Adar (Assyrian, Ad-Da-Ru):

By: Kaufmann Kohler

The twelfth ecclesiastical and sixth civil month (Esth. iii. 7, ix. 1; Ezra, vi. 15). It has usually twenty-nine days, of which the following have been set apart for commemoration: The seventh day is observed as the anniversary of the death of Moses. The ninth of Adar was made a fast-day, because, says the Megillat Ta'anit, the Hillelites and Shammaites strongly opposed each other on the seventh of Adar (compare Shab. 17 a ). The thirteenth day was originally a festival, called Nicanor Day, commemorating the death of Nicanor ( see Adarsa ), the Syrian general in the Maccabean war, who aroused the indignation of the people by his insulting language concerning the sanctuary (II Macc. xv. 36; Ta'anit, 18 b ; Megillat Ta'anit). Subsequently the thirteenth of the month was made a day of fasting in memory of Esther's fast (Esth. iv. 16), and it was called the Fast of Esther. It was the preparatory day to the festival of Purim, celebrated on the fourteenth day, and in Shushan also on the fifteenth day. At present Adar coincides approximately with March.