Purim

One of the more colorful of the Mishnaic Sages, a personage whose towering image continues to stir the imagination to this very day, is Choni the Circle-maker. What is the connection between Choni the Circle-maker and the Hebrew month of Adar?

The Sages say that the Almighty suspended Mount Sinai above the Israelites like an inverted cask and said, “If you accept the Torah, fine; if not, here will be your grave.” Why did God have to coerce the Children of Israel into receiving the Torah?