As we discussed yesterday, the practice of intercalation — adding a second month of Adar to certain years — was instituted to make the lunar calendar better align with the solar and ensure our seasonal holidays remain within their appointed season. Though this process became standardized in the fourth century with the creation of a 19-year cycle with seven leap years — the way we still practice today — at the time of the Mishnah, the decision was made by appointees of the nasi, the political head of the Jewish community in the land of Israel, on a year-by-year basis. They would decide, in Adar, whether to add another Adar before Nisan.
Yesterday, we saw an opinion from Tractate Rosh Hashanah that the year is intercalated to ensure that Passover falls after the spring equinox. On today’s daf, the rabbis discuss other factors that were considered when making this decision:
The sages taught: The year may be intercalated only if it is necessary due to damage to the roads; or due to the bridges; or due to the ovens for the paschal offerings; or due to the diaspora Jews who have left their homes and still have not arrived due to delays in travel. But the year may not be intercalated due to the snow, nor due to the cold, nor due to the diaspora Jews who have not yet left from their homes.
The primary purpose of intercalation, in this view, is the ability to properly celebrate the main holidays in the Jewish calendar; a crucial element of this celebration was the ability to do aliyat haregel, pilgrimage to Jerusalem to make offerings. This beraita lists some factors that might interfere with people’s ability to make the journey, such as damage winter has wrought to roads or bridges. Adding another month provides time to fix this infrastructure, as well as specially-constructed Passover ovens damaged by the rains, so people are able to make the journey in Nisan and offer their paschal sacrifices. Additionally, if in Adar news reached the court that a number of Jews from the diaspora had already set out on their journeys to Jerusalem, but environmental or political factors had caused delays that would likely prevent them from arriving in time for Passover, this was considered sufficient reason to add a second Adar. But the snow and the cold, which Rashi explains makes the journey more unpleasant but not logistically impossible, or the inability of diaspora Jews who have not yet begun the journey to arrive in time, are not considered sufficiently good reasons. Chilly weather and delayed departures aren’t enough reason to alter the calendar.
Having mentioned certain factors that are sufficient cause to intercalate, and others that aren’t considered, the Gemara now brings some that are of intermediate status:
The sages taught: The year may not be intercalated due to the young goats and not due to the lambs; and not due to the fledgling doves who cannot yet fly. But all these considerations may be made supporting factors in the decision to intercalate the year.
The fact that many newborn goats and lambs are still small and not as large as one might want for a paschal offering, or that the fledgling doves aren’t yet developed meaning there likely will not be enough for everyone who needs to make bird offerings (this category includes women who have recently given birth, who would often bring these offerings on the pilgrimage festivals for convenience) are not, in and of themselves, sufficient reasons to intercalate the year. However, these factors can be taken into consideration, and perhaps combined with other factors.
Rashi expands upon how this might work in practice. We already mentioned that situational realities (damaged roads, for instance) are considered reason enough to intercalate. Another beraita mentions environmental factors that are considered reason enough to intercalate: barley not having ripened, fruit not having sufficiently ripened or the spring equinox falling after Pesach. All of these are motivated by similar objectives: Passover must be a spring holiday, new fruits must be ready for Shavuot, etc. Since there’s dispute as to whether one of these factors alone is sufficient to intercalate or whether we require the combination, Rashi notes that the underdeveloped lambs and birds can be combined with one of the other seasonal measures to lend additional support for intercalating a given year.
This slew of beraitot, listing factors of varying levels of importance, explains why a panel of judges was needed to make this determination. We are now better positioned to understand the complexity of the decision.
Read all of Sanhedrin 11 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on December 28, 2024. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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