Cultivating Happiness From Within

Month Of Adar

Etymology

1. Strength-  -״אדיר במרום ה״ This month has a lot of strength.
2. Aleph Dar- Aleph is G-d dwells in this month

The month of Adar is one of the most auspicious months of the year.

“When Adar arrives, we are meant to increase in joy”- The whole month, not just the month's holidays. Every day we have to increase in joy over the day before.

Why?

•  A person born during Adar has no evil eye ruling over them.
•  “Mazalo Barie”- its a very auspicious month bc Aleph Dar, and Hashem dwells in this month, and it has a lot of strength.

1. Planting an Adar- Talmud says about the month- “Anyone who wants to make sure that their investments reap good revenues should plant an Adar”- Adar is never referred to anywhere else as a tree, but if it's planted, it must be a tree.

What does it mean to plant an Adar?

Bnei Yissaschar-

Adaar is a consciousness/ awareness that whatever I do it is not just me alone-

Adar means the recognition that whatever a person does is not their own doing. No matter how hard we strive, the first thing to preserve the investment is to be in the right state of mind, and to do that you have to plant an Adar.

“Hashem is within nature”-

It's not enough that it should be a state of mind- it has to be a somatic experience

Emunah Vs. Bitachon- Emunah is the belief that Hashem is Good-

Bitachon- Hasherm believes in me and I believe it in all the details and darkness of my life- it's a felt sense in the body and calmness in the body!!

When you dance you are feeling it in your body!!

Aleph Dar- That Hashem is dwelling right here in the lower worlds (not just in the highest spiritual worlds) and it's that reality that we are plugging into this month.

Tree- have to uproot the soil and dig deep and have strong roots-

When our roots are strong then we can be permeated with this reality that Hashem is dwelling down in all the details and even in the tachtonim (basements).

2. Miracles within Nature- the essence of the month & miracle of Purim

G-d interfaces within the world in 2 different ways.

Miracles that are above nature- coming out of Egypt, splitting of the red sea.

Chassidus explains miracles that are within nature come from a higher spiritual origin because they are hidden/ not conspicuous. G-d is causing things to happen at all times but we don’t see it bc its within nature.

Thats the Talmudic passage that anyone who wants to prolong his investments should plant an Adar.

Bc that’s the recognition that G-d oversees everything.

It brings a person to a deep place of Bitten (trust and faith)

We have to plant within our consciousness that and recognize that everything is really above nature and that lets us let go.

This brings us a tremendous amount of Simcha- essence of the month

3. Talmud- No Greater Joy than Dispelling Doubt-

When we are in doubt we get depressed and down. Difficult to have true joy and laughter when we get the level of doubt out of our mind.

When we give up that control it brings us great joy. It usually happens in retrospect.

In Adar we have one of the greatest miracles that happened, The miracle of Purim. The miracle of Purim is a miracle within Nature.

Esther means hidden and Megilla that we read on Purim comes from the word Legalot (to reveal).

The essence of the miracle of Purim is the revelation of concealment. That the whole story which seems like a chain of natural events was actually Hashem’s hands under the scene orchestrating a huge miracle and that brings about the greatest of joys.

The story of Purim, which is the essence of Adar is the recognition that the whole script of Purim is Hashem orchestrating these events and all that is happening in the world and all current events is all Hashem orchestrating the world behind the scenes and we will look back and laugh.

״אז ימלה צחוק פינות היינו כחולמים״-

When Moshiach comes we will look back at the world with laughter because we will recognize that we were like dreamers.  

What is the essence of True joy?

1. Laughter is connected to gevurah, Yitzchak

Our work in this world is to go deep within ourselves- not superficial like going to the beach or getting a new dress. (Gevurah) and to stay focused on the deep recognition and truth that Hashem is orchestrating everything!! That recognition brings us to this state of joy!!

2. B’Simcha- Machshava- thoughts-

The power of our thoughts- science says we have millions of thoughts going through our mind every second we are not conscious of-

Chassidus- says that our mind rules over our hearts- we can’t just come to dance and be joyful without examining our mind and the effect that it has on our emotions.

Science says that we can bring healing to the body through the power of the mind- envisioning healing and that the vertebrates are healed.

Our mind is our soul- consciousness and the more we can become aware of our thoughts and use them to connect to the infinite part of ourselves.

This Shabbos and dancing!!

Joy breaks through all boundaries, this month brings us happiness for the entire year- The greatest barrier which is the barrier of exile.

Moshiach= Sameach Yud. One who rejoices with Yud (all 10 attributes of his soul) brings Moshiach within himself and Moshiach to the world. That's the ultimate joy when we are really living in a space of Moshiach.

