| Today and tomorrow, Friday and Shabbat, are Rosh Hodesh, the new moon of the month of Adar. The rabbis of the Talmud (Ta’anit 29a) say “mi sh’nichnass Adar, marbim b’simcha - when the month of Adar enters, we increase our joy.” This section of Talmud is talking about fasts and destruction and comments that when the month of Av enters (when we commemorate Tisha b’Av and the destruction of the Temples), we decrease our joy, but increase it when Adar enters. Can our calendar dictate when we feel sad and when we feel happy, when we diminish and when we increase joy? Adar is associated with joy primarily because of the miracles associated with Purim, when Haman’s evil decree was overturned and impending destruction turned into celebration on the 14th of Adar.
Many of us in the Jewish world and beyond are feeling anything but joy right now at the end of a week where we have seen the heartbreaking funerals of the returned dead hostages, including Shiri Bibas and her two sons Ariel and Kfir. With so much anguish, sorrow, uncertainty and darkness in our world, can we really contemplate the frivolous joy that many associate with Purim? Not an easy question and I do not have any glib answers in this moment, even though the answer, basically, is yes. We will be exploring these questions in more depth over the next couple of weeks, but I will offer a few thoughts here related also to the Parshat Teruma, our weekly Torah portion, that begins the narrative of Mishkan and Mikdash, of Sanctuary and Sacred Space.
Simcha is defined by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks as “the joy we share, the joy we have only because we share.” It does not refer to some superficial attempt to be happy and to show happiness, but rather a communal celebration that appreciates the power of what we do and what we achieve together in community, especially when life feels so hard and desperate. It is the power of marking Shabbat and Festivals and the life cycle - together. Last week I described being in a wedding in Jerusalem and this week I have the joy of Shabbat with family and friends in London. This does not mean that we are going to be laughing and dancing and ignoring the world and its agonies, but marking holy time with holy people in holy space allows us to transcend, but not forget.
One of the most powerful verses from this week's parsha is “v’assu li Mikdash v’shechanti b’tocham - let them make for me a Sacred space and I will dwell among them.” (Exodus 25:8). The invitation of the Torah is for everyone to show up and bring gifts from their hearts in order to build a space for the Divine to dwell among them, not in the building. As Rabbi Sacks says: “God doesn’t live in a heart of stone, God lives in the hearts of those who give.” We need each other, our community, our safe and sacred spaces and times and our rituals more than ever, and we all contribute in different ways to make this happen. Of course, we can and we will use these ideas to encourage maximum participation in our incredible new building project in all of its precise details, just as the Torah describes the precision of the Mishkan, the Sanctuary, and it is more than that too. It is about, once again, our resilience, our legacy, our determination, the vital need for spirituality and, yes, profound and shared simcha, a joy that can transcend the darkest moments without leaving them behind.
This Rosh Chodesh is also the beginning of Ramadam, the holiest month in the Muslim calendar, and hope for transformation in the relationships between Jews and Muslims, our cousins. It may be challenging for many of us to embrace the month of Adar and its invitation to increase our joy as Purim approaches, but I think we need it. Perhaps more than ever.
In the poetic masterpiece, The Sabbath, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel reminds us the first reference to kedusha (holiness) is in reference not to a person nor a space, but to time - Shabbat. He says: “The Sabbaths are our great cathedrals.” He states: “the essence of the Sabbath is completely detached from the world of space....The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time.”
On this Shabbat that coincides with Rosh Chodesh Adar, Parshat Teruma and Ramadam, may we all tune in individually and collectively to the sacredness of time, space and community and not be afraid to celebrate and to feel joy, in spite of the pain, and to hang on to the hope that, just like in the Purim story, it will all be turned around. Let’s build together and be together and get it together together.
Blessings for a Shabbat Shalom and a Chodesh Tov
Rabbi Marc
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