My hearing is not that acute, but I heard the niggun last night during night seder. It was audible. It was משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה. How come there isn't such a statement in Chazal, which would then translate into a niggun of mishenichnas Kislev? All right, so maybe there's no mitzvas simcha on Hanukkah, so משנכנס כסלו מדליקין נרות חנוכה? Why is it that the celebration of Purim we get a head start, something which a phenomenon that you don't necessarily have a parallel for in other contexts? So when you look at the Megillah, you see that when Haman was casting his lots as to when he should try to carry out his genocidal designs, so it was הפיל פור מיום ליום מחודש לחודש לחדש שנים עשר הוא חדש אדר.
That Haman selected a month, that the decree wasn't so much that the decree was only a specific day, but the decree related to the whole month. And in fact, the Megillah reinforces that impression later when the Megillah says at the end, by the v'nahafochu, החודש אשר נהפך להם מיגון לשמחה ומאבל ליום טוב. That the v'nahafochu, the transformation, was not of a particular day, but the transformation was the whole month. That Purim is something, it's not that Purim is Yud Daled Adar, that the nes of Purim, Haman's genocidal designs and in turn the miracle, relates to the chodesh as a whole. And clearly, clearly that's what underlies the משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה. You don't have a similar phenomenon by chodesh Kislev. Hanukkah is Chof Hey Kislev. Rosh Chodesh Kislev, there's no you don't feel anything of Hanukkah on Rosh Chodesh Kislev. But beginning Rosh Chodesh Adar, so one begins to feel the Yom Tov of Purim. And that's what underlies what Chazal say משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה. In fact, there is a famous Yerushalmi. Yerushalmi says that halacha lema'aseh if for some reason, if due to circumstances totally, absolutely beyond a person's control, he wouldn't be able to read the Megillah on Yud Daled or Tes Vav, so not only would he in, again, those emergency circumstances be able to possibly read on Yud Aleph, Yud Bais, or Yud Gimmel, the eleventh, the twelfth, or the thirteenth, but the Yerushalmi has an opinion that one could read the Megillah as early as today. That if for some reason a person would not be able to read the Megillah on the fourteenth or the fifteenth, the optimal time for reading the Megillah, according to the Yerushalmi, the Megillah could be read as early as today. And again, all of that reflects the idea that Purim is, the observance of Purim is concentrated, is centered on the fourteenth and the fifteenth, but the truth is it really relates to the month as a whole. Whenever there's a mitzvas simcha, whether it's what else do we have a mitzvas simcha rabosai other than Purim? What else do we have a mitzvas simcha? Yom Tov. Yom Tov, Shalosh Regalim. Probably Yamim Noraim as well. Whenever we have a mitzvas simcha, so the question always has to be is what are we happy about? You tell someone be happy, so what does that mean? What does it mean be happy? You have to be happy simcha has to have a content. There has to be a tochan to simcha. If we're told be happy, if we're told to be marbe besimcha, so the question is what's the content of the simcha? So Rashi on that Gemara in Masechet Taanis where the Gemara says משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה, so Rashi says ימי נסים היו לישראל פורים ופסח. That it's a season, it's a time of miracles for the Bnei Yisrael, the miracle... Of Purim and Pesach. ימי נסים היו לישראל פורים ופסח. Purim and Pesach. We already begin to to feel the love of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, Rashi in Shabbos will talk soon, talks about ahavas haness. We begin to feel the love of Hakadosh Baruch Hu for the Bnei Yisrael which was expressed through the miracles of Purim and Pesach. We're reminded of that when Rosh Chodesh Adar is ushered in. Now the the teva of of and it's that which which generates the simcha, that reawakening, that reminding ourselves of of the miracles that Hashem performs, performed, and performs for us, it's that which which generates the simcha. That's the tofen of the simcha. What are we supposed to do with the simcha? What's the what's the outlet? How are we supposed to channel the the energy of of the simcha? So we know that in in all relationships, whether it's bein adam l'chavero or lehavdil bein adam l'makom, there's supposed to be reciprocity in in in relationships. Kavyachol Hakadosh Baruch Hu holds himself to that standard, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives the Aseres HaDibros, so we would think that Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't really need to justify his claim on our allegiance. