Why does the Jewish leap year always consist of two Adars? Why specifically Adar?
Menachem
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Synopsis: We cited several sources for the law that we only intercalate Adar, including the Bavli (Rosh Hashana 7a and Sanhedrin 12a), Yerushalmi (Sanhedrin 1:2), and Rambam (Hilchot Kiddush HaChodesh 4:1). However, your question is a good one: Why?
Tosafot (Sanhedrin 12a) offers a scriptural reason: to ensure that Adar will remain the twelfth month, as it is referred to in Megillat Esther (3:7).
We noted the reason for any intercalation – the 11-day discrepancy between the lunar and solar years. The lunar year is 354 days, which is the approximate time it takes for 12 new moons to occur. The solar year is 365 days, which is the approximate time it takes for the earth to complete one solar revolution. Thus, every several years, an extra month is added to the Jewish lunar year, allowing the lunar and solar years to be in sync again and ensuring that the holidays are celebrated in their correct seasons.
The only logical month to intercalate is Adar. If Nissan or Iyar were intercalated, we would be presented with a problem when counting the omer. We count 49 days starting on the second day of Passover, Nissan 16, until the omer’s conclusion at Shavuot, the 6th day of Sivan. If we were to add a month anywhere between the two, Shavuot would no longer occur in Sivan, the third month. While Shavuot is not necessarily required to fall on a fixed day, parshat Yitro (Exodus 19:1) specifically states that the giving of the Torah is in the third month, and as such the festival of Shavuot – called zman matan Torateinu, the time of our being given the Torah – must fall in Sivan.
We examined scriptural mentions of specific dates for the other holidays. Parshat Pinchas (Numbers 29:1-12) tells us that Rosh Hashanah is on the first day of the seventh month [Tishrei], Yom HaKippurim on the tenth day of the seventh month, and Sukkot on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. If we were to intercalate any of the months preceding these festivals, they would not occur in the seventh month as the Torah mandates.
The Gemara (Rosh Hashana 7a) intimates that we intercalate only right before Nissan because the Torah instructs (Deuteronomy 16:1) that Passover must occur in springtime. Rambam specifies that we make two Adars, Adar Rishon [first] and Adar Beit [second], to prevent Passover from falling at times in the winter and at times in the summer. Pirush Rabenu Ovadia adds that in Adar the beit din examines the crops to see whether the wheat has already ripened, a sign that spring has arrived, thus negating any need to intercalate that year.
Clearly, there are biblical citations and sources on which to rely. Why does Tosafot seek out a verse in Esther?
I questioned Tosafot’s citation of the verse where Adar is called the twelfth month, for it seems that the events of Purim happened in a shana peshuta – a simple year of just twelve months. The verse would not have specified that it was the twelfth month in the case of a leap year, in which case Adar would have been the thirteenth month.
I did not find any indication anywhere in Megillat Esther or in the Talmud that it was a leap year. The only source stating so is Rabbi Yosef Grossman in Otzar Erchei HaYahadut, who explains that we celebrate Purim in Adar Sheni because the events occurred during a leap year. However, I cannot find the source upon which Rabbi Grossman based his conclusion.
Tosafot’s conclusion that intercalation is to take place in Adar so that it would remain the twelfth month still puzzles me.
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Answer: The answer lies in the fact that certain halachot create a unique situation applying to Adar Rishon and Adar Sheni. Both months bear certain elements of the spirit of Purim as well as certain aspects of aveilut and yahrzeit.
First, let us note the latter, aveilut and yahrzeit, so that we end this discussion on a happier note. If one died on a particular day in Adar and the following year is a leap year, the yahrzeit is to be observed during the first Adar. This can be explained based on the time the aveilut commences. The full mourning period is 12 months – even though kaddish is recited for one’s parents for only 11 months, as we do not wish to designate parents as being wicked. [See Rema, Orach Chayyim 376:4, who notes that the judgment of the wicked lasts 12 months.]
The 12 months start at the time of death. There is a major dispute among the authorities as to when the 12-month period starts in the event that death and burial were not on the same day.
The Shach (Yoreh De’ah 402:12, citing the Responsa of R. Binyamin) rules that if the burial is not on the same day as the death or on the following day but takes place on the third day from death, then the yahrzeit in the first year follows the date of burial, as there must be a complete mourning period of 12 months, and in this case three days would otherwise be missing from that mourning period.
