Purim Katan: Did you know about the minor festivals taking place this weekend?
Transcript:
Did you know that this Friday and Shabbat there are some minor festivals on the Jewish calendar?
Friday will be called Purim Katan, minor Purim and Shabbat will be called Shushan Purim Katan, minor Shushan Purim.
What’s this all about?
Well you probably know that this is a leap year on our calendar, which means that we have two months of Adar.
So, the question posed in the Gemara, Masechet Megillah Daf Vav is, during which month should the festival of Purim be?
First Adar or second Adar?
And as you might expect there is a Machloket, there is a difference of view.
According to one school of thought, Purim should be in first Adar and that’s because of the principle ‘Ain Maavirin Al Hamitzvot’, you do not delay a mitzvah.
We’re passionate, we’re enthusiastic about the opportunity, the privilege to perform Hashem’s mitzvot and that is why a mitzvah should not be put off.
Purim should be held as soon as possible.
Then there’s a second view, and that is ‘Mismach Geula L’Geula’ and this is the preferred school of thought.
We need to guarantee that the redemption of Purim is as close as possible to the redemption of Pesach.
To stage Purim just one month before the festival of Pesach, to guarantee that we go from joy to joy, from redemption.
And that’s what we do in Halacha.
Therefore, during the first month of Adar, you have got a minor Purim and a minor Shushan Purim.
Second month, it is the real one, to be as close to Pesach as possible.
And for us right now, such a powerful, relevant message emerges.
We want to ensure that we do not just have one solitary event of joy, marking one occasion of redemption.
No, we want to be on a roll, we want to go from happiness to happiness, from redemption to redemption.
And that is our prayer during these exceptionally challenging times, may Hashem bless the State of Israel and the Jewish people, that we will indeed achieve a state of joy, and may that take us again and again to many more experiences of joy.
I wish you all Purim Katan Sameach.
