מגילה 5 — Soncino English Talmud

¹rejoicing is kept only at the proper season. Rab said: On the actual day of Purim the Megillah can be read even by an individual, but on the alternative days it should be read only in a company of ten. R. Assi, however, said: Whether on the actual day or on the alternative days, it should be read only in a company of ten. In a case which actually occurred, Rab gave weight to the opinion of R. Assi. But could Rab actually have said this? — Did not Rab Judah the son of R. Samuel b. Shilath say in the name of Rab: ‘If Purim falls on Sabbath, Friday is the proper time’? — Friday the proper time! Surely Sabbath is the proper time! What Rab must have meant therefore is this: The alternative time is like the proper time. Just as at the proper time [the Megillah may be read] by an individual, so at the alternative time [it may be read] by an individual. — No. For the reading of the Megillah Rab requires ten. What then did he mean by saying ‘Friday is the proper time’? His intention was to reject the opinion of Rabbi, who said that since the towns had to shift their time they might as well shift to the Court day. Here, therefore, Rab informs us that Friday is the proper day [to which they should shift]. MISHNAH. WHAT IS RECKONED A LARGE TOWN? ONE WHICH HAS IN IT TEN MEN OF LElsure. ONE THAT HAS FEWER IS RECKONED A VILLAGE. IN RESPECT OF THESE IT WAS LAID DOWN THAT THEY SHOULD BE PUSHED FORWARD BUT NOT POSTPONED. THE TIME, HOWEVER, OF BRINGING THE WOOD FOR THE PRIESTS, OF KEEPING THE [FAST OF] THE NINTH OF AB, OF OFFERING THE FESTIVAL SACRIFICE, AND OF ASSEMBLING THE PEOPLE IS TO BE POSTPONED [TILL AFTER SABBATH] BUT NOT PUSHED FORWARD. ALTHOUGH IT WAS LAID DOWN THAT THE TIMES [OF READING THE MEGILLAH] ARE TO BE PUSHED FORWARD BUT NOT POSTPONED, IT IS PERMISSIBLE ON THESE [ALTERNATIVE] DAYS TO MOURN, TO FAST, AND TO DISTRIBUTE GIFTS TO THE POOR. R. JUDAH SAID: WHEN IS THIS? IN PLACES WHERE PEOPLE COME TO TOWN ON MONDAYS AND THURSDAYS. IN PLACES, HOWEVER, WHERE THEY DO NOT COME TO TOWN EITHER ON MONDAYS OR THURSDAYS, THE MEGILLAH IS READ ONLY ON ITS PROPER DAY. GEMARA. [TEN MEN OF LEISURE]: A Tanna taught: The ten unoccupied men who attend synagogue. IN RESPECT OF THESE IT WAS LAID DOWN THAT THEY SHOULD BE PUSHED FORWARD BUT NOT POSTPONED. What is the reason? — R. Abba said in the name of Samuel: The text says, and he shall not go further. R. Abba further said in the name of Samuel: Whence do we know that years are not to be counted by days? Because it says, [It is the first to you] of the months of the year, [which implies] that you reckon a year by months but not by days. The Rabbis of Caesarea said in the name of R. Abba: How do we know that a month is not reckoned by its hours? Because it says, until a month of days: you reckon a month by days, but you do not reckon a month by hours. THE TIME, HOWEVER, OF BRINGING THE WOOD FOR THE PRIESTS, OF KEEPING [THE FAST OF] THE NINTH OF AB, OF OFFERING THE FESTIVAL SACRIFICE AND OF ASSEMBLING THE PEOPLE IS POSTPONED BUT NOT PUSHED FORWARD. [The reason for the Fast of] the ninth of Ab is that we do not hasten the approach of trouble. [The reason for] the festival sacrifice and the assembling of the people is that the time for their performance has not yet arrived. A Tanna taught: ‘The festival sacrifice and all the period of the festival sacrifice is to be postponed’. We understand what is meant by the festival sacrifice, namely, that if its day happens to be Sabbath we postpone it till after the Sabbath. But what is meant by the ‘period of the festival sacrifice’? — R. Oshaia replied: