Today is the third of Adar. Yesterday was (unsurprisingly) the second of Adar.

There is a very interesting historical connection between these two dates, which very few people notice.

The second of Adar (598 BCE) was the date that the First Temple was conquered by Nebuchnazzaer, and King Jeconiah taken captive.

This comes from Chronicles of Chaldaean Kings (626-556 B.C.) in the British Museum.

“In the seventh year, the month of Kislev, the king of Akkad mustered his troops, marched to the Hiatti-land, and encamped against (i.e. besieged) the city of Judah and on the second day of the month of Adar he seized the city and captured the king.”

And then, according to tradition exactly 70 years and one day later, on the third of Adar (515 BCE), the Second Temple completed

Ezra 6:15

וְשֵׁיצִיא בַּיְתָה דְנָה, עַד יוֹם תְּלָתָה לִירַח אֲדָר--דִּי-הִיא שְׁנַת-שֵׁת, לְמַלְכוּת דָּרְיָוֶשׁ מַלְכָּא.

And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

So the Jewish people slept for 70 years (as the story of Choni the circle-drawer sleeping for 70 years highlights), then woke up the next day and rebuilt the Temple.

The mishna in Ta'anit says that when Adar begins we should increase our happiness. It is hard to reconcile the destruction of the Temple with the happiness of Adar. But if the destruction only lasted for a day, perhaps that is reason to celebrate.

Fish and Adar

It seems that there is a custom to give goldfish out at kindergarten during the month of Adar. Perhaps this is because the 'Mazal' (astrological sign) of Adar is Pisces

I think the (Jewish) source for the connection between months and constellations is Sefer Yitzirah, which writes:

CHAPTER V

1. The simple letters are twelve, namely: He, Vau, Zain, Heth, Teth, Yod, Lamed, Nun, Samech, Oin, Tzaddi, and Quoph; they represent the fundamental properties, eight, hearing, smell, speech, desire for food, the sexual appetite, movement, anger, mirth, thought, sleep, and work. These symbolize also twelve directions in space: northeast, southeast, the east above, the east below, the northwest, southwest, the west above, the west below, the upper south, the lower south, the upper north, the lower north. These diverge to all eternity, and an as the arms of the universe.

2. These twelve letters, he designed, formed, combined, weighed, and changed, and created with them the twelve divisions of the heavens (namely, the zodiacal constellations), the twelve months of the year, and the twelve important organs of the frame of man, namely the right and left hands, the right and left feet, two kidneys, the liver, the gall, the spleen, the intestines, the gullet, and the stomach.

But now I have another suggestion to offer as to why goldfish are associated with Adar. Because they tend to die on Taanis Esther! (Well, we've had one goldfish, and after more than a week it died today - which by coincidence is Taanis Esther. Therefore the statistically most likely date for all Sedley goldfishes to die is Taanis Esther!)

And then we can fulfill the verse in the Megillah (9:22):

כַּיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר־נָחוּ בָהֶם הַיְּהוּדִים מֵאֹויְבֵיהֶם וְהַחֹדֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר נֶהְפַּךְ לָהֶם מִיָּגֹון לְשִׂמְחָה וּמֵאֵבֶל לְיֹום טֹוב לַעֲשֹׂות אֹותָם יְמֵי מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָה וּמִשְׁלֹוחַ מָנֹות אִישׁ לְרֵעֵהוּ וּמַתָּנֹות לָאֶבְיֹונִים

As the days when the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month that was reversed for them from grief to joy and from mourning to a festive day - to make them days of feasting and joy, and sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.

(and in the meantime I have a crying daughter who is very upset!)

I told her that the goldfish has now gone to the big fishbowl in the sky, and it is not death, but rebirth...



PS Anyone want a slightly used fishbowl?