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... 

MI'SH'NICHNAS ADAR MARBIM B'SIMCHA

Does the joy of Adar apply to the first Adar? Some say yes; others say no. Although the second Adar looks like the “real” one, with its 29 days, Purim, the Special Parshiyot, and its juxtaposition to Nissan and Pesach, we can agrue that the first Adar is the real one, the second is the added month, but everything from the first was moved to the second in order to keep the Geula months back-to- back. Let’s be strict and (try to) be happy during this first Adar. 

Tuesday night, Feb. 4, was just a little short of 3 full days after the Molad, so first op for K.L. was Wednesday night. Motza’ei Shabbat K.L. people will have a good shot this Motza”Sh, weather permitting. Full 7-day people can say K.L. on Motza”Sh too, but only after 10:15pm. Otherwise, from Sun. night.

It was mentioned that Tuesday night would be too early for kiddush L’vana, because the Moon would not yet be three days old during the early evening before it set. In fact, the actual Molad of Adar Alef was Shabbat afternoon, not Motza’ei Shabbat. Which means that on Tuesday night the Moon was already three days old. Kiddush L’vana? The answer is still NO. Our system follows the average calculations, not the actual times.

More on MACHAR CHODESH (we’re not late for last week - we’re early for Sivan.) We mentioned that this year’s year-type (M’uberet, Rosh Ha- Shana on Shabbat, Cheshvan & Kislev each 30 days long) is the only one in which we read the haftara of Machar Chodesh 3 times. Although this year-type occurs on average 4.72% of the time (about once in 21 years), the occurrences are not evenly spaces. This year, 3 years ago, 24 years before that, and 44 years before that. Next one is scheduled for 24 years from now. And then 27 years later. What else is unique to this year-type? Shabbat Rosh HaShana followed by Shabbat Rosh HaShana.

The ADAR Story
In the time of Kiddush HaChodesh (past and IY”H future), that is, when the months were sanctified based on eye-witness testimony on the sighting of the first visibility of the lunar crescent, and when the decision to intercalate the year by giving it a 13th month was made by a committee of members of the Sanhedrin, there really wasn’t an Adar Rioshon and Sheni, nor an Adar Alef and Bet. There was ADAR, and the month following it was either NISSAN or ADAR again. Even in our fixed calendar, the two ADARs are sometimes called ADAR and V’ADAR.

In our fixed calendar, there is a pattern of which years have 12 months and which have 13. It is fairly simple to calculate the status of a year. Let’s use 5763 as an example.

Divide the year by 19. 5763 divided by 19 = 303 with a remainder of 6. This means that 303 complete 19-year cycles have passed since Creation, and this year is the 6th year of the 304th cycle.

The 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years of a 19-year cycle have 13 months. The other 12 years in the cycle have 12 months each.
In the time of Sanhedrin, there were certain factors that REQUIRED a sec- ond Adar. Other factors made it desirable to add the extra month. If one knew the factors involved, he could predict what the decision of the committee would be. But sometimes it was “too close to call”. The decision could not be announced before the year in question began, and it could be announced ANYTIME until the end of Adar. Occasionally, a late announcement required a second Purim.

[The Parshat T'rumah Homepage]
[The TORAH tidbits Homepage] [How to use TORAH tidbits]
[About The OU/NCSY Israel Center] [About TORAH tidbits]