How do I make my Adars the same? [closed]

Question

The mishnah (Megillah 1:4) tells us:

אֵין בֵּין אַדָּר הָרִאשׁוֹן לַאֲדָר הַשֵּׁנִי אֶלָּא קְרִיאַת הַמְּגִלָּה וּמַתָּנוֹת לָאֶבְיוֹנִים

There is no difference between the Adar I and Adar II except for the reading of the megillah and gifts to the poor.

I've tried and failed many times to make my Adars the same, but I make mistakes. E.g., I can never remember what I had for dinner on 4 Adar I by the time 4 Adar II comes around, and it's hard to remember to get up at 6am on 20 Adar I because I have to catch a flight on 20 Adar II. Sometimes I'm even in different cities or working at different jobs. Once, I was even a month older come Adar II.

What are some suggestions people have to keep my Adars in line and keep this important mitzvah? (I'd accept sourced answers or people's own experiences.)

---

This question is Purim Torah and is not intended to be taken completely seriously. See the Purim Torah policy.

Answer 1

You're translating it wrong. M'gilas Omanus gives the correct translation:

There's nothing in between Ⅰ Adar and Ⅱ Adar except the reading of the m'gila and gifts to the needy.

This Mishna is referring to the time between the last day of Ⅰ Adar and the first day of Ⅱ Adar: that is, the period ben hash'mashos. It is giving us the length of the period ben hash'mashos: it is as long as takes to to read the m'gila and give two paupers one gift each. Later halachic decisors argue over how long each of these activities takes, leading to the various views we have nowadays as to the length of time ben hash'mashos.

Answer 2

Your girsa (text) of the mishnah is the incorrect one. The word "בין" really should say "ביין."

אין ביין אדר הראשון לאדר השני אלא קריאת המגילה ומתנות לאביונים

We don't use wine with Adar Ri'shon in it for Adar Sheni except for reading the megilah and gifts to the poor.

How can wine have Adar Ri'shon in it? The ביעור הלכה explains that wine that only fermented in Adar Ri'shon is not old enough to be of high quality, and thus cannot be used to get drunk on Purim. However, for the drinking at night after reading the megilah (Rama 695:1) which is not an absolute obligation, and similarly in order to give to poor people who can't afford high quality wine, this one-month-old wine suffices to fulfill the obligation.

However, the ביעור הלכה posits that wine from Shvat in a year that isn't a leap year, although it too is only one month old, can work to fulfill the obligation. The reason for the low quality of the wine is not its young age, but rather that it fermented in Adar Ri'shon air. He bases this on a Yerushalmi (Shkalim 1:1, 2a):

אם אומר את באדר ראשון עד כדון אינון דקיקין

If you say in Adar Ri'shon, until this point they are [lacking intoxication] like Cokes [but after Adar Ri'shon they are no longer]!

We thus have a proof that it is just the Earth's atmosphere in Adar Ri'shon that hurts the quality of the wine. In Shvat, just the opposite is true, which is why we celebrate the new year of the trees, Tu BiShvat, in that month.

Additionally, this position has a hint to it from the Torah (BeReishis 30:40):

וישת לו עדרים לבדו

And he drank in the two Adars separately.