Adar (Hebrew: אֲדָר‎, ʾĂdār; from Akkadian adaru) 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.

Adar
Hasidic Jews celebrating Purim, the holiday of the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Achaemenid Empire 474 BCE
Native nameאֲדָר (Hebrew)
CalendarHebrew calendar
Month number12
Number of days29 (30 Adar I and 29 Adar II in leap years)
SeasonWinter (Northern Hemisphere)
Gregorian equivalentFebruary–March
Significant days
← Shevat
Nisan →

Names and leap years

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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

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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

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  • 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)
  • 14 Adar (II in leap years) – Purim
  • 14 Adar I (does not exist in non-leap years; Karaites celebrate in Adar II) – Purim Katan
  • 15 Adar (II in leap years) – Shushan Purim – celebration of Purim in walled cities existing during the time of Joshua
  • 17 Adar (II in leap years) – Yom Adar celebration feast[citation needed]

In Jewish history

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Which is the true Adar?
  2. ^ Mishnah Shekalim 1:1
  3. ^ No 24 WA21946, The Babylonian Chronicles, The British Museum
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Frankfort-on-the-Main".
  6. ^ 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.
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