Bais HaVaad on the Parsha, Parshas Ki Sisa

The Great Leap Forward 

February 29, 2024

Excerpted and adapted from a shiur by Dayan Yosef Greenwald

The Mishnah (Megillah 6b) says that in a leap year like this one, there are no differences between Adar Rishon and Adar Sheini other than mikra megillah and matanos la’evyonim. The Gemara records a machlokess whether these mitzvos are performed in Adar Rishon or Adar Sheini, and the accepted halacha is that Purim is celebrated with them in Adar Sheini. Although the mitzvos of Purim are only performed in one of the two months, it seems that the fourteenth and fifteenth of both months are imbued with the special character and kedushah of Purim, so one may not fast or eulogize on any of those days.

We see from the Mishnah that the mitzvos of Purim can be performed on one day while another day has the kedushas hayom of Purim: In certain cases, the megillah was read a few days before Purim, but some of the other halachos, like the issur to fast and eulogize, still applied on the regular days of Purim. Similarly, on a Purim Meshulash (when Purim falls on Friday), Jews in Yerushalayim read the megillah and give matanos la’evyonim on Friday, and they eat the seudah and give mishlo’ach manos on Sunday, but both Friday and Shabbos have kedushas hayom of Purim, and al hanisim is recited on Shabbos.

Just as the days of Purim Katan contain elements of Purim, Adar Rishon, too, has the status of Adar, and that is reflected in halacha: Although a bar mitzvah is celebrated in Adar Sheini, poskim disagree about which Adar a yahrzeit should be observed in, and some say to do it in both.