004 - הִלְכוֹת קִדּוּשׁ הַחֹדֶשׁ פֵּרֶק ד

Halachos of Sanctifying the Month, Chapter 4

1. A leap year is a year in which an extra month is added; and the only month ever added is Adar, making that year have two Adars—Adar Rishon and Adar Sheini. And why is this month added? Because of the season of spring, so that Pesach will fall in its proper time, as it says: "Guard the month of spring" (Devarim 16:1), meaning that this month should be in the spring season. Without this added month, Pesach would sometimes fall in the summer and sometimes in the rainy season.

2. There are three signs by which the year is made a leap year: the tekufah (season), the spring, and the fruits of the tree. How is this? The Beis Din calculates and determines: if the tekufas Nisan will occur on the sixteenth of Nisan or later, they make that year a leap year and make that Nisan into Adar Sheini, so that Pesach will be in the spring. This is the main sign relied upon for making a leap year, and they do not take other signs into account.

3. Likewise, if the Beis Din sees that spring has not yet arrived, but it is still dark and the fruits of the tree, which usually sprout at the time of Pesach, have not yet sprouted, they rely on these two signs and make the year a leap year; even if the tekufah occurs before the sixteenth of Nisan, they still make it a leap year, so that spring will be present to bring the Omer offering from it on the sixteenth of Nisan, and so that the fruits will sprout as is usual in the spring season.

4. For the sign of spring, they relied on three regions: Eretz Yehudah, Ever HaYarden, and the Galil. If spring had arrived in two of these regions but not in the third, they would not make the year a leap year; but if it had arrived in only one and not in the other two, they would make it a leap year, if the fruits of the tree had not yet sprouted. These are the main matters for which a leap year is made, so that the years will correspond to the solar years.

5. There are other matters for which the Beis Din would make a leap year, due to necessity. These are: if the roads are not in good condition and the people cannot go up [to Yerushalayim], they make the year a leap year until the rains stop and the roads are repaired. If the bridges have been destroyed and the rivers are blocking and preventing the people, or are dangerous and people die, they make the year a leap year until the bridges are repaired. If the ovens for roasting the Pesach offerings were lost in the rains and there is no place to roast their Pesachim, they make the year a leap year until the ovens are rebuilt and dry. If the exiles of Yisroel have been uprooted from their place and have not yet arrived in Yerushalayim, they make the year a leap year so that they will have time to arrive.

6. However, they do not make a leap year because of snow, nor because of cold, nor because the exiles of Yisroel have not yet been uprooted from their place. Nor because of tumah, such as if most of the community or most of the Kohanim are impure—they do not make a leap year so that they will have time to become pure and offer [the Korban Pesach] in purity; rather, it is offered in impurity. But if they did make the year a leap year because of tumah, it is still considered a leap year.

7. There are two matters for which a leap year is never made, but they may be used as support for a year that needs to be made a leap year because of the tekufah, or because of the spring and the fruits of the tree. These are: if the kids and lambs have not yet been born or are few, and if the young birds have not yet flown. They do not make a leap year for these reasons so that the kids and lambs will be available for the Pesach offerings, or the young birds for the olas re’iyah or for those obligated to bring a bird offering; but they may use them as support for the year.

8. How do they make these as support for the year? They say: This year requires an extra month because the season has extended, or because the spring and the fruits of the trees have not yet arrived; and also, because the kids are small and the young birds are tender.

9. The year is only made a leap year by those who have been designated for it. How is this done? The head of the Great Beis Din says to such-and-such and such-and-such from the Sanhedrin: Be prepared to go to such-and-such a place so that we may consider, see, and know whether this year requires an extra month or not; and only those who were designated are the ones who make it a leap year. With how many do they make it a leap year? They begin with three judges from among the Great Sanhedrin, from those who were ordained. If two say, “Let us not sit and consider whether it requires an extra month or not,” and one says, “Let us sit and examine,” the individual is nullified by the minority. If two say, “Let us sit and see,” and one says, “Let us not sit,” they add two from those designated, and they deliberate the matter.

10. If two say it requires an extra month and three say it does not require it, the two are nullified by the minority. If three say it requires an extra month and two say it does not, they add two from those designated for it, and they deliberate and conclude with seven. If they all conclude to make it a leap year or not to make it a leap year, they act according to their conclusion; and if they are divided, they follow the majority, whether to make it a leap year or not. The head of the Great Beis Din, who is the head of the seventy-one, must be among the seven; and if they concluded with three to make it a leap year, it is a leap year—provided that the Nasi is with them or agrees. In the matter of making a leap year, they begin from the side; but for sanctifying the month, they begin from the greatest.

11. They do not appoint a king or a Kohen Gadol to the deliberation for making a leap year: a king—because of his armies and wars, lest his mind be swayed for them to make it a leap year or not; and a Kohen Gadol—because of the cold, lest his mind not be inclined to make it a leap year, so that Tishrei will not come in the cold days, and he will have to immerse five times on Yom Kippur.

12. If the head of the Great Beis Din, who is called the Nasi, was on a distant journey, they only make it a leap year conditionally, if the Nasi agrees: if he comes and agrees, it is a leap year; if he does not agree, it is not a leap year. They only make a leap year in the land of Yehudah, for the Shechinah is within it, as it is said: “To His dwelling you shall seek.” But if they made it a leap year in the Galil, it is a leap year. They only make a leap year by day; if they made it at night, it is not a leap year.

13. The Beis Din may calculate and know which year will be a leap year at any time they wish, even for several years; but they do not say, “Such-and-such a year is a leap year.” Only after Rosh Hashanah do they say, “This year is a leap year,” and this is only in pressing circumstances. But not in a time of pressing need, they do not announce that it is a leap year except in Adar—then they say, “This year is a leap year, and the coming month is not Nissan but Adar Sheini.” If they said before Rosh Hashanah, “The coming year will be a leap year,” it is not a leap year by this statement.

14. If the thirtieth day of Adar arrives and they have not yet made the year a leap year, they do not make it a leap year at all, for that day is fit to be Rosh Chodesh Nissan; and once Nissan has entered and they have not made it a leap year, they can no longer make it a leap year. But if they made it a leap year on the thirtieth day of Adar, it is a leap year. If witnesses came after they made it a leap year and testified about the moon, they sanctify the month on the thirtieth day, and Rosh Chodesh will be Adar Sheini; but if they sanctified it before they made the year a leap year, they would no longer make it a leap year, for one does not make a leap year in Nissan.

15. We do not make a leap year in a year of famine, because everyone is rushing to the granaries to eat and live, and it is not possible to add time for the prohibition of the new grain. And we do not make a leap year during the Shemitah year, because everyone has access to the aftergrowths, and they will not find [grain] for the Omer offering and the two loaves. They were accustomed to make a leap year on the eve of the Shemitah year.

16. It appears to me that when the Sages said we do not make a leap year in a year of famine or during Shemitah, it means that they should not make a leap year in those years because of need; but if the year is fit to be made a leap year because of the season, or because of the spring or the fruit of the trees, they always make a leap year at any time.

17. When the Beis Din makes a leap year, they write letters to all the distant places and inform them that they have made it a leap year, and for what reason they made it a leap year. The letters are written in the name of the Nasi, and he says to them: "I and my colleagues have agreed and we have added such-and-such to this year." If they wish, [they add] twenty-nine days; if they wish, thirty days, for the month of the leap year is at the discretion of the Beis Din to make it full or deficient for those distant people whom they inform. But they themselves act according to what is seen, whether full or deficient.