Why do we have leap years in Judaism? While the Torah obligates us to keep a lunar calendar, we are also commanded to have the Yomim Tovim in their appropriate seasons (Pesach in the spring and Succos in the fall). While the lunar year is approximately 354 days, the solar year is 365 days leaving us with a gap of 11 days. Without an extra month every two or three years (seven times over a period of nineteen years) there would be times where we would be keeping Pesach in the fall and Succos in the spring. Adar is the last month of the Jewish year so we add an extra Adar (as we do this year) to ensure that we are calendarically calibrated. This however leads us to an important conversation. In which month do we celebrate Purim? Is the first Adar the real Adar or is it the second month? The Gemara in Megilla (6b) goes back and forth on this issue. On the one hand we have a rule that ain maavirin al hamitzvos, we do not "pass over" the opportunity to do a Mitzvah and therefore we should celebrate Purim in Adar Aleph at the very first opportunity. On the other hand we want to be somech geula ligeula “connect redemption to redemption" and therefore we would celebrate Purim in Adar Bet where it will be next to Pesach which is celebrated in the following month of Nissan. The Gemara paskens that we go with the latter opinion but the Purim of Adar Aleph was not forgotten and is known as Purim Katan. Purim Katan is not an imaginary day in the Jewish calendar. There are real halachos ass
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