The Taz (ad loc. and Orach Chayyim 568:8) disagrees, saying, “If one first heard of the death of his father six months after his death, there is no one who would rule that he now mourns for 12 months from the time he heard about it. Rather, the 12 months are counted from the time of the date of death.”
In practice, we seem to follow the ruling of the Shach, but only if three complete days have passed (see Yesodei Semachot, the excellent sefer by R. Aron Felder, shlita, of Philadelphia).
Accordingly, the yahrzeit would be observed during the first Adar of a leap year, as one certainly would not observe 13 months of mourning. Regarding every successive year, the yahrzeit is observed on the date of death. This is inferred from the Gemara (Shavuot 20a) and Rashi (ad loc. s.v. “Keyom she’met bo aviv”), where we see that the date of death is imbued with a precision clear enough to effect a proper oath.
Thus, fasting and saying kaddish on a parents’ yahrzeit are observed during the first Adar. Even though there is a second Adar, we treat that same day in the second Adar as a day of lesser observance during which one recites kaddish but does not fast (although there is an opinion in Piskei Mahari, cited by Rema, that one does fast on both days).
As to the spirit of Purim, we find the following statement in the Mishna (Megillah 6b): “There is no difference [in law] between the first Adar and the second Adar, except for the reading of the Megillah [Esther] and Matanot l’Evyonim.” The Gemara elaborates that insofar as eulogies and fasting, what applies on the one [i.e., the 14th day and the 15th day] applies on [the same day of] the other as well. The Mechaber and Rema (Orach Chayyim 697:1), while noting a [differing] view, set the halacha accordingly, so that even on the first Adar, eulogies and fasting are forbidden on Purim and Shushan Purim. The reason is that Adar is a time when “we increase our joy” – marbim b’simcha.
To solidify this – and in so doing our question on the Tosafot (Sanhedrin 12a) will, hopefully, vanish – we quote from the famed Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (Sefer Kedushat Levi on the end of parshat Ki Tissa): “The reason that Adar is the month that we intercalate and at times [during leap years] possesses two [Adar] months is because it is well known that the twelve months of the year are representative of the twelve tribes [sons] of Israel, as cited by the Tur (Orach Chayyim 417). Now, the month of Adar, whose mazal [sign] is Pisces [fish], is representative of Joseph, who is compared to the fish [i.e., hidden in the water] upon whom the evil eye has no power. As the verse in parshat Vayechi (Genesis 49:22) states, ‘Ben porat Yosef ben porat alei ayin… – A charming son is Joseph, a charming son to the eye….’ [Our Sages understand this verse to mean that Joseph and his progeny are protected from the evil eye – Berachot 20a.] Joseph bore two of the tribes, Menashe and Ephraim [who are considered to be individual tribes, as it says (supra parshat Vayechi – Genesis 48:5), ‘Menashe v’Ephraim k’Reuven v’Shimon yihyu li – Ephraim and Menasseh shall be mine like Reuben and Simeon’]. Therefore, there are two Adars.”
The tribe of Levi is not counted among the tribes that were allotted portions in the land or that had their own flags and encampments in the travels of Israel in the desert. The verse in parashat Ekev (Deuteronomy 10:9) states: “Therefore, Levi did not have a share and a heritage with his brethren, the L-rd is his heritage [portion].” However, when listing the signs, they are counted among the twelve tribes and Joseph is counted as only one tribe.
Thus, there is no thirteenth month. Rather, there is the twelfth month that occurs twice on the occasion of a leap year. Only Adar is suitable for intercalation, for if any of the other months were to be intercalated, Adar would no longer be the twelfth month but the thirteenth. In that case, the signs would be incorrect and would not represent the two sons of Joseph. This explanation and the Mishna’s statement cited above (Megillah 6b), that there is no difference between the two Adars [meaning that both are referred to as the twelfth month], solidify the reasoning of Tosafot (Sanhedrin 12a) that the verse in Esther is indeed a[n additional] source for intercalating only Adar when there is a need for a leap year.
We have not answered whether the year of Haman’s evil edict was in fact a leap year or not. Hopefully, some among our readers will enlighten us with a source one way or the other. May Hashem, at this auspicious time, grant salvation and victory over our enemies as we celebrate this festive and joyous holiday. A simchat Purim to all.
