The Gemara in Taanis (29a) teaches: כשם שנכנס אב ממעטין בשמחה כך משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה – “Just as when the month of Av begins we curtail our simcha as a sign of mourning for the Beis HaMikdosh, so too we increase the simcha in our lives when the month of Adar begins.” The word כשם, just as, implies that these two mandates are contingent upon each other.
What is the connection between the reduction of simcha in Av, and the increased simcha in Adar? In what way is the level of simcha of Adar dependant on the degree of simcha of Av? Adar is inherently a joyous time and we should celebrate, it should be irrespective of how we conduct ourselves in the month of Av. This question is raised by the Vilna Gaon (Megillas Esther, 9:23) and many others.
Zecher L’Churban – But Not on Purim
Halachah mandates that when building a home, one must leave unfinished a space on the wall near the entrance as a zecher l’Churban, a remembrance of the destruction of the Beis HaMikdosh. There is also a requirement that whenever one hosts guests for a meal, there must be a zecher l’Churban at the table. This halachah has several practical applications: One should leave an empty space at the table, without a setting. Additionally, one should not use all his dishes, but should leave at the very least some small item off the table, a symbol that the Beis HaMikdosh, our “Beis Chayeinu,” is absent from our lives.
The Taz notes that this halachah applies even to a seudas mitzvah such as a bris or a wedding.
Rav Yaakov Emden (Mor U’Ketziah 695) advances that there is one day a year on which the obligation to have a zecher l’Churban at the table is suspended. At the Purim seudah, one does not need to have a zecher l’Churban. Rav Yaakov Emden explains that since there is an obligation “to become intoxicated until one does not know the difference between ‘blessed is Mordechai’ and ‘cursed is Haman’” it cannot be necessary to have a zecher l’Churban. The Shaarei Teshuvah (695:1) cites Rav Yaakov Emden and rules accordingly.
The Biur halachah wonders why these practices aren’t kept nowadays, but this is in fact the halachah, see Orach Chaim 560:2.
This exemption for not requiring a zecher l’Churban at the Purim seudah needs exploration. Why would the fact that we are obligated to become intoxicated on Purim have any impact on the obligation of making a zecher l’Churban? Don’t we always have to remember the Beis HaMikdosh?
The Obligation to Drink On Purim
The Gemara in Megillah (7b) instructs that Rava said: “We are to become intoxicated on Purim until one does not know the difference between ‘blessed is Mordechai’ and ‘cursed is Haman’”
This is perhaps the most peculiar mitzvah with which we are charged. The notion that we must become inebriated seems to be the greatest anomaly within our halachic obligations!
In Judaism, we cherish zehirus, discipline and self-control. How can we be obligated to take our most precious commodities, our daas and seichel, and undo them? Why would we want to voluntarily impair our mental and intellectual faculties? What is the meaning of this mitzvah?
Incredible Insight of R’ Eliezer Ashkenazi
The sefer Yosef Lekach on Megillas Esther (9:23) written by R’ Eliezer Ashkenazi directs our attention to the aftermath of the events recorded in the Megillah. Even though they had just experienced great salvation, that was not enough to console a nation that was living in the period following the Churban Beis HaMikdosh. Klal Yisroel were still broken. Many of them had personally witnessed the Beis HaMikdosh in flames, and the Jewish people had now been in galus for seventy years. They had been cast away from “the table of their Father”. The trauma of the Churban was still fresh in their minds, and the pain of the destruction of Yerusholayim was still raw in their hearts.
Then Haman sough to annihilate the entire Jewish nation, and they were miraculously saved. To commemorate their salvation, Mordechai instituted an annual day of festive rejoicing. He established the Yom Tov of Purim as a day to celebrate the salivation from Haman.
But who could celebrate? Klal Yisroel had lost their Mikdash. Echoing the sentiments of the captive Leviim who had been exiled seventy years earlier, the Jewish people felt, “How can we sing on foreign soil?” (Tehillim 137:4). Still reeling from the Churban, the only way they would be able to celebrate was if somehow they could completely forget – albeit temporarily – the horrific pain of the Churban Beis HaMikdosh. They would have to distance themselves from the awful existence of life in galus.