What is meant is this: The festival sacrifice [is postponed if its time] occurs on Sabbath, and the ‘burnt-offering of appearance’ is postponed even till after the festival day which is the proper time for a festival sacrifice. Which authority does this follow? Beth Shammai, as we have learnt: ‘Beth Shammai say, Peace-offerings may be brought on the festival, but without laying on of hands; not, however, burnt-offerings; while Beth Hillel say, Both burnt-offerings and peace-offerings may be brought, and hands may be laid on’. Raba said: [The meaning is]: The festival sacrifice may be postponed for the whole period of the festival sacrifice, but not more, as we have learnt: ‘If one did not bring a festival sacrifice on the first day of the festival, he may go on to do so throughout the festival, including the last day. If the festival terminated without his having brought the festival sacrifice, he need not bring another in compensation’. R. Ashi said: [It means that] the festival sacrifice may be postponed for the whole period of the festival sacrifice, and even on Pentecost which is only one day it may be postponed [for seven days], as we have learnt: [Beth Hillel] agree that if Pentecost falls on Sabbath, the day for killing [the sacrifice] is after the Sabbath’. R. Eleazar said in the name of R. Hanina: Rabbi planted a shoot on Purim,^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ^ˢ^ᵗ^ᵘ^ᵛ^ʷ^ˣ^ʸ^ᶻ^ᵃᵃ^ᵃᵇ^ᵃᶜ^ᵃᵈ

^ᵃnote:I.e., feasting.
^ᵇnote:Lit., ‘not in its proper time’.
^ᶜnote:And put himself out to assemble ten persons.
^ᵈnote:That on the alternative days it can only be read before ten.
^ᵉnote:‘Friday is the proper time’ means, ‘Friday is regarded as the proper time’.
^ᶠnote:On the alternative days.
^ᵍnote:Heb. batlanim (idle men), v. supra, p. 14, n. 5.
^ʰnote:The times when the Megillah is to be read.
^ⁱnote:It was usual for certain families to undertake to bring to Jerusalem on a certain day of the year a certain quantity of wood for the fire on the altar. V. Ta'an. 28a.
^ʲnote:In commemoration of the destruction of the first and second Temples, v. Glos.
^ᵏnote:The hagigah, an optional peace-offering brought by individuals in honour of the festival, usually on the first day of the festival.
^ˡnote:On the Feast of Tabernacles in the first year of the Septennate, to hear the Law read. V. Deut. XXXI, 10-13.
^ᵐnote:If it happens to fall on Sabbath.
^ⁿnote:On which the Megillah is actually read.
^ᵒnote:That a concession is made to villagers to read on the alternate days.
^ᵖnote:Lit. , ‘Who are in the synagogue’. I.e., who are always available to attend synagogue if required. Cf. supra. [According to Rashi: These were men specially maintained for the purpose from the communal fund. Aliter: men of ample means who freely devoted their time to the service of the community. V. Aruch s.v. kyc
^ᵠnote:Esth. IX, 27. V. supra 2a.
^ʳnote:Lit., that we do not count days (to make up) years. I.e., ‘a year’ without further specification does not mean three hundred and sixty-five days but twelve (lunar) months.
^ˢnote:Ex. XII, 2.
^ᵗnote:I.e. , if the month is defective, we reckon it as twenty-nine days, and ‘a month’ without further specification means (if it is defective) twenty-nine days and not twenty-nine and a half, which is the real interval between one new moon and the next.
^ᵘnote:Num. XI, 20. E.V. ‘a full month’.
^ᵛnote:V. Nazir, Sonc. ed. p. 20 notes.
^ʷnote:And so with the wood for the priests, since none of these things can be done on Sabbath. The same, however, cannot be said of the Megillah, the purpose of which is to serve as a reminder.
