The Leap Year - Part I

00:00 We find ourselves in a leap year which includes two months of Adar and in total we have thirteen months in this year, which is the Hebrew calendar. Over the many years we merited to learn from the Rebbe many lessons which one can learn and internalize in their personal Avodas Hashem. We now, im yirtzeh Hashem, begin a series of insights from the Rebbe's talks and letters on a leap year. In a sicha, a talk on Shabbos Breishes Tov Shin Yud Dalet, late 1953, the Rebbe quoted from the Talmud an elaboration on a verse in the Chumash Parshas Bahar which relates that when one sells a home in a walled city, he has a complete year as to when he can redeem, buy back his home. And the Talmud states that the verse in the Chumash says Shona Tmima. Shona means a regular year and with the additional word Tmima it implies and refers to a leap year. That when one redeems then he has thirteen months to redeem, the thirteen months which are in a leap year. The Rebbe asks the following. Since without the additional word Tmima we would not have figured that one can redeem the home during the first thirteen months of a leap year, but only during the regular annual twelve months. And as we see also that when it comes to the cycle of nineteen years, nineteen years is a complete cycle which includes twelve regular years and seven leap years. So there are more regular years than leap years. So

02:24 the Rebbe continues, from this itself we derive that twelve months is indeed considered a full cycle of a year. So then the word Shona can also suffice to teach us this, that in a leap year which has thirteen months is also included and derived from the word Shona. And there is no need to add the word Tmima to imply and refer to a leap year on a separate note. And thus the word Shona is not at all lacking a thirteenth month since it is referred to as a year, a Shona, even without a thirteenth month. So what does Tmima teach us? So the Rebbe explains what Tmima teaches us is what a leap year contributes. A leap year contributes not a filling of something which was missing, lacking, because twelve months is considered a complete year in its own right. But it contributes an expression of wealth and richness in comparison to the regular standard of living of a person. What is the contribution? As the simple reason of a leap year is to adjust the solar and lunar calendar. Solar calendar has three hundred and sixty-five days, the lunar calendar has three hundred and fifty-four days, so there is an approximate eleven day difference between the two calendars. So therefore every few years there's a leap year that the lunar calendar should adjust, catch up to the solar calendar. That also in the beginning of the creation these two luminaries, the sun and the moon, were both equal and great in their own right.

04:38 But after this time the lunar was, the moon was minimized and therefore there is a need to have a leap year which included an additional month to adjust the sun and the moon. And the Rebbe continues, in general there was always fear of a leap year because a leap year is a result of a kitrug, a complaint of the sun that two kings cannot rule under one crown and that led to minimizing the moon and therefore there is also versions in davening, in siddurim during a leap year which add and request a forgiving, lechaparas pesha, forgiving for sins. Which this all reflects the kitrug, the complaint that brought to minimizing the moon. But then they came to the conclusion that there is nothing to be concerned about and on the contrary, that this adjustment between the sun and the moon corrects the lack which came as a result of the moon being minimized. In addition, the Rebbe continues, in a leap year there are more days In the lunar calendar than in a solar year because there are approximately 383 days in the lunar calendar and 365 days in the solar calendar. Because since a leap year is a function of teshuva, repentance, marking a correction, an adjustment, and the level of a ba'al teshuva, a repenter, is greater than the level of tzaddikim, of righteous people. An additional quality that we find in a leap year that it adjusts not only that specific year, but also the year which is prior to and after

06:53 that year. From a deeper perspective, one who is a ba'al teshuva himself, a repenter himself, has the potential to impact someone else to do teshuva. So therefore, this is also reflected, as mentioned earlier, that a leap year has the potential to adjust and compensate also for the previous year and for the coming year. The Rebbe continues, as we find it also, be-negea to Kayin, the son of Adam HaRishon. That when Adam met his son, Kayin, he asked him, "Ma nasa bedinkha?" What happened with your judgment? Because Kayin killed his brother, Hevel. So Adam HaRishon said, "What did you do about your issue that the wrongdoing of killing a brother?" So he said, "I did teshuva. I repented." Adam HaRishon began smacking his face and said, "This is the keach of teshuva. This is the keach of repenting, the power of repenting, and I didn't know about it." Immediately, Adam HaRishon stood up and he said the chapter Mizmashili Yemashabas, which is connected with teshuva. What do we derive from this? That through Kayin, by hearing what Kayin did, that he did teshuva himself, that made an impact, an impression on Adam HaRishon that he should do teshuva. From here we see that a leap year could accomplish also for other years. And the Rebbe continues, "A tzaddik cannot impact on a wicked person to repent." After ba'al teshuva, somebody that was wicked, and then he repented. When he speaks with someone else that is wicked, and he speaks with him in a very close and

09:06 warm manner, as a conversation between a father and son, this is the best way how one can be successful in accomplishing with someone else who also needs to repent. And from all this we understand, the Rebbe sums up the conclusion of the sicha that there's nothing to fear of a leap year, but on the contrary, as mentioned earlier. The Rebbe concludes, as known, the quote, "Trach gut vet zain gut." Think good, it will be good. We will, mitzvah Hashem, continue in the next installment.