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, no, you know why I'm asking you to keep all of Torah mitzvos? אנכי ה' אלהיך אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים מבית עבדים. I'm invested in you, so you should reciprocate and be invested in my Torah mitzvos. So in relationships, there's reciprocity. The Mishna in Kiddushin talks about מצוות הבן על האב and מצוות האב על הבן. There are filial obligations that a child has that to parents, and then there are parental obligations that parents have to children. There's reciprocity in in in relationships. There are obligations a husband has to a wife, there are obligations a wife has to a husband. There's spousal reciprocity. So if משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה, the simcha that we feel, the simcha that we experience, the simcha that we express comes from the reawakening of the nissim, ימי נסים היו לישראל פורים ופסח, days of miracles, it's a time, it's a season of miracles that Hakadosh Baruch Hu performed and continues to perform for us, and we experience his love for us, so then the energy of the simcha should be channeled towards reciprocity, towards our expressing our love for Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And yitachen that this would would give us an an answer to what otherwise perhaps might be a a little bit of a a mystery. We all know that that Chazal tell us, right, one of the most famous aggadetas in Shas, that whatever it means, but the original Kabbalas HaTorah, there was an element of coercion, right, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu lifted the Har Sinai over over our heads and and said, so what do what do you say? You want the Torah or you don't want the Torah? There was an element of coercion kavyachol. What does it mean, for another time. And when was the subsequent Kabbalas HaTorah, rabosai? What do Chazal say? Purim, right? הדר קבלוה בימי אחשורוש. So we know that one of the dominant themes of the Yom Tov of Purim is that it's a Yom Tov of Kabbalas HaTorah. So that on the calendar, there are two there are two yamim tovim of of Kabbalas HaTorah, Shavuos and Purim. So for the Kabbalas HaTorah of Shavuos, so there's a long period of preparation. Every year Sefiras HaOmer is devoted to preparing for the Kabbalas HaTorah of of Shavuos. How does the Kabbalas HaTorah of Purim happen? Just by itself? We're able to flip a switch on the 14th of Adar and we're ready to be mekabel Torah? So yitachen rabosai that the משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה that riboy simcha again, that the energy, the excitement is channeled into preparing for Purim, preparing for Purim again in the full sense of the word, but especially for the aspect of Kabbalas HaTorah of Purim. And that the משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה you can ask your rabbeim who remember that in Yeshiva in YU, so a generation ago, one of the great Roshei Yeshiva was Rav David Lifschitz, zichrono levracha. And he used to every year have signs hung up around the Yeshiva that as was the minhag in Europe that from Rosh Chodesh Adar until Erev Pesach people should try to add to their learning and the devotion to Talmud Torah should be intensified. And that was the expression of the משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה. And think about it because again there's supposed to be a reciprocity. We're feeling Hakadosh Baruch Hu's love for us. ימי נסים היו לישראל. What is it Rashi explains in Shabbos that prompted the new Kabbalas HaTorah b'yemei Mordechai? What prompted it was the ahavas haness. Again that awareness of the miracle. So the משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה should be channeled, should be channeled into find a few extra minutes to learn, maybe to enhance the quality, the eichus of the time that we already spend learning, and that that should be a very tangible again expression and outlet for the משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה. Again both in eichus and in kamus. Maybe to be just a little bit more focused, a little bit more energetic in our regular seder, maybe to find an extra five, 10 minutes in the morning, during the break, at night, an extra five, 10 minutes between now and not only Purim, but between now and Pesach. Part of the משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה is also to think about bein hazmanim begins, I guess somewhere around Rosh Chodesh Nissan or a little after Chodesh Nissan. So there's a little gap there. The momentum, again Rashi says משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה is we're not just gearing up for Purim, we're gearing up for Purim and Pesach. There's a continuum here between Purim and Pesach. The Gemara says that when in a leap year when you have two Chodesh Adars that the reason we observe Purim in the Adar Sheini is l'mismach geulah l'geulah is because we want to have a continuum