THOUGHTS FOR THE MONTH OF ADAR I

     This is a Jewish "Leap Year," which means we have two months of Adar, Adar I and Adar II. 
     Adar is the most joyous month, marking the season of renewal, the season when the winter snows melt and new life appears out of the frozen earth. Adar is the month of Purim, the month leading up to Passover, the time of our redemption from the darkness of exile.
     One might think that with two Adars, we have less joy in the first Adar than in the second Adar. Perhaps it is so, because Purim takes place during Adar II. However, we still say "With the month of Adar joy increases."
     The question is, with the world aflame, with fear of terror and increasing worldwide anti-Semitism, how can we feel joy? How can we feel the renewal of the earth and the hope for redemption when we feel afraid and helpless in a chaotic and dangerous world?
     I want to tell you the beautiful words I heard on a tape from Rabbi Matisyahu Solomon of Bais Medrash Govoha, the great yeshiva in Lakewood, New Jersey. He was discussing a similar question in relation to the holiday of Shavuous, which last year immediately followed some tragic events in the community of Lakewood. The question was: how can we feel the joy of the holiday when we feel enmeshed in tragedy?
     This is the story he told. 
     Shortly after World War II, a group of bedraggled survivors from Europe somehow made it to the Holy Land. The ship docked in Tel Aviv and their first thought was to get a blessing from a holy person, someone who could give them hope and strength to carry on. They learned that the Belzer Rebbe, who himself had lost his wife and children in a burning Europe, was in Tel Aviv at that time. They ran to the Rebbe for a blessing.
     This is what the Rebbe told them.
     "How do we know that there is such a thing as the resurrection of the dead? Where in the Torah do we find a reference to this concept? Our rabbis tell us that there is a hint in the Song the Children of Israel sang after they had emerged alive from the Red Sea. The Torah says at the beginning of that passage, "oz yashir,"¹ "they will sing," rather than "they did sing." Our rabbis tell us that the Torah was hinting to us that there will come a time in the future, when we will have escaped from our enemies for the last time, for ever, and at that time WE WILL SING to G-d once again as we sang at the Red Sea!"
     But, the Belzer Rebbe asked, why is the reference to resurrection found precisely at that spot in the Torah? Why not somewhere else? The Torah is a big book; G-d could have put it anywhere.
     Let us imagine the Children of Israel at the shores of the Red Sea. Just a short time earlier, they had experienced Ten Plagues in Egypt. During the Ninth Plague, the Plague of Darkness, our rabbis tell us that four-fifths of the Children of Israel died. Without going into the reasons they died, we understand from this that there was a terrible holocaust in Egypt just before the Exodus. According to Rabbi Solomon's calculations, some eight million of the Children of Israel died in Egypt during the Plague of Darkness. In other words, at the moment of Exodus, there was not a single Child of Israel who was not in mourning for a close relative! We were all in mourning! And yet, just a few days later, we stood at the shore of the Red Sea and raised our voices in song to G-d, achieving an incredibly high level of simcha, of prophetic joy and closeness to G-d.
     How is it possible that we could rise from mourning and grief to the highest level of joy in so short a time? 
     Because, precisely there, at the Red Sea, G-d taught us the concept of "t'chias hamaisim," resurrection of the dead! We will sing together in the future with all the departed ones!
     G-d taught us then that we are a nation beyond death, that our life is eternal because our souls are attached to Him. Death cannot conquer us; no force in this world can conquer us; we are an eternal nation attached by an unbreakable bond to our Creator. Even those who have left this world are not gone; all will be reunited at that future moment! 
     All who attach themselves to the Eternal ARE eternal!
     May we enter the month of Adar, the season of our joy, with the knowledge that no evil or darkness can stand in the way of our redemption and our bond with the Al-mighty.

With best wishes, Roy Neuberger

¹Exodus 15:1