Be Happy, it's Adar!

Be Happy, It’s Adar!

Deborah K. Goldfarb | Interim CEO, Jewish Long Beach

As we are poised to enter spring after a rainy California winter, I have been reflecting on the cadence of our cycle of Jewish holidays. We move from the new year in the fall to a series of holidays commemorating the adversity and triumph that the Jewish people have witnessed throughout history. Starting with Hanukkah in the winter, and on to Purim, Pesach (Passover), Yom HaShoah (Holocaust remembrance), Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israel Independence), and finally Shavuot (the giving of the Torah).

These “witness” holidays seem to me to be in no particular order other than a very loose timeline based on the time of year that these holidays were observed, or we think they happened. We jump around in history from the biblically based High Holy Days, commemorating the birth of the Jewish world nearly 6,000 years ago and which first appears in the Talmud in the 6th Century BCE, to Hanukkah’s rededication of the Temple in 164 BCE, to Purim dating back to 356 BCE, to Passover dating to the 1200s BCE. After Passover we count the 49 days of the Omer (sefirah or sheafoffering) until the holyday of Shavuot, when we commemorate the anniversary of the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai.

This year we began the month of Adar 1 in February, and soon, Adar 2 in March. If you have looked forward in the Jewish Calendar you know that Rosh HaShanah appears in October of 2024. The purpose of the insertion of an additional Adar is to adjust the lunar calendar to align with the Gregorian calendar so that our holidays will continue to roughly align with the seasons. So, next year when we will have only one Adar, the High Holy Days will shift back to September.

So, we move along this spiritual timeline, coming full circle, but partially in reverse order, reflecting not only on our heritage, but also on our history as a people. This bears out the idea that not only are we a people of history, but more so, a people of memory. Interestingly the Rabbis have imbued our spiritual cycle with many times of celebration and therefore happiness, but Adar is the one time of year in which we are specifically called to focus on happiness with abandon. As we all know too well since October 7th, we as a Jewish community have felt once again threatened, just as we commemorate our cycle of holidays, I would argue that Adar, and Purim, are coming at exactly the right time. This period allows us to step back from the fear and confusion we have been feeling over the war in Gaza and the demonization of the Jewish people by Hamas, and their supporters.

This year, Jewish Long Beach will be celebrating both Purim and our connection to the culture and people of Israel at our Israeli Purim Celebration on Sunday, March 24 at 12pm at the Alpert JCC. Please join us and take this opportunity to BE HAPPY!