How do we do this at the moment?- This we see from what the Sefer Yetzira teaches us about Adar.

The letter Kuf

It looks like the letter Hey.

Zohar- says that the letter Kuf represents the energies of Klipa ( the other side) and the letter Hey represents the side of holiness.

Kuf- means Kof ( a monkey). It tries to impersonate. Money has human-like features but doesn’t have the intellect of humans.

Kuf- different than the hey in that it dips down (dips down to the other side (the side of the sitra achra, the side of kelipa).

Hey- a letter that represents the revealed level go Godliness (Malchut)- breath and length

Kuf- Is the letter connected to the kelipa energies (the dark side). is the letter that goes down and tries to embrace nature, but the forces of the other side have it get lost in nature, the king that its just nature and we can get lost in the confusion of that reality.

The essence of the month is the rectified state of the letter kuf.

How do we rectify it? There is a big secret to finding joy!

Realizing that there is a purpose in it, not only is there a purpose but it is Hahsem himself concealing himself there.

When Hashem created the world, he created a vacuum of space and concealed his light and then created 4 spiritual worlds where each has a greater level of concealment.

Tztimtzum, concealment in the world- fragmented consciousness- that prevents us from seeing the oneness of all of reality!!

Parts of ourselves are fragmented from the whole of who we are!!

How do we rectify that by saying that the monkey, the fragmented kelipa parts of ourselves, are Hashem!!

Hashem created the kelipa to give us FREE CHOiCE- angels don't have that!!

Dressing in this reality so that we come to a greater sense of self!!

Hero or Victim to trigger!

The commandment to remember what Amalek did to us. When we came out of Egypt, we were attacked from behind by this nation.

Meanings of Amalek:

1. Malak- sever. Amalak would fight, and they would sever the heads of the people to scare them..

Spiritually it means a disconnect between the mind and the heart

Sever ourselves into parts and see ourselves as separate parts- fragmented!!

from what we know to how we feel (Flow state is when there is a connection from the mind to the heart)-

Joy/ healing comes from a place of integration- when we are connected and embracing the whole of who we are.

This is like a monkey (bc their intellect) the human part of us can’t connect to our heart.

2. “Amal Kuf”- the work of Kuf. Taking the kuf and the work of Amalek is trying to get entrusted in the superficiality of the world. To take the world at face value and to say this is “just nature” and the superficiality is where it is out.

To say that Hashem is not with me in the darkness!!

Therefore, we have a commandment before Purim, to remember what Amalek did to us and, on a spiritual level, to destroy what Amalek did to us in allowing us to disconnect from our true essence and our heart and to see the word from more of a superficial lens and we lose the wholesomeness of connecting to our deeper self.

Amalek is the final battle- because its a battle of fragmented consciousness vs. Unity consciousness (sin od Milvado)

Before Purim, we have to have this recognition of the kuf in our life that is drawing us down.

The whole redemption of Purim came from this transformation of Haman ( who came from Amalek) and from there came the joy of Purim

The Spleen- Tchol/ March

The spleen cleans the blood and filters the blood.

Chinese medicine- the spleen in connected to excessive mental work, worry dwelling or focusing too much on a particular subject.

Rectification of the moth is “no greater joy than dispelling of doubt”.

Anxiety/worry is when we are trying to control our situation- bitachon

For a person to not be drawn down by worries and to look at all the insanity of the world and not be drawn down comes from a deep recognition is that there is more underneath and what we see is not it all. The spleen sifts from the negativity in order to come  to a place of joy 

Sign- Fish/Pisces

Jacob Blesses the children of Yaacov that “Vayigdu larva bekerev haaretz”- that you should multiply like fish

Rabbi Chaim Vital- Water is the hidden world, and we are constantly within this reality that is hidden. Its says that comes from the hidden world has a higher source than the revealed world. ( when we go through challenges and we don’t see how it is really good, that comes from a higher source.

Fish has no evil eye because water is covering over the fish so too we were blessed to be like fish and there should be no evil eye over us.

Fish has no evil eye bc the fish is constantly within its life source; it's nullified to its source. If a fish is taken out of the water it will die. (That's why you don’t have to slaughter a fish to make it kosher because they come from a higher source it doesn’t need to be killed to draw it higher). It's constantly enmeshed in that reality; it's continually doing its mission within the source so no evil eye can be on it.

During this month, no evil eye is upon us bc the source is more apparent within us. Adar ( Aleph Dar- Hashem is dwelling with us constantly). We are entangled in the actual reality of the world, then we can have true joy. The current events and everything we go through, the journey that we are all on are all enmeshed in that source, and we realize that it's not just nature but all miraculous.