Every few years, an extra month is added to the calendar to make sure that the cycle of the moon and the cycle of the sun—the lunar and solar calendars—add up. The lunar calendar is usually a 354-day year, while the solar calendar is a 365-day year. So, in order to make these match up and avoid having such different seasons for the Jewish holidays, hachamim (sages) add in a leap month, double Adar, to bridge and match up these two different calendars. Here, we’ll talk about what happens if somebody has a rental agreement for the year and then an extra month is added, especially in the times of the Mishnah. They wouldn’t have a set calendar. They would have, based on observation, an extra month added. In different scenarios, they would declare a leap year. So this Mishnah will talk about what happens if a house or something was rented for one year and then a leap year is declared.
The Mishnah says: Somebody rents a house from his friend for a year, and they agree he will pay a certain amount for the year. We’ll make up that number. Let’s say it’s $12,000 for the year. Then an extra month is added to the year. It’s now turned into a 13-month year instead of a 12-month year. It’s added for the renter. The renter does not have to pay extra for that 13th month. The month is added to the year. He had an agreement that he was going to pay for the year. Therefore, he now has a free month. He still has to pay $12,000 for the year, and that year now includes the 13th month.
But if he rented it out month by month and they agreed he was going to pay a certain amount per month—for example, a rent of $1,000 a month—and then they added a month to that year, it’s added for the owner. In other words, the renter now has to pay for that extra month. The agreement was that he would pay month by month. So when they added in an extra month, that extra month is now included in the rent that the renter has to pay.
Now we’ll talk about what happens if both expressions were used. We’ll hear a story about where this once happened. There was once a story in the city of Tzippori. Somebody rented a bathhouse from his friend. The agreement stated that he would rent it for $12 for the year, and then it was stated at $1 per month. So both phrases are used here: the yearly rent and then the monthly rent. So it’s $1 per month. But it’s $12. $12 for the year. And then a leap year was declared.
The renter’s argument would be, “We spoke about a year first. We mentioned that it was going to be $12 for the year. So when they added an extra month, it’s not on me.” The owner would then say, “No. We also mentioned here, the second party agreement said that the price was per month. So when an extra month is added in, I’m entitled to an extra dinar (coin).”
The case came before these two great rabbis, and they said the following. They divide the rent for that extra month. There is doubt about who is correct. The monthly rent was one gold dinar. Therefore, in this case, if the renter had to pay the full amount, it would be one full dinar. We say, “Pay half of it only. Pay half a gold dinar.” The owner, who was entitled, in his opinion, to that full gold dinar, would only get half of a dinar. That was the compromise they came to.