^ˣnote:vhhtr ,kug A burnt-offering which was brought to fulfil the injunction of ‘they shall not appear before the Lord empty, (Deut. XVI, 16). This was regarded as obligatory.
^ʸnote:I.e., even if the first day is not a Sabbath, and a
^ᶻnote:V. Bez. 19a.
^ᵃᵃnote:I.e., the whole seven days of Passover or Tabernacles.
^ᵃᵇnote:Lit., ‘he is not responsible for it’.
^ᵃᶜnote:[So MS.M.; cur. ed. ‘The festival sacrifice and all the period of the festival sacrifice’.]
^ᵃᵈnote:Beth Hillel differed from Beth Shammai in the case where Pentecost fell on Friday, but in this case they also agreed that both the festival sacrifice (hagigah) and the ‘burnt-offering of appearance’ could be killed after the festival, since they could not be offered on Sabbath. V. Hag. 17a.

²and bathed in the [bathhouse of the] marketplace of Sepphoris on the seventeenth of Tammuz and sought to abolish the fast of the ninth of Ab, but his colleagues would not consent. R. Abba b. Zabda ventured to remark: Rabbi, this was not the case. What happened was that the fast of Ab [on that year] fell on Sabbath, and they postponed it till after Sabbath, and he said to them, Since it has been postponed, let it be postponed altogether, but the Sages would not agree. He festival peace-sacrifice (hagigah) may be brought, this offering is not brought till the intermediate days. [R. ELeazar] thereupon applied to himself the verse, Better are two than one. But how could Rabbi have planted a shoot on Purim seeing that R. Joseph has learnt: [We read in connection with Purim] gladness and feasting and a good day; ‘gladness’: this teaches that it is forbidden on these days to mourn; ‘feasting’: this teaches that it is forbidden on them to fast; ‘a good day’: this teaches that it is forbidden on them to do work? — The fact is that Rabbi belonged to a place which kept Purim on the fourteenth, and when he planted, it was on the fifteenth. Is this so? Was not Rabbi in Tiberias, and Tiberias was walled in the days of Joshua son of Nun? — The fact is that Rabbi was in a place which kept on the fifteenth, and when he planted it was the fourteenth. But was he certain that Tiberias was walled in the days of Joshua son of Nun, seeing that Hezekiah read the Megillah in Tiberias both on the fourteenth and on the fifteenth, being uncertain whether it had been walled in the days of Joshua son of Nun or not? Hezekiah was in doubt, but Rabbi was certain. But even supposing he was certain, was he permitted to do this, seeing that it is written in Megillath Ta'anith, ‘The fourteenth day and the fifteenth day are the days of Purim on which there is to be no mourning’, and Raba said, The only purpose of mentioning these days [in Megillath Ta'anith] was to make whatever is forbidden on the one forbidden on the other also? — This applies only to mourning and fasting, but for abstention from work one day and no more is prescribed. Is that so? Did not Rab see a man sowing flax on Purim, and curse him, so that the flax did not grow? — There he [the man] was doing it on the day which he ought to have kept. Rabbah the son of Raba said. You may even say [that Rabbi planted] on the day [which he ought to have kept]: [the Jews] bound themselves [in the days of Esther] to abstain from mourning and fasting, but not from work, since first it is written, ‘gladness and feasting and a good day’, but afterwards it is written, that they should make them days of feasting and gladness’, and ‘a good day’ is not mentioned. Why then did Rab curse that man? — It was a case of ‘things which are permitted but others make a practice of abstaining from them’; but in Rabbi's place this was not