Adar (
Hebrew: אֲדָר, ʾĂdār; from
Akkadianadaru) is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the religious year on the
Hebrew calendar, roughly corresponding to the month of
March in the Gregorian calendar. It is a month of 29 days.
Names and leap years
The month's name, like all the others from the Hebrew calendar, was adopted during the
Babylonian captivity. In the
Babylonian calendar the name was Araḫ Addaru or Adār ('Month of Adar').
In
leap years, it is preceded by a 30-day
intercalary month named Adar Aleph (
Hebrew: אדר א׳,
Aleph being the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet), also known as "Adar Rishon" (First Adar) or "Adar I", and it is then itself called Adar Bet (
Hebrew: אדר ב׳,
Bet being the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet), also known as Adar Sheni (Second Adar or "Adar II"). Occasionally instead of Adar I and Adar II, "Adar" and "Ve'Adar" are used (Ve means 'and' thus: And-Adar). Adar I and II occur during February–March on the
Gregorian calendar.
Sources disagree as to which of the two Adar months is the "real" Adar, and which is the added leap month.[1]
Customs
During the
Second Temple period, there was a Jewish custom to make a public proclamation on the first day of the lunar month Adar, reminding the people that they are to prepare their annual monetary offering to the Temple treasury, known as the
half-Shekel.[2]
Based on a line in the
Mishnah declaring that Purim must be celebrated in Adar II in a leap year (
Megillah 1:4), Adar I is considered the "extra" month. As a result, someone born in Adar during a non leap year would celebrate their birthday in Adar II during a leap year. However, someone born during either Adar in a leap year will celebrate their birthday during Adar in a non-leap year, except that someone born on 30 Adar I will celebrate their birthday on 1 Nisan in a non-leap year because Adar in a non-leap year has only 29 days.
Holidays
7 Adar (II in leap years) –
7th of Adar – some fast on this day in memory of the death of Moses
13 Adar (II in leap years) –
Fast of Esther – on 11 Adar when the 13th falls on
Shabbat – (Fast Day)
4 Adar (1307) –
Maharam's body ransomed 14 years after his death by Alexander ben Shlomo (Susskind) Wimpfen.
4 Adar (1796) – Death of
Rabbi Leib Sarah's, a disciple of the
Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov. One of the "hidden
tzaddikim," Rabbi Leib spent his life wandering from place to place to raise money for the ransoming of imprisoned Jews and the support of other hidden
tzaddikim.
7 Adar (1828) – Death of Rebbe Isaac Taub of Kalov, founder of the
Kalover Hasidic dynasty, and a student of Rabbi Leib Sarah's.
9 Adar (1st century
BCE) – Academic dissension between
Beit Hillel and
Beit Shammai, erupted into a violent and destructive conflict over a vote on 18 legal matters leading to the death of 3,000 students. The day was later declared a fast day by the
Shulchan Aruch, however, it was never observed as such.
11 Adar (18th century) – Death of Reb Eliezer Lipman (Elezer Lippe), father of the prominent Chassidic Rebbes Rabbi
Elimelech of Lizhensk and Rabbi
Zusha of Hanipol.
13 Adar (474
BCE) – War between Jews and their enemies in
Persia (
Book of Esther, chapter 9).
15 Adar (1st century
CE) – Jerusalem Gate Day –
King Agrippa I (circa 21
CE) began construction of a gate for the wall of
Jerusalem; the day used to be celebrated as a holiday.
17 Adar (522
BCE) – Yom Adar – the day the Jewish people left Persia following the Purim story[citation needed]
20 Adar (1616 CE) – 'Purim Vinz': downfall of
Vincenz Fettmilch and triumphant return of the Jews of Frankfurt under Imperial protection. The day was established as a community Purim for generations and to this day the Washington Heights community does not recite Tachanun on this day.[5]
24 Adar (1817) – The
Blood Libel, the accusation that Jews murdered Christian children for their blood, declared false by
Czar Alexander I. Nevertheless, nearly a hundred years later the accusation was officially leveled against
Mendel Beilis in
Kyiv.
27 Adar (561
BCE) – Death of
Zedekiah in Babylonian captivity.
Meroduch, Nebuchadnezzar's son and successor, freed him (and his nephew Jeconiah) on the 27th of Adar, but Zedekiah died that same day.
28 Adar (1524) – the Jews of
Cairo were saved from the plot of
Ahmad Pasha, who sought revenge against the Jewish minister
Abraham de Castro who had informed Selim II of Ahmad's plan to cede from the Ottoman Empire. To this day, Adar 28th is considered the
Purim of Cairo, with festivities including a special
Megilah reading.
^No 24 WA21946, The Babylonian Chronicles, The British Museum
^Mordechai Margoliouth (ed.), Halakhot Eretz Yisrael min ha-Genizah, Mossad Harav Kook: Jerusalem 1973, p. 142 (Hebrew). The Scroll of Fasting places this event on the 12th day of the lunar month Adar.
^Rabbi Gershon's gravestone, which lists 25 Adar as his day of passing, was discovered in the
Mount of Olives cemetery in Jerusalem after the
Six-day War.