Month: Adar

Sign: Gedi - Capricorn

Planet: Saturn

Element: Earth

Gender: Female

Human Atribute: Anger

Tribe: Dan

Movement: Function

Forefather: Abraham

Hebrew Letter: Tzadi

Adar

The Benefits of Being Hidden

If you ever visit the east Center here in St. Louis, you will see the Fishman library donated by a Mr. Aaron Fishman. In fact, you’ll find a number of Fishman libraries in St. Louis because Mr. Fishman was a wealthy philanthropist who enjoyed donating libraries. One day when I was standing in the Center, a short elderly man, plainly dressed in sort of drab non-descript clothes, walked in who seemed to have walked a great distance. He shyly and politely asked where the director was, as the director was coming out of the back room. “Mr. Fishman, come see your library!” the director exclaimed with a warm welcome. It was mentioned to me later that Mr. Fishman never drove anywhere he could walk to even if it was a number of miles away. As he walked down the street he would never be noticed as a multi-millionaire or a philanthropist. It’s quite possible that his anonymity was part of what made him able to be so generous. If you’re not focused on notoriety, you have more time and energy to focus on values.

Of course the benefits of being hidden should be taken in context. Sometimes things need to be revealed, sometimes things need to be hidden. There’s a time and a place for everything. We have two Torahs, one revealed, one hidden: the Written Torah – the five books of Moses, the Prophets, and the Writings, is revealed; and the Oral Torah, which was only handed down orally from teacher to student, is hidden. On a deeper level, the world of Kabbalah is considered the hidden wisdom and all other Torah knowledge is considered revealed. Now is the time to speak about hiddenness, because that is the essence of Adar.

The astrological symbol of Adar is Pisces, the fish. In the Torah and the Talmud, the fish are used as the symbol of being hidden from sight as they live in the water hidden from our view. Also in Genesis 1:22 God gives the fish a special blessing, and the fish were spared the punishment of the Flood of Noah. Because of their specialness, it is considered beneficial to eat some fish as part of each of the three traditional meals on the Sabbath. Since they are hidden from view, fish are said to be spared from the “Ayin Harah,” the Jealous Eye [1] . A blessing, therefore, is associated with things that aren’t seen. You will find, in general, projects you work on that fewer people know about have a greater chance of success. There’s even a tradition that in every generation the world rests on the merit of thirty-six hidden righteous people. How foreign this seems in light of how much emphasis is placed on superficiality in our society. Whoever is in the public eye; the actors, sports stars, etc, take the notice and interest of us all. We’d be floored if we found ourselves behind Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul McCartney or Mark McGuire in the Supermarket. We’d tell all our friends. Since society equates flamboyance with importance, we need to develop a greater appreciation for the unseen.

Purim, the festive holiday that falls out in the middle of Adar, is all about things that are hidden. The scroll of Esther describes the historical events of Purim. The word Esther means “hidden,” and the story shows the hidden hand of God in those events. One of the trademarks of the holiday is the masks that people wear to hide their identity. Purim and Adar emphasize one of the important principles of the Creation. God is hidden in the universe, and our job is to seek Him out. He may be hidden, but with a little effort He can be found. You don’t see atoms and molecules, but they are there. You don’t see electricity, but you see the light bulb light up. Reasoning a hypothesis and finding the physical evidence afterwards accomplished many advances in Science. Some choose to ignore the evidence, yet God’s presence can be found in every nook and cranny of this amazingly complex universe that shows design at every turn.

Similarly, the soul is hidden in man. We can’t see it, though we know it’s there. The only difference between a cadaver and a live person is that Divine spark we call the soul. Hidden inside all of us, with that spark, is a desire to love, to take care of the sick, to feed the poor, to defend the weak, to conquer evil, and to bring about world peace.

Let’s get in touch with that hidden self.

[1] For more information on Ayin Harah see the previous article on "The Evil Eye."