The leap year (part 2)

Today is the 2^nd day of Adar, 5770

Our months follow the actual cycle of the moon –new moon, full moon, etc- which consists on 29,5 days. Therefore, on average, Hebrew months will have 29 days and the next 30 and so on. A lunar (=moon based) year -12 lunar months- will have therefore 354 days (12x29.5).

There is a special Mitzvah in the Torah that says: “Shamor et Chodesh ha-Abib” which instructs us to keep the holiday of Pesach specifically on spring season. Now, if we would follow exclusively the lunar calendar, Pesach would fall at different seasons, because of the 11 days gap between the lunar and the solar year (354/365).

In order to ensure that Pesach would always fall during the spring season, these two calendars must be coordinated. How do we do that? Adding an additional month -a thirteenth month- to the year. A year that has 13 months is a called a leap year (shana me’uberet).

To summarize: The Hebrew calendar is lunisolar (=moon and sun) with a thirteenth month which is added to adjust the two calendars. This extra month is called Adar Alef (first Adar) and is added before the "real" Adar which is the one that comes immediately before Nisan and is called Adar Bet (second Adar). According to the Hebrew calendar calculation cycle this extra month is added seven times every nineteen years (specifically, in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19).

5770 is NOT a leap year, it has only one Adar.

The leap year (part 1)

Today is the 1st day of the month of Adar, and the second day of Rosh Chodesh Adar, 5770.

As we previously explained, whenever the preceding month (in this case, Shebat) has 30 days (the months in the Hebrew calendar could have 29 or 30 days) then Rosh Chodesh is celebrated for two days: the 30^th day of the preceding month and the 1^st day of the new month.

Adar is a special month. First, misheNikhnas Adar Marbim beSimcha. “Once the month of Adar begins, our happiness increases”!!! The joy and celebration of Purim, spreads over the entire month, as it is written in Megillat Esther: haChodesh asher Nehpakh Lahem… “the month (=Adar) that turned for the Jews from sorrow to joy".

Second: The month of Adar is the twelfth and therefore the last month of the Jewish months. In the Hebrew calendar, although the New Year (Rosh haShana) begins in the month of Tishri, the beginning of the months –the first month- is the month of Nissan.

There is a third special thing about the month of Adar. During some years (leap years) we add an extra month to our calendar, a 13^th month, a second Adar. Tomorrow B'H we will explain why we need to add a thirteenth month.

Chodesh Tov!

And now a question for you: What happens if for example, a boy is born during a year that has only one Adar, and his Bar Mitzva falls on a year that has two Adars. Does he celebrate his Bar Mirtzva, during the first or during the second Adar? Send your answer today: mailto:halakhaofhteday@gmail.com.