Description
Redemption to Redemption – By Rabbi Pinchas Winston
The Talmud has a question. In a normal Jewish year there is only one month of Adar, on the 14th day of which Purim is celebrated. In a Jewish leap year however, an entire month is added called Adar Sheini—Second Adar. The Talmud wants to know therefore in which Adar Purim should be celebrated?
There is an argument for each Adar. First, there is the idea of ain ma’avirin al hamitzvos, which basically means that we don’t like to push off a mitzvah. Mitzvos are too valuable to pass up, so we like to do them first chance we have:
You shall guard the matzos… (Shemos 12:17)
Rebi Yoshia said: Don’t read “the matzos,” but “the mitzvos,” meaning the commandments, as if to say: Just as you must be careful not to allow the matzah to become leaven, so too must a mitzvah not become “leaven” by waiting too long to perform it. If a mitzvah comes your way, perform it immediately. (Rashi)
Why push Purim off until Adar Sheini if you can celebrate it in Adar Rishon, the first Adar?
On the other hand, there is semichas geulah l’geulah, putting two redemptions close together. In a non-leap year, Purim falls out thirty days before Pesach:
From Purim to Pesach is 30 days. (Sanhedrin 12b)
If Purim is in Adar Rishon in a leap year, then Purim will end up being sixty days before Pesach. Why distance the two holidays when they can be kept close together by celebrating Purim in Adar Sheini?
We know from practice what the Talmud decided. Apparently in this case we overlook the seemingly all-important principle of ain ma’avirin al hamitzvos and celebrate Purim in Adar Sheini, keeping it thirty days before Pesach. The question is, why?
The Talmud says something else that, on the surface, seems incidental but which may in fact allude to the answer:
From Purim to Pesach is 30 days. From Purim, one should start learning the laws of Pesach. (Sanhedrin 12b)
Who learns Hilchos Pesach while celebrating Purim? True, the Talmud specifies learning the laws of a holiday thirty days in advance, but couldn’t it be 29 days in the case of Purim? It’s such a busy day…
No, and not only because of the enactment. There is a reason why we want Purim and Pesach close together. They are intricately connected, and to such an extent that properly celebrating Purim is to prepare for Pesach. If anything, the Talmud is indicating, Purim is the threshold to the freedom of Pesach. The starting point to understanding how is knowing that, when it comes to Purim and Pesach, nothing is as it seems to be.
