Q&Adar

by Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon 
Founder and Board Chairman, JobKatif

Q: Why are there two months of Adar this year?

A: The Torah says that Pesach has to be in the spring, but a problem occurs some years. A solar year is 365 days and a lunar year is 354 days, in other words, the solar calendar is 11 days longer then the lunar. Because of this, every year Pesach falls out in the spring except for every three years where there is a gap of about a month. We then have to add a month so that Pesach will in fact be in the spring.

Q: What are the differences between the first & second Adar?

A: We are told in the Mishnah in Megillah 6b that we should read the Migillah in second Adar. However, in the time of the Beit Din (when the new month was prescribed by witnesses because there wasn’t a set calendar), there was a possibility of reading the Megillah in the first Adar and only later would the Beit Din decide to make a second Adar. In a case like this they would read the Megillah again in the second Adar.

The Mishnah continues and says that the only differences between the first Adar and the second Adar are that we read the Megillah and give presents to the poor in the second Adar.

The Gemarah continues with this idea and says that one should read the Megillah in the second Adar and not the first because of the idea that it is preferable to have one redemption followed by another.

Q: Is there anything special about the first Adar?

A: The Shulchan Orech says that the on the 14th and 15th of the first Adar you shouldn’t eulogize or fast.

The Rama adds that in some more stringent opinions share the idea of making our regular meals a bit more special on these days.

Q: Does the halacha of “MiShe Nichnas Adar Marbin Be’Shimcha” (“One who enters Adar should increase one’s happiness.”) also apply to the first Adar?

A: Rashi comments on this halacha in Gemarah Ta’anit 29a. He says that “One who enters Adar” referrs to the days of miracles, Purim and Pesach.

Q: Why Purim and Pesach?

According to Rashi, this halacha teaches us that you must read Megillah in the second Adar to have the two miracles next to each other. Therefore there is the idea of adding “happiness” in the Adar right before Pesach, and not in the first Adar.

The Chatam Sofer adds a new idea to this discussion. He says that the decree of Haman was in the first Adar. We know this because the Megillah says that the decree occurred on “the 12th month, which is the month of Adar.” The Megillah specifies that it was the 12th month showing that there was more than one Adar that year. In other words the Megillah is saying the decree occurred in the 12th month and not the 13th month, which is also Adar this year. In any case the Chatam Sofer says that we celebrate Purim in the second Adar. However, we see something very important here. There must be the idea of added happiness in the first Adar since that is when the miracle actually occurred. And only because we want the two redemptions (i.e. Purim and Pesach) next to each other do we have Purim in the second Adar.

Q: What is the significance of the happiness that is supposed to increase when Adar begins?

A: As we said, we increase our happiness in Adar because of the miracle that occurred during that month. But the increase in happiness is also preparation for the holiday we celebrate in Adar. If this is so then in a year that there are two Adars, the preparation and hype for Purim and Pesach is doubled.  This gives us a deeper happiness on these holidays than we get in any other year.

In the first Adar clearly the happiness is less than in the second Adar, however the happiness we will feel in the second Adar will be even greater than a normal year since it came after a prep-month. This year Purim and Pesach come after two prep-months giving them even greater height.

Shabbat Shalom!