How could they ever possibly forget a Churban that they swore never to forget? Didn’t they pledge: תדבק לשוני לחכי אם לא אזכרכי אם לא אעלה את ירושלם על ראש שמחתי - “Let my tongue adhere to my palate if I fail to recall you, if I fail to elevate Yerusholayim above my foremost joy” (Tehillim 137:6)? Therefore, the practice of getting intoxicated on Purim was introduced, as a mandate to drink until one no longer felt the pain of the galus and actually forgot the Churban Beis HaMikdosh.
Now, Chazal did not say explicitly that one is obligated to drink until one forgets about the Churban, that would be sacrilegious. Instead, Chazal couched the halachah in the guise of “until one does not know the difference between ‘blessed is Mordechai’ and ‘cursed is Haman’”. If one is inebriated to the point that the distinction between Mordechai and Haman is no longer apparent, he assuredly has lost focus on the Beis HaMikdosh.
Understanding Rav Yaakov Emden
Now we can understand the ruling of Rav Yaakov Emden that there is no need for a zecher l’Churban at the seudas Purim because of the mitzvah of becoming intoxicated on Purim. As stated, the entire purpose of the mitzvah of getting drunk is to enable Klal Yisroel to forget about the Churban for a brief period of time, for one day of celebration. Celebrating Purim would not be possible with the thoughts of Churban Beis HaMikdosh at the forefront of one’s attention. At the very meal where we are seeking to forget the Churban, a zecher for the Churban would be incongruous. Therefore, the need for a zecher l’Churban is suspended for seudas Purim.
Understanding the Gemara in Taanis
We can employ this insight of the Yosef Lekach to understand the כשם of the Gemara with which we began. Just as we are sad in the month of Av because we recall and mourn the events of the Churban, so too we are b’simcha in the month of Adar – because then we are enjoined to forget the Churban.
Av and Adar are opposite sides of the same conceptual spectrum. Av is a time when we bring the destruction of the Beis HaMikdosh to the forefront, focusing on the tzaar of the Churban. We are obligated to engage in aveilus and we mourn our nation’s monumental losses.
Adar is the diametric opposite. We are instructed to forget about the Churban for a period of time in order to allow for a warranted simcha over the salvation from Haman. The only way to be joyous and celebrate is to forget briefly about the Churban.
This is one approach to understanding the statement of the Gemara, כשם שנכנס אב ממעטין בשמחה כך משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה, Adar’s simcha is inversely proportionate to Av’s aveilus.
The Second Approach
We would now like to offer a second approach to explain the Gemara which says כשם שנכנס אב ממעטין בשמחה כך משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה – “Just as when the month of Av begins we curtail our simcha as a sign of mourning for the Beis HaMikdosh, so too we increase the simcha in our lives when the month of Adar begins.”
Why Did Mordechai Mint New Coins?
Chazal (Bereishis Rabbah 39) tell us that after the events of Purim, Mordechai proceeded to mint new coins. He created a coin with his likeness on one side and a likeness of Esther on the other. These coins were utilized throughout the Persian Empire.
Why did Mordechai do this? On a contemporary level, we would find it very odd if, when Moshiach comes, Rav Chaim Kanievsky were to go to the mint and instruct them to make coins with his profile on it. We cannot imagine such a pursuit would be a priority or even of interest. Mordechai was not seeking kavod; why, then did he engage in this unusual undertaking?
The Three Mitzvos Klal Yisroel Had to Do
The Rambam (Hilchos Melochim 1:1) tells us that there are three mitzvos that are incumbent on the Jewish people immediately upon their entry into Eretz Yisroel. The first mitzvah is to appoint a Melech, the second mitzvah is to destroy all the descendants of Amalek, and the third mitzvah is to build a Beis HaMikdosh.
The Rambam lists all three of these mitzvos in the same halachah to teach us that they are all interconnected. The mitzvah of destroying Amalek had to be performed by a king, and only once Amalek was destroyed could Bnei Yisroel proceed to build the Beis HaMikdosh.
