After 334 years, the 2nd Holy Temple in Jerusalem (see "Today in Jewish History" for Adar 3) was in disrepair. In the year 19 BCE, King Herod I floated the idea of rebuilding and renovating the Temple. Though many Jews were wary of Herod’s motives, the renovation was completed eight years later. The new structure was magnificent, causing the Talmud to state: "He who has not seen Herod's edifice has not seen a magnificent edifice!"
Link: Herod the Great
On the afternoon of 12 Adar II 5752 (March 17, 1992), a pickup truck loaded with explosives smashed into the front of the Israeli Embassy and detonated. The embassy, a church, and a school were destroyed. The blast killed 29 and wounded 242.
The world is absurd. Ugly absurd.
To repair ugly absurdity, you can’t just be normal. You need an alternative absurdity. A beautiful absurdity.
We call it “divine madness.”
Divine madness means dancing like a fool at your friend's wedding because you love him so much.
Divine madness means walking out of a busy office where everybody needs you on Friday afternoon so you can light Shabbat candles on time.
Divine madness means driving back and forth every day to take your kid to a Jewish school even though there's a good public school just down the street.
It means acting the clown on Purim, visiting the sick, the elderly, and the confined instead of going to work or to school that day.
Yes, it's crazy. But, hey, did you really think normal people are going to save the world?