Rachel Weeps For Her Children in Jerusalem

Sundown begins the month of Adar the twelfth month of the Jewish calendar. The word Adar is cognate to the Hebrew adir, meaning "strength." Adar is the month of good fortune for the Jewish people. Our sages say of Adar: "Its mazal [fortune] is strong."

This Adar did not start with Mazel

So says the Lord: A voice is heard on high, lamentation, bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, she refuses to be comforted for her children for they are not. Jeremiah 31:14

Purim, the holiday of Adar, commemorates the "metamorphosis" of the Jews' apparent bad fortune to good. "When Adar enters we increase in joy." The festival of Purim marks the high point in the joy of the entire year. The Jewish year begins with the joy of the redemption of Pesach and concludes with the joy of the redemption of Purim. "Joy breaks through all barriers."

Today the Human Rights Council of the United Nations bashed Israel for trying to defend herself. Once again this supposed world peace organization has taught the terrorists that killing innocents is a legitimate means of self expression.

The joy of Adar is what makes the month of Adar the"pregnant" month of the year (i.e., seven of the nineteen yearsin the cycle of the Jewish calender are "leap years," "pregnant" with an additional month of Adar). When there are two Adars, Purim is celebrated in the second Adar, in order to link the redemption of Purim to the redemption of Pesach. Thus we see that the secret of Adar and Purim is "the end is wedged in the beginning."

An IDF soldier was killed and three soldiers and two civilians were wounded when a bomb was detonated under their jeep as they patrolled the Israeli side of the Gaza security fence near Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha early Thursday morning

Moses was born on the Seventh of Adar, the seventh of Adar is also the day he died, the order to start rebuilding the Jerusalem Wall after the first exile was given in Adar, the powerful Syrian General Nicanor was defeated by the Maccabees in Adar.

A Palestinian terrorist opened fire at a central Jerusalem yeshiva late Thursday night, killing eight students and wounding 11 others, police and rescue officials said. The 8:45 p.m. shooting at Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood broke a two-year lull in terror in the capital and sent students scurrying for cover from a hail of gunfire - a reported 500-600 bullets - that lasted for several minutes. Eight innocents were killed.

"There were horrendous screams of 'Help us! Help us!'" recounted Avrahami Sheinberger of the ZAKA emergency rescue service, one of the first to respond to the scene. "There were bodies strewn all over the floor, at the entrance to the yeshiva, in various rooms and in the library."

As security forces raced to the scene, the gunman fired round after round of ammunition into the library at the seminary, religious Zionism's flagship institution. About 80 students had gathered in the library to celebrate the Hebrew month of Adar II, which begins on Friday evening.

Adar is not supposed to be all Joy. It is the month of transforming dread into joy. Adar was the month that Haman selected to kill the Jews because it was the month Moses died. He didn't realize it was also the month he was born. In 1991, when Saddam Hussein tried to rain missiles down on Israel, he was defeated on Purim day.

Adar contains the power to succeed against an opposing force, both on a national level and on an individual level. This Adar, may we be inspired to conquer enemies -- whether they come from afar, or from deep inside ourselves. This Adar May the Bereaved families of today's massacre in Jerusalem be comforted and may God help the give strength and comfort to injured and to the doctors treating them.

So says the Lord: Refrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is reward for your work, says the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. And there is hope for your future, says the Lord, and the children shall return to their own border. Jeremiah 31:15-6