Adapted from: Days of Gratitude Days of Triumph by Rabbi Yaakov Feitman

From the very birth of the Adar new moon we are enjoined to be happy (Taanis 26b). But what exactly does that require, and how do we do it?

R’ Gamliel Rabinowitz points out that emotions cannot be easily manufactured, and consequently, cultivating the feeling known as simchah takes a great deal of preparation. It can’t just be turned on at the molad. Yet mishenichnas Adar marbim b’simchah is a halachah, and therefore must be quite accessible to each one of us.

The Shulchan Aruch (551) mentions only that during the month of Av we must reduce our joy but does not record that during Adar we must increase it. This leads R’ Chaim Kanievsky to conclude that it is only “advisable” (eitzah tovah) to increase our joy during Adar, whereas in Av it is required that we diminish it. It would seem that it is not so simple to become happy even when we are supposed to do so, so how indeed do we accomplish this goal?

To be sure, R’ Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler teaches that just as during Av we slowly reduce our joy over a period of three weeks, culminating in the fasting and sorrow of Tishah B’Av, so should we calibrate our happiness during Adar to coordinate with the exultation of Purim. Yet it does not seem as clear how to achieve this ascending crescendo of elation so that by Purim we have reached the pinnacle of our joy. What are we supposed to be thinking about, and what will become the source of our cheer and exhilaration?

R’ Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin encourages us to concentrate upon Hashem’s hashgachah pratis in our lives. The very fact that Hashem is so involved in our lives, although this is usually completely hidden from us, is a source of great consolation and joy. Purim teaches us that not only is Hashem involved in our lives, caring about us in every way, but He arranges, manipulates, and controls the universe so that His people are protected and supported whenever they need Him. This is certainly one very practical and important way to prepare for Adar and Purim.

Another and perhaps even deeper aspect of this preparation is related to something called the sechok of Purim. This concept may be found in Sefer Yetzirah, Chapter 5, as quoted by R’ Dovid Cohen, Rosh Yeshivas Chevron. Although sechok is variably translated as laughter, derision, or even some kind of game or amusement, it carries a special Purim meaning. R’ Cohen quotes the famous Gemara (end of Makkos) where R’ Akiva is mesachek at the horrific scene of the Churban while his colleagues, the other holy Tannaim, are crying. Quoting the Alter of Kelm, he establishes that sechok is the ability to transform tragedy into something wondrous and positive. Where the other Tannaim see only catastrophe, R’ Akiva sees the light of geulah. This idea is also reflected in the pasuk (Tehillim 126:1-2), “…we will be like dreamers. Then our mouths will be filled with sechok (laughter).” The Alter explains that when Mashiach comes, all the suffering of the ages will seem like a dream, all our questions will be instantaneously answered, and we will be at peace. That is the ultimate laughter, which is laughing at what once brought us to tears.

In the case of Purim, all of Haman’s evil machinations — bikeish, he plotted — came to naught, for it was Hashem’s plan to turn every one of his schemes to our advantage. Thus, the tree, the banquets, the plot against the king, and Haman’s ostensible favor in the eyes of the king were all turned to our benefit. That is the sechok of Purim, as defined by v’nahafoch hu — turning all events upside down and reminding us that although we think that we see, we do not know what we are witnessing until Hashem opens our eyes.