The Kedushas Levi (Tetzaveh) writes, "The twelve months of the year correspond to the twelve shevatim… Adar corresponds to Yosef, and from Yosef came two shevatim, Efraim and Menashe. Therefore…in a leap year, there are two Adars."
Adar represents Yosef HaTzaddik, and Yosef HaTzaddik represents midas hayesod, kedushah. Therefore, Adar is an ideal time for attaining kedushah and taharah. A primary aspect of kedushah and taharah is to create boundaries for ourselves, to keep far away from aveiros.
On Shabbos, the Brisker Rav zt'l preferred to keep away from the Shabbos lecht, so he shouldn’t accidentally touch them. Some people thought this was extreme, but these same mockers wouldn't stand on the edge of a high roof. They wouldn't even stand a couple of feet away from the roof's edge because they are afraid of somehow falling off. So, when you are afraid, you keep far away. The Brisker Rav was afraid of aveiros, so he wanted to keep far away from them.
Chazal (Shabbos 13.) say, לך לך אמרינן לנזירא, סחור סחור, לכרמא לא תקרב, "'Go away,' we say to the nazir. 'Go around and around. Don't come near the vineyard.'"
The nazir isn't allowed to eat grapes, so we tell him that he shouldn't even pass through the vineyard. He shouldn't pass through a place where there is a test.
Most people think that סחור סחור is just a double expression, which means the same if it would have been written once. סחור means to go around, and סחור סחור is emphasizing that he should make a detour and go around the vineyard.
The Prishah (Yorah Deiah 383), however, writes, "Most people make a mistake when they translate this Gemara… סחור means go around, and it states סחור twice. We tell the nazir, 'Don't come near to around the vineyard…'" So, סחור סחור means the nazir should distance himself even from the boundary. סחור, keep away, סחור, from the border, כרמא, of the vineyard. This is how distant we should be from aveiros.
When a person is cautious with his kedushah, he will only gain.
Reb Shmuel Katz was niftar recently. Years ago, he worked in the Twin Towers in New York City, on the eighty-fifth floor, one of the floors from which no one survived when the planes hit on September 11th, 2001. Miraculously, Reb Shmuel Katz survived and lived for another twenty-two years. This is what happened. He was supposed to be in the office at nine a.m. But the trains were packed then, and it was hard for Reb Shmuel to guard the eyes. He asked his boss to let him come to the office at eleven, but his boss told him that it was impossible. "If you come at eleven, you can stay home and not return here," he said.
Reb Shmuel didn't give up, and his boss finally agreed to let him come at eleven and work later each night. He wasn't present when the planes crashed into the Twin Towers, and that saved his life. One only gains from guarding his kedushah.
The Rashash zt'l was a giant scholar of kabbalah, and there is a story of how it all began. He was an orphan living in Yemen, so he had to work to support his family. Once, while selling items to people's homes, he was tested with the issur of yichud and an aveirah, like the test of Yosef HaTzaddik. He jumped out of the window to save himself from the aveirah, and that is when he began to grow immensely in Torah and kabbalah.
A bachur wanted to learn in a yeshiva in Tel Aviv. He asked Rebbe Shlomke for his opinion. Rebbe Shlomke would answer questions after immersing himself in a mikvah. This time, he immersed in a mikvah but didn't answer the question.
A couple of years later, Rebbe Shlomke asked his gabbai about this bachur. The gabbai replied that he went to the yeshiva in Tel Aviv and is studying very well there.
Rebbe Shlomke said, "I'm glad to hear that. When I went to the mikvah, I understood that it would be good for him to go to the yeshiva in Tel Aviv, only I didn't have the heart to tell a bachur to go to Tel Aviv (because of the tests on the eyes that are there)."
Rebbe Shlomke sometimes answered questions related to life-and-death situations. He felt confident that he could answer correctly after his immersion in a mikvah. But this time, the question was too great for him to answer. It was hard for him to advise a bachur to go to Tel Aviv, where there would be difficult tests with the eyes.
Reb Shmuel Minkes zt'l once saw an elderly woman holding a siddur with the commentary of the Baal HaTanya written in the margins. "Please sell me the siddur," Reb Shmuel Minkes pleaded. (Reb Shmuel wanted this siddur because the Baal HaTanya was his Rebbe.)
"If you give me the siddur, I will buy you another one. Anyway, you don't read the commentary."
She refused to sell it. He offered to pay a lot of money for the siddur, but she didn't agree to sell it. She explained, "Sometimes, a siddur becomes torn or frayed, and people can’t read the words. However, if this siddur gets frayed, the commentaries will be torn, but the words of the siddur will remain intact."
Reb Shmuel Minkes repeated this story and said this is the idea behind making gedorim and siyagim, fences and boundaries. These boundaries distance us from aveiros because even if we transgress a boundary, we have not committed the aveirah itself. But if we don't have any limitations or borders, we are liable for chas veshalom transgressing the mitzvos themselves.
A chassid of the Trisker Magid zt'l wanted to move to America because he thought he could earn a comfortable parnassah there. The Trisker Magid zt'l told him not to go. This happened over one hundred years ago when religious institutions and yeshivos weren't yet established in America. The chassid kept returning to his Rebbe, asking for the Rebbe's permission, but the Rebbe repeatedly refused.
The chassid said, "Why is the Rebbe afraid of America? Many good Yidden live there."
The Rebbe answered with a mashal:
A talmid chacham saw an unlearned person holding a large siddur that was filled with secrets of Kabbalah. The talmid chacham told the unlearned man, "Let’s switch siddurim. It will be better for both of us. You will have a smaller siddur, easier to carry around, and I will have a siddur filled with Kabbalistic secrets."
The am ha'aretz refused to part from his large siddur. He explained, "If I have your siddur, and the first few pages of the siddur fall out, I have lost the Adon Olam. But with my siddur, even if the first pages of the commentaries fall out, I still have the Adon Olam."
The nimshal was understood. A person must make boundaries for himself. If he isn't cautious and moves to a place that poses great challenges, he might end up losing the Adon Olam, chalilah.
Dr. Bick, a maskil (of the Enlightenment movement), said to Rebbe Yehoshua of Belz zt'l, "Why do you take an extreme route? Wouldn't it be better to compromise and follow the middle path? "
The Rebbe took him to the window and showed him horses trotting in the middle of the road while people walked on the sidewalk. The Rebbe explained, "Animals take the middle road. I don't want to be like them."