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As we all know, the saying goes משנכנס אדר מרבים בשמחה . From the time that Adar comes, we have to increase our joy. However, there is a blaring question here. Why? The standard approach is because of the miracle of Purim. We have to be happy all month because of the incredible kindness that G-d did for us during this time. That's nice, but HaShem has done many kindnesses for us, many of them have their own holidays dedicated to them (and many of those holidays are biblically mandated). Why do we have this unique mitzvah only with regard to Adar.

An event took place in Adar long before Purim; long before the first Temple; before the Jewish nation ever even stepped foot on our sacred land. In the month of Adar, we finished building the Mishkan, our house for connection to G-d which accompanied us all the way until the time of Shlomo HaMelech.

It "happens" to be that just as we entered the month of Adar a few days ago, we also started reading the Torah portions which explain how to build the mishkan and all of it's keilim. There is a perplexing verse, however, where G-d tells the Jewish people to build Him a house so that He will dwell amongst them ( בתוכם ). The word used here to refer to the Jewish people is plural, meaning more than one. The Alsheich and others point out that it would have been more appropriate for the Torah to use the singular form since HaShem is referring to the Jewish people as one unit. They conclude that the Jewish Nation is only as great and holy as the sum of it's parts. It is not good enough to have a central mishkan in which HaShem dwells. HaShem has to dwell within each individual Jew. We each have to develop and maintain our own mishkanot within ourselves; within our hearts in order to make ourselves a dwelling place for HaShem.

There is a very special dictum that HaShem's Sh'china only rests in a place where people are happy ( אין השכינה שורה אלא מתוך שמחה ). G-d does not rest in a place of anger. He cannot be found where resentment dwells. This is the month to develop ourselves to be happy with who and where we are. During Adar, not only was the Mishkan finished, but our personal mishkanot are being finished as well. There is such a special mitzvah to be happy during Adar, more so than any other time, because the potential for filling ourselves with the light of G-d is perhaps greater now than any other time of the year שמחה אין השכינה שורה אלא מתוך שמחה