between the celebration of the geulas Pesach and the celebration of geulas Purim and geulas Pesach. So there's a continuum here. So the משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה is not a it's not a two-week sprint, but it's more of a six-week marathon. So part of the משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה maybe is also to try to make plans how we're going to continue and maintain the momentum even during the bein hazmanim, even once we go home for the for the Pesach break. To be able to continue that riboy simcha, to be able to continue to reciprocate again the same way Hakadosh Baruch Hu in these days, in this season shows His love for Bnei Yisroel, so we want to reciprocate. We want to show our love for Him and the way we do that is by gearing up for the Kabbalas HaTorah of Purim by investing more in our Talmud Torah. Maybe just one last thought rabosai. To try to learn Torah, fulfill mitzvos with simcha is a tremendous, tremendous avoda, avoda gedola hi the Rambam says. To serve Hashem b'simcha. There's a pasuk that we say in part of the Shabbosdikke Pesukei D'Zimra, the pasuk says, Dovid HaMelech says, hayotzer yachad libam, Hakadosh... who created all our hearts, המבין אל כל מעשיהם. Hakadosh Baruch Hu discerns, Hakadosh Baruch Hu understands all our actions. So there's something curious about the second half of the pasuk. Hamevin, let's say you're conversing with someone in Hebrew and you want to say I understand you, so how would you say it? Ani mevin. Ani mevin. Ani mevin otcha, right? So it should have been המבין את כל מעשיהם. What does it mean המבין אל כל מעשיהם? Hayotzer yachad libam המבין אל כל מעשיהם is how the pasuk says. It should have been המבין את כל מעשיהם. Or if Dovid Hamelech spoke Hebrew as we do, it should have been המבין את כל מעשיהם. But either way, it shouldn't have been המבין אל כל מעשיהם. So Rav Chaim Volozhin in Nefesh Hachaim has two, two very beautiful profound pshatim. One of the two is relevant to us now. He says the pshat המבין אל כל מעשיהם is that Hakadosh Baruch Hu's discernment is penetrates. Hakadosh Baruch Hu's discernment, He's mevin, He understands, He discerns, it's penetrating. He understands the inner core of what we're doing. He doesn't just see whether we put on tefillin or we don't put on tefillin. Whether we make Kiddush on Shabbos or we don't make Kiddush on Shabbos. Whether we daven or we don't daven, whether we... Hakadosh Baruch Hu sees into the action. He sees with what kavanos, what intention, what frame of mind, what emotion, what passion we bring to the mitzvah. המבין אל כל מעשיהם. Hakadosh Baruch Hu's understanding, His discernment is not just es kol maaseihem, not just the outer shell of what we're doing, not just what's visible to the eye, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu is המבין אל כל מעשיהם, something which is penetrating. When a Jew fulfills a mitzvah, if he fulfills it sort of stam, neutral, or he fulfills it besimcha, two different actions. המבין אל כל מעשיהם. Two different actions. When a Jew fulfills a mitzvah besimcha, he sees that it's an opportunity, it's a blessing, it's a privilege, also an obligation, not to lose sight of the fact that it's an obligation. But it's not only an obligation, it's a blessing. It's a privilege to get up in the morning and go to shul and put on and put on tefillin, tefillin with Shem Hashem and to place it on one's head, on one's arm. It's not only an obligation, it's a blessing, it's a privilege to be able to connect to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, to be given a ticket to eternal life. It's not only an obligation, it's a blessing, it's a privilege. A person thinks about that, and a person fulfills a mitzvah again, not just sort of with a sense of being weighed down and half asleep, but with a sense of simcha, it's a different action. It's not the same action. המבין אל כל מעשיהם. There's different types of hanachas tefillin, there's different types of davening, there's different types of learning. Hakadosh Baruch Hu sees it and kavyachol Hakadosh Baruch Hu appreciates it. Chodesh Adar leading into Nisan, culminating with Nisan, is a time of simcha, so it also means that it's a time which is especially conducive for us to cultivate that trait of trying to serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu with simcha, trying to reflect that what we're doing is not only again a set and series of obligations but that what we're doing again is the most unique and singular blessing and privilege. And we should try to take advantage of these special days to think about that, to reflect, to try to internalize, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu should give us the strength to takeh beovdo, to be עובד את השם בשמחה, to have a kabbalas haTorah in Purim with נסים ונפלאות ישועות ונחמות. Amen.