Jewish leap years

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

Re: your response to the person who asked about the reason for leap years. You said that you weren’t certain about the Jewish leap years, but you thought they came 9 out of every 19 years.

Close. It’s 7 out of 19. If I recall correctly, the leap years in a 19-year cycle are years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, 19.

And, while the Torah does mention the harvests in connection with the Jewish festivals, the main reason for the Jewish leap year is that Passover must be in the spring to properly celebrate the exodus from Egypt (see Exodus 12:4). That’s why, when there is a leap year, the extra month that is added is a second Adar…immediately prior to Nisan, the month in which Passover occurs. Because the Biblical imperative to align the Jewish year with the solar year is for that holiday, not the harvest ones.

Chaim Mattis Keller
ckeller@schicktech.com

2

Thanks, CM.

I actually didn’t want to mention the Jewish or Moslem calendars at all, I thought that article was quite confusing enough sticking to the secular calendar.

3

Aw, c’mon, CK. You could’ve just alluded to them (and others). As it is, I start my calendar searching at this site: http://www.calendarzone.com .

Cheers!
-Chip