One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
קִדּוּשׁ הַחֹדֶשׁ
Sanctification of the New Month 4
Sefer Zemanim · Why a month is added, who may not sit on the court that adds it, and the province, the hour, and the deadline that decide whether the year is full
16
Nisan, the equinox date from which alone the year is made full
3
Territories watched for the ripening barley
7
Judges who finally conclude the matter
30
Of Adar, the last day a leap year may be declared
Part 1Why the year is made full
- An added Adar, so that Pesach lands in spring. A leap year is one in which a month is added, always Adar, so the year carries a first and a second Adar; without it Pesach would drift into the summer or into the rainy season. (4:1)
- The equinox alone is sufficient. If the court calculates that the vernal equinox will fall on the sixteenth of Nisan or later, the year is made full on that ground by itself and no other factor need be weighed. (4:2)
- Barley and blossom together, and three provinces. Late barley and fruit trees that have not bloomed are together sufficient even when the equinox falls in time; the barley is watched in Judea, Transjordan, and the Galilee, and the year is not made full if it ripened in two of the three. (4:3, 4:4)
- Necessity yes, weather no. Impassable roads, destroyed bridges, ovens ruined by rain, and pilgrims already travelling from the diaspora are grounds; snow, a cold climate, diaspora Jews who have not set out, and widespread ritual impurity are not, though a year already made full for impurity is left full. (4:5, 4:6)
RememberSmall goats and frail doves can never make the year full, but they may be named alongside a reason that can.
Part 2Who sits, and who may not
- Only judges who were invited. The head of the court summons named members to a particular place to calculate and decide, and only those invited have the authority to make the year full. (4:9)
- Three, then five, then seven. Three ordained judges begin; if two hold that the question must be pursued and one dissents, two more of the invited are added, and if three of the five hold that the year should be full against two, two more are added, and the seven conclude by unanimity or by majority. (4:9, 4:10)
- The nasi must be among them. The head of the High Court who presides over the seventy one must be one of the seven, and where three conclude that the year should be full the nasi must be among them or consent; on a leap year the lesser judges give their opinions first, while the sanctification of the month begins with the head of the court. (4:10)
- Neither a king nor a High Priest. A king is excluded because of his soldiers and his wars, and a High Priest because of the cold, lest he decline to add a month so that Tishrei will not fall in winter and leave him immersing five times on Yom Kippur. (4:11)
RememberNobody is accused of anything; the man whose body has an opinion is simply not given a chair.
Part 3Where, when, and the last possible day
- Judea by right, the Galilee by fact. A leap year is instituted only in the territory of Judea, where the Divine Presence rests, and yet if it was instituted in the Galilee the year remains full; where the nasi is far away travelling the court may act only on condition that he consent. (4:12)
- Daylight only. A year is made full only during the day, and one made full at night is not full. (4:12)
- Calculated early, declared late. The court may calculate and decide years in advance, but a year is not declared full until after Rosh Hashanah and ordinarily not announced until Adar; a declaration made before Rosh Hashanah that the coming year will be a leap year accomplishes nothing. (4:13)
- The thirtieth of Adar closes the door. If the thirtieth of Adar arrived without a declaration the year may never be made full, since that day is fit to be Rosh Chodesh Nisan, though a declaration made on the thirtieth itself is binding and witnesses arriving afterward have the day sanctified as Rosh Chodesh of the second Adar. (4:14)
RememberThe wrong province is forgiven and the wrong hour is not, and famine and Shemitah never stop a leap year declared for the equinox, the barley, or the trees.