Megillah, Daf Kaf, Part 1
Introduction
This week’s daf opens by relating back to the Mishnah where R. Judah allowed a minor to read the Megillah.
רבי יהודה מכשיר בקטן. דתניא +מסורת הש"ס: [תניא]+: אמר רבי יהודה: קטן הייתי וקריתיה למעלה מרבי טרפון וזקנים בלוד. אמרו לו: אין מביאין ראיה מן הקטן.
R. Judah declares a minor qualified. It has been taught: R. Judah said: When I was a young boy, I read it [the Megillah] in front of R. Tarfon and the elders in Lod. They said to him: Proof cannot be brought from the testimony of a minor.
R. Judah himself remembers reading the Megillah in front of the sages when he was a young boy. This is assumedly the basis for his ruling that a minor can read the Megillah. He himself did it!
Alas, his testimony is to no avail. The recollections of a minor are not valid testimony as to a halakhah.
תניא, אמר רבי: קטן הייתי וקריתיה למעלה מרבי יהודה. אמרו לו: אין מביאין ראיה מן המתיר. – ולימרו ליה: אין מביאין ראיה מן הקטן! – חדא ועוד קאמרו ליה: חדא – דקטן היית, ועוד: אפילו גדול היית – אין מביאין ראיה מן המתיר.
It has been taught: Rbbi said: When I was a young boy, I read it before R. Judah. They said to him: Proof cannot be brought from the very one who allows it.
Why did they not say to him: Proof cannot be brought from the testimony of a minor? They gave one answer and then another. First, they said, you were a boy and moreover, even had you been an adult, proof cannot be brought from the very one who allows it.
Rabbi Judah Hanasi also remembers reading when he was a young boy, in front of R. Judah. But this evidence is doubly problematic. First of all, he can’t bring evidence that this is the halakhah from the very rabbi who allows it. We already knew that R. Judah allowed minors. Second, Rabbi Judah Hanasi was also a young boy, and as we learned above, a young boy’s testimony is not valid.