WORD OF THE MONTH

A weekly feature of Torah Tidbits to help clarify practical and conceptual aspects of the Jewish Calendar, thereby better fulfilling the mitzva of HaChodesh HaZeh Lachem... 

It's that week again, the one after the deadline for Kiddush L'vana and before M'vorchim. It gives a chance for things about the months that usually fall between the cracks (or between the chairs, as goes the Hebrew). Rashi says that the joy we associate with Adar is not due to Adar and Purim alone. As Adar enters we increase in joy, because the GEULA of PURIM is followed by the month of Nissan and PESACH. We juxtapose (there's the word again) Purim and Pesach (that's why Purim is pushed to the second Adar in a 13-month year), and that is the cause of our increase in joy.

On another note, even if you see fruit trees in blossom now, the custom is not to say the once-a-year bracha on trees until the month of Nissan. There are different opinions on the subject, but the conclusion in halacha is not to make brachot where there is a doubt, so in Eretz Yisrael, the practice is to hold the bracha until Nissan. In places with very different growing patterns, there would be a case to say the bracha earlier or later, depending.