What a wonderful month! This is a time in which we need to turn up the volume of happiness! Who doesn’t want to be happier? It is also a month in which we read Parshas Zachor (last week) and are commanded to remember and hate Amalek. This seems to be a conflicting emotion to evoke in a month reserved for joy. How do we connect these two inconsistent emotions and how do we accomplish this task?
We know that a person who is sad cannot have prophecy. This is because depression comes from a bad place. It is the workings of the yetzer hara and is his greatest strategy to cause a person to be estranged from Hashem. It is when we take Hashem out of our lives that we feel overwhelmed, anxious and depressed. For good reason. The world is a complicated place filled with challenges and difficulties. If we were left to our own devices, it would be impossible to cope in this world and survive. It is only with the constant protection of Hashem, and His continuous assistance that we can endure. Indeed, it is only because Hashem constantly sustains us and gives us life that we can remain alive at all. And so, if we don’t keep His presence active in our hearts and minds we can feel as if we are going through life alone. No wonder we feel anxious and depressed. It is a frightening existence.
Our vision in this world is cloudy and unclear. Hashem is not visible unless we search for Him. In Egypt Hashem revealed Himself through the great miracles of the plagues. Then when the nation left Mitzrayim they found themselves in danger with the Egyptians pursuing them and the sea in front of them. They cried in terror because they couldn’t see Hashem. Yet Hashem wanted them to find Him in hidden circumstances as well. This is what shows true devotion to Hashem. When Nachshon jumped into the sea, he expressed his belief that Hashem was there and would not forsake them. That is what brought forth the greatest miracle of the splitting sea and final demise of their enemies. Adar stands for Alef-dar, Hashem (who is alufo shel olam- chief of the world) dar – lives with us. We must find Hashem in our lives each day despite the unclarity of our view. When we discover His existence and constant intervention in our lives, our tensions will subside and we will feel true happiness.
Amalek personifies a totally physical world devoid of Hashem. Their ideologies cannot exist with ours. That is why, in the perfected world, they must be eradicated. We must remember what they stand for and hate it. When these philosophies begin to poison our view, happiness eludes us. The month of Adar is a time to internalize that Hashem resides with us constantly. He is all-powerful and He has our backs. If we bring Hashem into our homes, we will create an oasis of tranquility and bliss. Like Esther, let’s be skilled at relationships; let us form a trusting and loving relationship with Hashem. We can then experience increased joy and true enduring happiness. Let’s take advantage of the time left in the month of Adar bring forth a transformation (v’nahapoch hu) in our world.