the practice. Or if you like I can say that they did in fact make a practice of this, and Rabbi planted a festive shoot, as we have learnt: If these days pass and they are still not answered, they abstain to a certain extent from business, from building and from planting, from betrothing and from marrying, and a Tanna taught: ‘Building’ here means festive building; ‘planting’ means festive planting. What is festive building? If one builds a wedding residence for his son [on the occasion of his marriage]. What is a festive planting? If one plants a royal abarnaki. The text [above state]: ‘Hezekiah read in Tiberias on the fourteenth and on the fifteenth, being doubtful whether it had been walled in the days of Joshua son of Nun or not’. But could he have been in doubt about Tiberias, seeing that it is written, And the fortified cities were Ziddim-zer and Hamath and Rakath and Kinnereth, and it is generally agreed that Rakath is Tiberias? — The reason why he was doubtful was because one side is bounded by the lake. If so, why was he in doubt? It certainly was not walled, as it has been taught : Which has a wall, and not merely a fence of houses. Round about: this excludes Tiberias, the lake forming its wall’! In respect of the houses of a walled town he was not in doubt; where he was in doubt was in respect of reading the Megillah. [He asked]: What constitutes the difference between villages and walled towns which are mentioned in connection with the reading of the Megillah? Is it that the former are exposed and the latter are not exposed, [in which case] Tiberias [belongs to the former] being also exposed, or is it that the latter are protected and the former are not protected, [in which case] Tiberias [belongs to the latter], being protected? That was why he was in doubt. R. Assi read the Megillah in Huzal on the fourteenth and on the fifteenth, being in doubt whether it had been walled in the days of Joshua son of Nun or not. According to another report, R. Assi said: Huzal of the house of Benjamin was walled in the days of Joshua son of Nun. R. Johanan said: When I was a boy, I made a statement about which I afterwards questioned the old men,^ᵃᵉ^ᵃᶠ^ᵃᵍ^ᵃʰ^ᵃⁱ^ᵃʲ^ᵃᵏ^ᵃˡ^ᵃᵐ^ᵃⁿ^ᵃᵒ^ᵃᵖ^ᵃᵠ^ᵃʳ^ᵃˢ^ᵃᵗ^ᵃᵘ^ᵃᵛ^ᵃʷ^ᵃˣ^ᵃʸ

^ᵃᵉnote:Heb. vbure, a place where wagons were stationed on market.day (Rashi). [Alter: ‘spring’ from Gk. **. V. Aruch and Krauss T.A. 1. 212.]
^ᵃᶠnote:One of the four public fasts. V. R. H. 18.
^ᵃᵍnote:Lit., ‘said in his (R. Eleazar's) presence’.
^ᵃʰnote:Eccl. IV, 9. He was glad to be corrected.
^ᵃⁱnote:Esth. IX, 19.
^ᵃʲnote:This is not so
^ᵃᵏnote:V. Glos.
^ᵃˡnote:We know already from the Scripture that ‘mourning is forbidden on these days.
^ᵃᵐnote:Esth. IX, 22
^ᵃⁿnote:To abstain from work.
^ᵃᵒnote:That there is a planting of a festive kind.
^ᵃᵖnote:Of fasting for rain.
^ᵃᵠnote:V. Ta'an 12b.
^ᵃʳnote:The correct form according to Levy and Jast. is achvarnaki, a Persian word for a spreading tree in a garden under which banquets could be held.
^ᵃˢnote:Josh. XIX, 35.
^ᵃᵗnote:Of Galilee. Rakath therefore was not fortified on this side, and the question arises whether it should be accounted a ‘walled city’ for religious purposes.
^ᵃᵘnote:Lev. XXV, 30. In a town with a wall houses could be sold permanently.
^ᵃᵛnote:Lit., ‘wall of roofs’, though this is also a barricade.
^ᵃʷnote:Ibid. 31.
^ᵃˣnote:l.e., the lake being where the wall ought to be.
^ᵃʸnote:[In Babylonia between Nehardea and Sura. It was called ‘of the House of Benjamin’ (v. infra) probably because its early settlers hailed from Benjamin (v. Obermeyer pp. 299ff). There was also a Huzal in Palestine. V. Keth., Sonc. ed. p. 716, n. 7.]