Chasidut zu Könige II 2:8
וַיִּקַּח֩ אֵלִיָּ֨הוּ אֶת־אַדַּרְתּ֤וֹ וַיִּגְלֹם֙ וַיַּכֶּ֣ה אֶת־הַמַּ֔יִם וַיֵּחָצ֖וּ הֵ֣נָּה וָהֵ֑נָּה וַיַּעַבְר֥וּ שְׁנֵיהֶ֖ם בֶּחָרָבָֽה׃
Und Elia nahm seinen Mantel und wickelte ihn zusammen und schlug das Wasser, und sie wurden hin und her geteilt, so dass sie beide auf trockenem Boden hinübergingen.
Kedushat Levi
This idea has been hinted at when the Talmud in Taanit 29 stated that משנכנס אדר מרבים בשמחה, normally translated as: “once the month of Adar has begun we experience an additional measure of joy in our lives.” The word אדר, is a short form of the word: אדרת, “cloak,” or mantle, a garment that envelops the wearer, a garment that the prophet Elijah is reported as having worn regularly. (Compare Kings I 19,19, Kings II 2,8, Kings I 19,13) The Talmud means that prior to the beginning of this month when the Jews tried to look at G’d, they were consumed by awe, as G’d had not draped sufficient protective “clothing” around His essence to enable those who worship Him to entertain feelings other than awe and fear.
One of the supports for such an interpretation is presumably the fact that all the miracles G’d performed for the Jewish people during that time, in the lifetime of Mordechai and Esther, were covert rather than overt miracles, i.e. G’d practiced הסתר פנים, a benevolent type of “hiding” His face, so that His creatures would not have to experience too much fear when turning to Him. The miracles performed at that time were in contrast to those performed when G’d split the sea at the time of the Exodus, using supernatural phenomena in doing so. In the Purim episode, not a single supernatural element was part of the chain of events that resulted in the salvation of the Jewish people. [It seems clear to this editor that the author chose this approach to his exegesis as this portion is read annually around the time of Purim. Ed.]
An additional reason may be that around this time, nature that had denuded itself and presented itself to us as awesome during the winter months, once again bedecks itself with foliage, arousing new hope and joy in the hearts of the people who have just experienced a harsh winter.
Quoting Genesis 49,11 where Yaakov blesses his son Yehudah, and zeroing in on the words: עירה ולשרקה, the author sees in the apparently extraneous letters ה at the end of the word עירה and שרקה, a mystical meaning based on the concept of צירוף אותיות, the ability to divine the deeper meaning of why certain letters have been combined, [an art that according to our sages enabled Betzalel, the master-builder of the Tabernacle to carry out his task, Ed]. The use of the two letters ה where they do not appear to be needed, is an allusion to the abundance of G’d’s largesse for His creatures in the universe, whereas the letters י and ו allude to looking at the overwhelming brilliance of light experienced when looking at the Creator. These four letters, of course, are the letters forming the tetragram of the holy name of G’d, י-ה-ו-ה. The system has been explained further by Shaar Hayichud vehaemunah in the writings of Tanya, (Rabbi Shneer Zalman of Ladii).
[Many of my readers are familiar with a mystical poem appearing before the recital of לכה דודי commencing with the line אנא בכח, where we find the respective first letters of each line printed separately at the end of that line. This is one of the best known examples of the system of צירוף אותיות having found its way into prayer books even of the Ashkenazi (Charedi) community which normally refrains from including passages that the average worshipper cannot understand. The reader may also be interested to know that this is the reason why in most Ashkenazi communities the entire portion of the Friday night service known as kabbalat Shabbat, and commencing either with the saying of לכו נרננה or the preparatory saying individually of the entire scroll of Song of Songs, was for hundreds of years resisted; even when and where accepted, the chazan recites it on the platform from which the Torah is read, to remind the congregation that this was not part of the original Friday night service, Ed.]
One of the supports for such an interpretation is presumably the fact that all the miracles G’d performed for the Jewish people during that time, in the lifetime of Mordechai and Esther, were covert rather than overt miracles, i.e. G’d practiced הסתר פנים, a benevolent type of “hiding” His face, so that His creatures would not have to experience too much fear when turning to Him. The miracles performed at that time were in contrast to those performed when G’d split the sea at the time of the Exodus, using supernatural phenomena in doing so. In the Purim episode, not a single supernatural element was part of the chain of events that resulted in the salvation of the Jewish people. [It seems clear to this editor that the author chose this approach to his exegesis as this portion is read annually around the time of Purim. Ed.]
An additional reason may be that around this time, nature that had denuded itself and presented itself to us as awesome during the winter months, once again bedecks itself with foliage, arousing new hope and joy in the hearts of the people who have just experienced a harsh winter.
Quoting Genesis 49,11 where Yaakov blesses his son Yehudah, and zeroing in on the words: עירה ולשרקה, the author sees in the apparently extraneous letters ה at the end of the word עירה and שרקה, a mystical meaning based on the concept of צירוף אותיות, the ability to divine the deeper meaning of why certain letters have been combined, [an art that according to our sages enabled Betzalel, the master-builder of the Tabernacle to carry out his task, Ed]. The use of the two letters ה where they do not appear to be needed, is an allusion to the abundance of G’d’s largesse for His creatures in the universe, whereas the letters י and ו allude to looking at the overwhelming brilliance of light experienced when looking at the Creator. These four letters, of course, are the letters forming the tetragram of the holy name of G’d, י-ה-ו-ה. The system has been explained further by Shaar Hayichud vehaemunah in the writings of Tanya, (Rabbi Shneer Zalman of Ladii).
[Many of my readers are familiar with a mystical poem appearing before the recital of לכה דודי commencing with the line אנא בכח, where we find the respective first letters of each line printed separately at the end of that line. This is one of the best known examples of the system of צירוף אותיות having found its way into prayer books even of the Ashkenazi (Charedi) community which normally refrains from including passages that the average worshipper cannot understand. The reader may also be interested to know that this is the reason why in most Ashkenazi communities the entire portion of the Friday night service known as kabbalat Shabbat, and commencing either with the saying of לכו נרננה or the preparatory saying individually of the entire scroll of Song of Songs, was for hundreds of years resisted; even when and where accepted, the chazan recites it on the platform from which the Torah is read, to remind the congregation that this was not part of the original Friday night service, Ed.]
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