The function of Adar ב is to keep the Hebrew Calendar in sync with both the sun and the moon. Because the lunar year is shorter than a solar year by several days, every few years we need to add another month. This adjustment guarantees that all of the months fall in their proper seasons. A year that contains a second Adar is called me'uberet- pregnant! 

Roses are the quintessential flower of Persia, the location of our Purim story. They are held to the highest regard in Jewish texts. In Vayikra Rabbah 23:1 we read, "... A king had an orchard planted with one row of fig trees, one of vines, one of pomegranates, and one of apples. He entrusted it to a tenant and went away. After a time, the king came and looked in at the orchard...He found it full of thorns and briars... He looked closely and noticed among them a single rose-colored flower. He smelled it, and his spirits calmed down (It's no wonder that medicinally rose petals are used to comfort and calm the heart). The king said: "The whole orchard shall be saved because of this flower." In a similar manner, the world was created for the sake of Torah. G!d saw a single rose-colored flower, Israel. When God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments, God's spirits were calmed when they said, We will do, and we will hear (Exodus 24:7). Said the Holy One, "The orchard shall be saved on account of this flower. For the sake of the Torah and of Israel the world shall be saved." 

It's amazing that one flower had the power to save the world (#flowerpower)!  How often in our own lives does just one beautiful sound, taste or smell pull us out of the hole that we seem to be buried in and save us? Sometimes it just takes one small thing to transform our entire reality. This total reversal is called nahafoch hu "to completely turn around." In the story of Purim the fate of the Jewish people is turned around! All throughout our history, the Jewish people have faced seemingly insurmountable odds and circumstances but again and again - nahafoch hu. Thanks to the brave acts of so many people and the blessings of G!d, we have the power to literally transform reality! What in your life could use some nahafoch hu? Where can you find a rose among the thorns to inspire that change?