Episode Details

 Today is the
second day of Adar Bet  

Or the
second Adar  

Explain
lunar vs solar  

​כג וְדָבָ֖ר
בְּעִתּ֣וֹ מַה־טּֽוֹב: 

354 vs 365  

Chinese New
Year 

Ramadan  

“We can’t do
that because we’re guided by our Torah, which says Passover must come in the spring
when we plant, and that things need to be growing during the time of Shavuot
and harvested during Sukkot. Hillel realized that, if we stayed strictly lunar,
things would soon get out of kilter, and he put in a system to fix that with
the leap year.” 

We are all
familiar with a leap year 

This year we
had a February 29^th – Every four years we have a leap year with the
exception of the Century year  

Tradition
has it that it was the great sage Hillel, head of the Sanhedrin from 320 to 385
C.E. who created the Jewish calendar through some pretty sophisticated
mathematical and astronomical calculations. And without a computer or
calculator. (and although some months can be off by a day, we stick with it)
The result: A 19-year cycle with seven leap years to anchor the holidays in
their rightful place. 

Prior
to that time, the Torah told us to DECLARE the New Moon by the Testimony of two
witnesses. In other words, Man declares the New Moon and the moon and sun
adjust their relationship to comply with the consciousness of man. IN OTHER
WORDS this Mitzvah to declare the New Moon is a manifestation of Mind Over
Matter and it is important in the individuals spiritual growth to achieve this
level of consciousness. 

In
this calendar, in use today, there are 7 years in a total of 19 years where we
add an additional month for a total of 13 months. In Hebrew the word that is
used (usually translated as leap year) Shanah Me'uberet, has a Shoresh (root)
that means pregnant. The explanation for this is that we need to keep the
Holiday of Pesach in the Spring which is called Aviv in the Torah. 

Prior
to this current calendar, other criteria was used to determine which years had
an additional month. An additional month was added when 2 of the following 3
criteria were met. The 3 Criteria are  

1) The
state of the barley crop at the end of the 12th month;  

2) the
fruits of the Trees; and  

3)
the equinox.  

As
we can see from the Talmud and Baraita below, the main issue is the state of
the barley crop. The teaching is that the state of the barley crop must reach a
level called Aviv, such that in 2 to 3 weeks the barley can be brought to the
Temple as a