One of my in-laws does a fantastic ape imitation, which my children find hilarious.

ADAR – People Say We Monkey Around

Well folks now we really have something to celebrate, two whole months of Adar dedicated to joy. This only happens every few years when the Hebrew calendar is a leap year, and adds an extra month to the calendar. The sages deemed Adar to be the appropriate month to double up on. Their reasoning may be a bit complicated for this essay, but suffice it to say, that the Almighty definitely wants us to increase our joy whenever we can.

I know you’ve heard people sigh about “Jewish guilt” and comedians joke about our tendency to complain, but the Torah is a guidebook for joy above all other things. The laws of the Torah are only a burden if you don’t appreciate them. If you understand the benefit you get from a commandment it ceases to be a burden and becomes a friend. The Almighty loves us and wants our ultimate good; He’s not waiting to punish us. The commandments can’t be around for Him, because He’s infinite. They must be only for us, for our benefit.

What is the purpose of the commandments?

Some people think the commandments are to help us build a better society. I guess if we fulfilled them we certainly would have a perfect world. But if the Almighty really wanted a perfect world, He could have created it that way and made us all desire to do the right thing at all times. It appears the real goal of the commandments is for us to make ourselves holy by struggling to attain perfection, and a better society is merely a by-product of this attainment.

(Obviously the Almighty intends for the world to attain perfection one way or the other, and if we don’t accomplish it on our own, He’ll make it perfect with the Messiah one day soon.)

In the meantime, the commandments are our greatest gift and those in touch with that get happy doing them.

But many of us want some more specific advice from the sages regarding making ourselves happy. So the sages have an unending list of tips, tools, and techniques for being happier.

What makes us happier?

The Kabbalah gives us a special insight into the spiritual power present in this month. Each month has a letter from the Hebrew associated with it, and the letter associated with Adar is the letter Kuf. Hebrew is a special and holy language and one of the facets of Hebrew is that each letter’s name has a meaning. The letter Kuf is also a word – kof which means monkey. Monkeys are great imitators hence the word “ape” in English which is a noun meaning monkey and also a verb meaning to mimic. Interestingly, monkeys are one of the few animals that we can see laughing and smiling. And people can often be found at zoos laughing at the monkeys. We don’t laugh at the snakes or the tigers or the bats and birds.

Laugh at your spiritual mistakes

Evolutionists tell us that we evolved from monkeys, and perhaps we did. But we recognize that mankind now has a spiritual relationship with the Creator that monkeys don’t. We have a soul and make moral choices that forge a bond with the infinite or make a barrier. When we are following our desires we are merely monkeys. Some people tend to be hard on themselves when they make mistakes in spiritual or moral areas. We’re all part monkey. We can all make mistakes. One of the key ways to elevate ourselves above our monkey like behavior is to laugh at ourselves when we stray from spirituality. Don’t get down on yourself. Its not you, it’s the monkey inside you that gets distracted by materialism. Take a look at yourself and laugh your “tuchas” off. Or as we say in IM language LMTO.

To see more monkeying around, click on this link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR71GnQ4CU4