Question
Why do we have two months called Adar?
Answer
An ordinary year has only one Adar. In a leap year there are two - Adar Rishon (Adar I) and Adar Sheni (Adar II). Leap years, seven times in every 19 years, ensure that the Jewish lunar calendar is able to tally with the solar calendar.
Since there is normally a discrepancy of about 11 days between them, without leap years the 11 days would mount up, so that Pesach, for example, would move from one season to another; whereas, the Torah requires (Exodus 13:4, 23:15, 34:18; Deuteronomy 16:1) that it be a spring (aviv) festival (in the southern hemisphere it is in the autumn).
The additional month re-connects the two types of years. All this comes at the end of the list of months, so that while an ordinary year ends with one Adar, a leap year ends with two.
This creates a further question: Since Purim is in Adar, in which Adar does it fall in a leap year? The answer is Adar II, which is closer to Nisan, the month of Pesach, than Adar I.
Purim and Pesach should be as close as possible because both are festivals of redemption; the one concerned with the redemption of the Jews of Persia and the other, the whole of the Israelite people.
What do we do on 14 Adar I, which might "feel slighted" to be superseded in favour of 14 Adar II? We call it Purim Katan ("the little Purim") and we have a modest celebration by leaving out the supplication prayers; according to the Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles; Orach Chayyim 697), we should also have some sort of festive meal on that day.
Editor's note: The two days of Rosh Chodesh Adar Sheni this year fall on Friday and Saturday (March 7-8, 2008).
Question
Where is Queen Esther buried?
Answer
According to the Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela, there is a town called Hamadan (formerly Shushan), about 250 miles from Teheran, where the tombs of Mordechai and Esther stand in front of a synagogue (The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, translated by Marcus N. Adler, 1907, p. 57).
