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Purim Is Near!
This Hebrew year we began a new column with Rabbi Charna Rosenholtz, who is offering a 12-part column exploring the spiritual and psychological wisdom of each Hebrew month. Drawing from Torah, Kabbalah, Mussar, and seasonal awareness, each installment will highlight core themes, practices, and reflections to help ground us in sacred time. Join us on this monthly journey through the Jewish calendar.
Adar is the month of Purim, and it carries a particular kind of Jewish joy. It is not joy that ignores what is hard. It is joy that knows how to live with what is hard, and still choose life. In Adar we practice turning fear into courage, and isolation into connection. We do that with community, food, humor, costume, story, and generosity.
Purim is a holiday about what is hidden. In the Megillah, God’s name is not mentioned once. And still, many people feel God working quietly through the events—behind the scenes, through human choices, timing, and unlikely turns. The Purim story is full of masks and reversals. Esther hides her identity, then reveals it. Power shifts. What looks fixed turns out not to be fixed. “Days of darkness” become days of light and relief.
There is also something deeply human in Esther’s courage. She learns when to stay quiet, and when to speak. When she finally names who she is, she saves what needs to be saved. Adar invites that question for all of us: when is it wise to stay veiled, and when is it time to tell the truth—about who we are, what we need, and what we will no longer accept. Some people also hold a desire in this season to “redeem Vashti,” meaning: to remember that women’s dignity matters, even when the story moves quickly past it.
Adar comes right before Pesach. So it is also a month of preparation for leaving Mitzrayim—the tight, narrow place. Purim is not the same as liberation, yet it is part of the path. It teaches survival with spirit intact. It teaches the kind of clarity that shows up when we stop pretending and start telling the truth.
In Kabbalistic language, Adar is connected with the Hebrew letter kuf (ק). One way to hold kuf is as a practice of sanctifying ordinary life—making a clear separation between what is holy and what is not, and still staying fully in the world. It is the work of kiddush: lifting something earthly toward something higher. Isaiah says, “A voice calls out in the wilderness.” Many of us know what a wilderness feels like—not only a place, also an inner landscape. Adar asks us to listen for that quiet voice that calls us toward our best self.
This month is also associated with Naftali, whose name is connected to “wrestling.” Rachel says, “With great wrestlings I have wrestled…” Naftali is later blessed as “a deer let loose” who offers “beautiful words.” I love that pairing: struggle and beauty together. Movement and speech together. It is a reminder that our words matter, and that our inner wrestling can become wisdom rather than bitterness.
And then there is the simple practice of Purim itself: joy, charity, and gifts. We give mishloach manot to one another. We give tzedakah – matanot la’evyonim to those in need. We feed each other. We make sure no one is alone. That is not extra. That is the point.
A small Adar reflection:
What mask do I wear that keeps me from being fully myself?
What truth is ready to be spoken—gently, clearly, at the right time?
And what is one act of giving I can do this week that will increase joy in someone else’s life?
Chodesh Adar sameach
Rabbi Charna Rosenholtz
Check out Shulchan.net for more information about R’Charna’s offerings
Here is a list of Rabbi Charna’s monthly columns in the series:
