Adar
and Lent, and Ramadan and Lunar New Year!
The month of Adar has begun and with it comes the directive to increase joy! I have always appreciated that this instruction appears without regard for personal or global mood. The wheel of life keeps turning and we are invited to grab hold and rejoice!
This year, Rosh Chodesh Adar overlaps with the beginning of Ramadan and Lent, and coincides with the Lunar New Year. Holy wow! The convergence feels like both a theological moment and also a sociological one. Across traditions, large groups of people are adjusting their behavior at the same time. They are fasting. Reflecting. Cleaning their homes. Gathering at tables. Celebrating. Paying attention.
During Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. The body keeps time differently when you’re hungry. And when the fast breaks, people gather and eat together with intention. There’s something beautiful about that rhythm.
Lent, as I understand it, invites a kind of clearing out — giving something up or taking something on to sharpen focus. Jews do our own version of that in Elul. I’m a fan of a seasonal reset. It helps to pause and notice what’s accumulated.
I don’t know a lot about Lunar New Year beyond the broad strokes of deep cleaning, settling debts, big celebrations. I was once in Malaysia during the holiday and remember the red envelopes everywhere, offerings for ancestors, and a feeling of joy that was both public and personal at the same time.
And we Jews come to Adar. Adar invites joy, satire and the strange story of Purim in which power flips and Esther steps into her power. And the uncomfortable conclusion of the Purim story which people seem to gloss over or make light of. It’s an odd and difficult one for sure. But the phrase “When Adar enters, we increase in joy.” is a wonderful, collective call to silliness and connection, especially now, in these incredibly dark times.
A friend recently played music by Ludwig van Beethoven and reminded us that he was profoundly deaf when he wrote the final movement of his Ninth Symphony; the piece commonly known as Ode to Joy, based on Friedrich Schiller’s 1785 poem “An die Freude” (“To Joy”). A composer who could no longer hear, writing about joy. My friend shared that after Beethoven conducted it, people had to turn him around to witness the outpouring of applause from the audience.
Here’s (most of) Schiller’s text as found on the Carnegie Hall website:
Oh friends, no more of these sounds!
Let us sing more cheerful songs,
More full of joy!
Joy, bright spark of divinity,
Daughter of Elysium,
Fire-inspired we tread
Thy sanctuary!
Thy magic power reunites
All that custom has divided;
All men become brothers
Under the sway of thy gentle wings.
All creatures drink of joy
At nature’s breast.
Just and unjust
Alike taste of her gift;
She gave us kisses and the fruit of the vine,
A tried friend to the end.
Even the worm can feel contentment,
And the cherub stands before God!
You millions, I embrace you.
This kiss is for all the world!
It’s a little gendered and I, of course, would re-write it but still! “Even the worm can feel contentment!” Love it. And the wings bring to mind Shekinah’s wings, embracing and unfolding with endless love. “This kiss is for all the world.” Have you ever felt drunk on joy? It is a miraculous, marvelous, soul-nourishing feeling and, tbh, it can feel a bit hard to find. At least for me. Too many hollow services, surface words, curated experiences. I went to see a Cirque du Soleil show, Luzia, a few weeks ago and I was so delighted to feel that complete joy and wonder. I feared I had gotten jaded but I just opened to the experience and felt the same wonder and absolute delight that I first felt so many years ago.
When I step back and look at Adar, Ramadan, Lent, and Lunar New Year unfolding at once, what I notice is scale. Millions of people are orienting themselves toward something beyond the everyday experience. They are adjusting their schedules, their diets, their spending, maybe their speech. They are remembering ancestors, acknowledging shortcomings. They’re giving charity. They are cooking elaborate meals. They are showing up in community.
There’s huge astrological stuff happening too. I know just enough astrology to get myself in trouble, so I would encourage you to check smarter sources, but from what I understand, we’re closing out long cycles that have been heavy with grief, emotional excavation, and structural reckoning in our institutions and systems. Now, with the Year of the Fire Horse and Neptune moving into Aries, the energy is poised for a big shift. Which, frankly, is a little scary, but the reality is that our current ways of being on the planet are not sustainable. Something’s gotta give. And it’s our work to continue to speak up and out and we will need every bit of our spiritual grounding to get through this great turning.
So you might as well seek joy! Emma Goldman (might or might now have) said, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” Heck yeah!
So however you celebrate, may you remember to tip things on their heads to look at them differently and raise the cup of joy!
Chodesh tov! Ramadan Mubarak! Gong hei fat choy! May this Lenten season be a time of renewal. May we all be blessed with peace and connection.
Ken Teheye Ritzona. May it be Her Will