<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div><font size="4">For Rosh Chodesh Musaf in Leap Years we add (in the chadesh aleinu paragraph) ul’chaparat pehsha (atonement for deliberate sins).</font></div><div><font size="4">So the first reason given is a gematria explanation. The ul’chaparat pehsha is added in a leap year to correspond to the number 13.</font></div><div><font size="4">The previous couplets are enumerated individually but the ul’chaparat pehsha is counted as one (making the 13th month).</font></div><div><font size="4"><br></font></div><div><font size="4">I recently came across another explanation which is interesting. So the question asked is what is the “willful sin” that is referred to?</font></div><div><font size="4">The answer is that in case the Sanhedrin made a mistake, it would not be Adar 2, but really Nissan and we would be eating Chametz on </font></div><div><font size="4">Pesach. So in case of such an eventuality, we are asking for forgiveness. I find that to be a weak explanation because were the Sanhedrin</font></div><div><font size="4">to make that mistake and we ended up eating Chametz on Pesach, it surely would not be “willful.” </font></div><div><font size="4"><br></font></div><font size="4">I came up with my own chiddush which is the following:</font><br><font size="4">Since we have a longer year with the Leap Year, this means we have an extra month of possible sins.</font><br><font size="4">Hence, for the leap year, since the odds are greater for more sins, we include </font><span style="font-size: 19px;">ul’chaparat peshah.</span><div><br></div><div>ri<br><br><div><b><i>“Don’t forget to take that extra LEAP this year”</i></b></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></body></html>