Therefore, Klal Yisroel’s defeat of Haman and their revenge against the Amalekim were the foundation of the rebuilding of the Beis HaMikdosh. The salvation of Purim paved the way for the building of Bayis Sheini. Just as the destruction of Amalek required Malchus Yisroel, so did the building of the Beis HaMikdosh. Therefore, in order for Mordechai to work towards the rebuilding of the Beis HaMikdosh, he had to be regarded as a Melech, a king. Minting coins was one way in which he demonstrated his status of royalty.
This status offered him the right to wipe out Amalek and set in motion the process of binyan Beis HaMikdosh – which is what eventually occurred. Construction of the Bayis Sheini began shortly after the events recounted in the Megillah. Daryavesh, the son of Esther and Achashveirosh, was the one who funded the construction of the second Beis HaMikdosh.
At the very beginning of the Megillah, Rashi tells us that Achashveirosh ascended to the throne after Koresh. Koresh had given the Jews permission to begin building the Beis HaMikdosh. However, Haman’s sons slandered Klal Yisroel, and they effectively put a halt to the construction. Now that Haman and his sons were disposed of, the building of the second Beis HaMikdosh could resume.
Thus, the victory of Klal Yisroel over Haman and Amalek set into motion the process of the rebuilding of the Beis HaMikdosh. Simchas Purim is much more than merely commemorating the miracle of salvation; it is actually simchas binyan Beis HaMikdosh! The month of Adar is a time that is predisposed to building the Beis HaMikdosh – not only the Second Beis HaMikdosh but the Third as well.
The Navi Yechezkel reveals that the inauguration of the third Beis HaMikdosh will take place on the twenty-third of Adar. We read in Sefer Ezra:
שיציא ביתה דנה עד יום תלתה לירח אדר די היא שנת שת למלכות דריוש מלכא. ועבדו בני ישראל כהניא ולויא ושאר בני גלותא חנכת בית אלהא דנה בחדוה .
“The Beis HaMikdosh was completed by the third day of the month of Adar, during the sixth year of the reign of King Daryavesh. The Bnei Yisroel, the Kohanim and the Leviim and the remainder of the people of the exile celebrated the inauguration of this Beis HaMikdosh of G-d with joy” (Ezra 6:15-16).
The Malbim comments on these pasukim: The Second Beis HaMikdosh was completed on the third day of Adar. The inauguration lasted for twenty-one days. They had a tradition from the Navi Yechezkal that the inauguration of the Third Beis HaMikdosh would be on the twenty-third of Adar. When they began the inauguration of the Second Beis HaMikdosh on the third of the month, they had high hopes. They thought that if the inauguration continued until the twenty-third of Adar, Hashem might allow their newly completed second Beis HaMikdosh to usher in the Third!
They were hoping for the Third Beis HaMikdosh to arrive upon completing the inauguration of the Second. Unfortunately, they did not merit to see their plans come to fruition. We continue to await the building of Bayis Shelishi. However, we know from Sefer Yechezkel that it will be inaugurated in the month of Adar, just as was the Second Beis HaMikdosh.
Adar is the month designated for the building of the Beis HaMikdosh, both the Second and Third, and therefore is a time for simcha. This could provide another way with which we can understand the memra of the Gemara in Taanis.
Just as we curtail simcha in Av because it is a month of destruction of both the First and Second Botei Mikdash, so too we are marbeh b’simcha in the month of Adar which was the month of the rebuilding of the Second Beis HaMikdosh and which will, b’ezras Hashem, be the month in which the Third Beis HaMikdosh will be built. Simcha is obviously curtailed when the Beis HaMikdosh is destroyed, and in contrast, it is increased in the month of Adar, the month designated for the rebuilding of the Beis HaMikdosh.
Thus, Av and Adar are polar opposites. The very cause of the sadness of Av will be the cause for us to rejoice in Adar. May we merit the arrival of Moshiach and the rebuilding of the Beis HaMikdosh speedily in our times. (The above is based on a much lengthier essay from R’ Doniel Glatstein, which can be found in his sefer “The Concealed and The Revealed” titled “Mazal Adar Dagim”)
