Purim - 045 Depth of Festivity on Purim Katan

פורים 045 אדר א וב פורים קטן From 56:20 min. until end of shiur

The Depth of the Custom to Rejoice On Purim Katan

The month of Adar contains two different aspects. On the one hand, it is connected with its previous month, Shevat, which is one of the difficult months for the Jewish people. On the other hand, it is also connected with its following month, Nissan, which is a month of redemption for the Jewish people.

Haman thought he would destroy the Jewish people in Adar, because he thought that Adar has a bad mazal for the Jewish people, since it was the month that Moshe died in. The Sages said that what Haman didn’t realize was that it was also the month when Moshe was born.[1]

The depth behind this is because Adar really contains two opposite aspects. Adar is connected with its previous month, Shevat, which is a difficult month for the Jewish people. This was to Haman’s advantage, and that was why Haman thought Adar would be a good month to destroy the Jews. Adar’s connection to the month of Shevat represents the idea of Moshe’s death in Adar, which symbolized a bad time for the Jews. But Haman failed to realize that Adar is also the month that is immediately followed by Nissan, a month of redemption for the Jewish people. Adar’s connection to the month of Nissan represents the birth of Moshe in Adar.

In a normal year, Adar is connected with both of these aspects, Shevat and Nissan. In a leap year, however, where we observe two months of Adar, the first month of Adar is more strongly connected with the month of Shevat, while the second month of Adar is more strongly connected with the month of Nissan. (That is the depth of why the main halachos of Purim are observed in the second month of Adar during a leap year.) However, during a leap year, there is also a minhag to observe a “Purim Katan”, according to some views, in the first month of Adar. The Rema[2] brings a custom for people to rejoice with a festive meal on Purim Katan, based on an argument in the Rishonim.

The Shaarei Teshuvah[3] says that a hint to this is because the words “Adar Rishon” are equal in gematria to the words “mishteh tov” [implying that there is a mishteh tov, a festive celebration, which is observed in Adar Rishon]. The depth of this is as follows.

The first month of Adar in a leap year, Adar Rishon, is closer to its previous month, Shevat, which contains the concept of le’itah, eating.[4] The act of eating became impaired ever since Adam ate from the Eitz HaDaas. According to one opinion in the Sages, the Eitz HaDaas was a grapevine.[5] Thus, the acts of eating and drinking became impaired from the sin. Drinking (mishteh) is therefore included in le’itah, and since le’itah needed to be rectified ever since the first sin, so did mishteh need to be rectified.

Esav’s act of eating was also termed as le’itah. Haman thought he would “swallow” the Jewish people in Adar, because Esav’s power is “eating”, for the act of eating has been tainted by the Other Side ever since Adam ate from the Eitz HaDaas. Haman and Achashveirosh also had a mishteh together, which was a clear example of an evil, impaired mishteh. Hence, the concepts of le’itah (eating)and mishteh (celebration, through intoxication) became impaired and are in need of spiritual rectification.

Adar Rishon has the same gematria as “mishteh tov” because, in depth, it rectifies the evil “mishteh” of Haman and Achashveirosh. And, on a deeper level, it also rectifies the original, impaired mishteh of Adam, when Adam ate from the grapevine of the evil Eitz HaDaas. Thus, the “mishteh tov” observed in Adar Rishon [on Purim Katan] rectifies the aspect of Adar’s connection to the month of Shevat, the month of impaired le’itah/eating, the le’itah/eating of Esav and the le’itah/eating from the Eitz HaDaas.

The “mishteh tov” (the “good festive party”) observed on Purim Katan – that is, according to the view that there is a mishteh observed on Purim Katan - is therefore the holy kind of “mishteh” that rectifies the impaired, evil “mishteh” [of eating and drinking from the Eitz HaDaas, Esav’s act of eating, Haman’s intent to ‘eat’/swallow the Jewish people, the party of Haman and Achashveirosh when they drank wine to celebrate the plan to destroy the Jewish people, and the impaired “eating” in the month of Shevat which represents the power of the Other Side to counter the holiness of the Jewish people.]

In this way, the “mishteh” (festive party) in Adar Rishon transforms the evil “mishteh” of eating from the Eitz HaDaas, the grapes of the Eitz HaDaas, into a “mishteh tov”, a “good” party. Through this, we are able to fulfill the meaning of the verse that the Rema brings in the end of the Shulchan Aruch: “And good is the heart that is constantly festive”. That is the depth behind the words of the Shaarei Teshuvah that the gematria of “mishteh tov” is equal to the words “Adar Rishon”.