the Gemorah brings down a machlokes about when one can do a leap year. acc. to one it has to be done before purim, so that there wont be zilzul Chametz, and acc. to the other it can be done after purim. my question is, acc. to the one that says it can be done after purim, how can he hold that? acc to him there would be no purim in adar bais, which is what would be when we have a leap yr?
david lowy, staten island, ny
As a matter of fact, the main opinion of the Rashba in Megilah (6b) is that when the Mishnah there discusses what happens if the Megilah was read in Adar Rishon, it is talking about a case where the leap year was instituted after Purim (see the Mishnah and Gemara there regarding the various opinions of what happens in such a situation).
All the best,
Yaakov Montrose