Adar is the happiest, most joyous month of the Hebrew calendar. In fact, its motto is "When Adar comes, joy is increased."

The abundance of joy in Adar is primarily due to the presence within the month of Purim. That holiday commemorates the salvation of the Jewish People from a genocidal plot by the wicked Haman, whereby he hoped to destroy the Jewish People, G-d Forbid, completely. Because of our fasting and repentance, we were able to have that heavenly decree, if not the earthly one, torn up.

Haman achieved the result, thank G-d, of having his plot overturned ("venahapoch hu," "it was overturned" - a theme of Purim) upon himself. Our last picture of him and his ten sons are of them dangling from the very gallows which he had prepared for Mordechai, a leader of the Jews.

Even though we are instructed in Pirkei Avot (Chapter 4, Mishnah 24) by Shmuel HaKatan, "When your enemy falls, do not be happy, and when he stumbles, let your heart not rejoice," an exception is made in the case of Haman. He represents the spirit of absolute (or nearly absolute) evil, as did his infamous ancestor, Amalek, founder of the nation which attacked the weakest of the Jews on their way out of Mitzrayim. Then the Jewish People were fresh from the Miracle of the Splitting of the sea, and their faith was still fragile, while fear of the Jews and of the awesome might of their G-d was universal among all the other nations of the world.

Purim, which falls on the 14th of Adar (the 15th in walled cities like Jerusalem), celebrates the deliverance of Persian Jewry 2,400 years ago, during the reign of King Ahasuerus.The story of Purim is recorded in the Book or Scroll (megillah) of Esther, the only source for this event; the holiday's name, derives from the Hebrew word pur, which refers to the lots cast to determine the day the Jews were to be executed.

Megillah means scroll. There are 5 books in the Bible referred to as megillot (scrolls): Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther; each of these is read aloud in the synagogue on a fixed occasion.

The festival begins with the reading of the megillah. To mock the memory of Haman, Ahasuerus' evil vizier, listeners stamp on the floor, shout, and use noisemakers made especially for this purpose. The injunction to celebrate Purim with merry-making and drinking is noted already in the Talmudic period, and Purim became the most carnival-like holiday of the Jewish year. Children dress up in costumes, jesters entertain with music.

The story of Megillat Esther tells of King Ahasuerus' wicked chief minister, Haman, who drew lots ( purim in Hebrew) to determine which day the Jews would be exterminated (the date he drew was 13 Adar). Through the intervention of Mordecai and his niece, Queen Esther, the Jewish people were saved.

According to the sages, the reading of Megillat Esther on Purim evening and again in the morning, was ordained by Mordecai and Esther themselves.

Noisemakers, called gragers in Yiddish, and ra'ashanim in Hebrew, have been a source of much artistic creativity over the centuries.

It is customary to read parodies of traditional texts — mock-talmudic tractates, satirical wedding contracts between Haman and his wife, Zeresh, and so on — and to perform special comic plays, known in Eastern Europe as Purim spielen. In some European Talmudic academies it was customary to elect one of the student as the Purim rabbi, or the rabbi for the day. Many contemporary Jewish schools (particularly in Israel), have an upside down day along this line, with the students teaching the classes (resulting in most cases in bedlam!). In the State of Israel there are also carnival-like parades known as adlayada.

The textual source for all this topsy-turvy activity is Esther 9:22: "the month which was turned to them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to holiday..."

adlayada — from the Hebrew word "ad lo yada" (until he does not know): based on the rabbinic remark that on Purim a man should revel until he does not know to distinguish between "blessed be Mordecai" and "cursed be Haman" (Babylonian Talmud Megillah 7:2).

According to the megillah itself, one is "to observe [Purim] as days of feasting and merry-making, and as an occasion of sending gifts to one another and presents to the poor" (Esther 9:22). Three central traditions of the holiday are therefore the Purim banquet (se'udah), the giving of charity (matanot la'evyonim), and the presenting of gifts of food and drink (mishloah manot) to one's friends.

While the nature of the mishloah manot varies from community to community, it is generally accepted custom to give at least two different types of sweets or foods to at least two different people (or families).

Triangular pastries (filled with prunes, poppy seed, cherries and the like) called hamantaschen (Haman's hat in Yiddish ) or oznei Haman (Haman's ears, in Hebrew) - recalling either Haman's three-cornered hat or his funny-looking ears.

Black, Naomi. Celebration:The Book of Jewish Festivals (Jonathan David, 1989).