a potent species that could be smelled a kilometer away! Being sensitive to the odor, Rebbe asked whoever had just eaten garlic to please leave the shiur. Rabbi Hiyya stood up and left, prompting everyone else to do the same out of respect. The entire room, hundreds of talmidim, cleared out.
The next day, Rebbe’s son, Rabbi Shimon, confronted Rabbi Hiyya and asked why he ate garlic before coming in to the shiur. Rabbi Ḥiyya denied it, explaining he only left to save the actual person from embarrassment.
Rabbotai, Rabbi Hiyya blew up a shiur of hundreds, perhaps a thousand talmidim! Calculate the amount of bitul Torah that he caused! He did so to save one person from momentary embarrassment. The Maharsha asks how he could make such a calculation. Rabbi Hiyya, one of the greatest sages ever to live and one who could have brought Mashiach on his own, ruled that embarrassing one person negates an entire shiur and hundreds of hours of Torah study! It’s not worth it to deliver a shiur if someone is embarrassed! That was his psak.
What does this mean? It means Torah only goes together with Bein Adam le-Chaveiro!
Rabbotai, let’s conclude the shiur with a look at the month we just entered. The month of Adar – מִשׁ ֶנִּכְנַס אֲדָר מַרְ בִּים בְּשִׂמְחָה.
This year we have two months of Adar and during Musaf of Rosh Chodesh we add the two words וּ לְ כַ פּ ָ רַ ת פּ ָ שׁ ַ ע – to atone for our willful transgressions.
When we received the Torah on Har Sinai, Chazal say (Shabbat 88a), the Jewish people can claim they were coerced into accepting it – due to a mountain being held over their heads – and it is therefore not binding. When was the Torah eventually received willingly and out of love? In the days of Achashveirosh: ְהוּדִ ים קִ יְּמוּ וְקִ בְּלוּ הַיְּהוּדִים – they accepted, out of love, what they had already taken upon themselves through coercion at Sinai. And what did we receive during that renewed acceptance? When we received the Luchot at Har Sinai, we received five commandments of Bein Adam la-Makom and five commandments of Bein Adam le-Chaveiro. When we received it anew at Purim time, we received two of each. The first set being Mishloach Manot and Matanot Le’Evyonim, both Bein Adam le-Chaveiro, and the second set being Megillah and Seudat Purim, both Bein Adam la-Makom.
Adding an extra month in the year gives us the power and ability to return in Teshuva – וּ לְ כַ פּ ָ רַ ת פּ ָ שׁ ַ ע. The weeks of shovevi’m last an extra two weeks during a leap year and need to be taken advantage of. The power of Teshuva during this month is equal to that of Elul. Elul is thirty days before Rosh Hashanah, and Adar is thirty days before Rosh Chodesh Nisan, the two days brought forth in the debate as to when the world was created. Elul is the month of ִ רְ א ָ הּ תּ ְ שׁ ו ּ ב ָ ה מִ י – repentance out of fear, and Adar is the month of תְּ שׁ וּבָה מֵ אַ הֲבָה – repentance out of love, and our Teshuva stems from the simcha of the month.
The Imrei Chaim says, in a non-leap-year, Parshat Shekalim is usually read on the week of Parshat Mishpatim, opening the month of Adar with the word וְ אֵ לֶּה – a word that represents שִׂ מְ חָ ה'וֹ רָ ה וְ 'יְ תָ ה א 'ְ ה ו ּ דִ י ם הָ י'לַ. When we perform Teshuva out of love, we receive the extra vav, as an extra element of simcha is present when our sins are transformed into merits. Elul and Adar are the two months of Teshuva. The name אֱלוּל stands for אֲנִי לְדוֹדִ י וְדוֹדִ י לִי and also for אִ ישׁ לְרֵ עֵהוּ וּמַתָּנוֹת לָאֶבְיוֹנִים. Elul and Adar bring together ִ רְ א ָ הּ תּ ְ שׁ ו ּ ב ָ ה מִ י and תְּ שׁ וּבָה מֵ אַ הֲבָה.
In begging his father to allow Binyamin to descend to Egypt with his brothers, Yehuda tells Yaacov Avinu: כִּי לוּלֵא הִתְמַהְמָהְנוּ כִּי־עַתָּה שׁ ַבְנוּ זֶה פַעֲמָיִם׃ For if we had not lingered, surely now we had returned this second time. לוּלֵא contains the same letters as אֱלוּל. כִּ י לוּ לֵא הִ תְ מַ הְ מָ הְ נוּ – whoever lingered during the month of Elul and didn’t perform Teshuva, כִּ י־עַ תָּ ה שׁ ַ בְ נוּ זֶה פַ עֲמָ יִ ם – has another chance when the twelfth (זֶה) month of the year (Adar) occurs פַ עֲמָ יִ ם – twice.
There are sixty days of Adar this year, and if we perform our Avodah b’simcha and our Teshuva b’simcha, we will B’ezrat Hashem be מְ בַ טּ ֵ ל – negate all our sins in those sixty.
May we see the ultimate fulfillment of what was experienced in Shushan: ְהוּדִ ים הֵמָּה בְּשֹׂנְאֵיהֶם הוּא אֲשׁ ֶר יִשׁ ְ לְטוּ הַיְהוּדִים וְנַהֲפוֹך – may the tides turn and may we rule over all our adversaries and see the coming of Mashiach. ◊
