Megillah, Daf Kaf Bet, Part One
Introduction
Today’s section deals with the Rosh Hodesh Torah reading. On Rosh Hodesh four people read, but as we shall see, splitting the reading into four parts is challenging, because the reading consists of three paragraphs: the first has eight verses, the second two verses and the third five verses.
בראשי חדשים ובחולו של מועד קורין ארבעה וכו’.
בעא מיניה עולא בר רב מרבא: פרשת ראש חודש כיצד קורין אותה +במדבר כ"ח+ צו את בני ישראל ואמרת אלהם את קרבני לחמי, דהויין תמניא פסוקי, היכי נעביד? ניקרי תרי תלתא תלתא פסוקין – פשו להו תרי, ואין משיירין בפרשה פחות משלשה פסוקין.
On Rosh Hodesh and Hol Hamoed four people read .
Ulla b. Rav enquired of Rava: How is the portion of Rosh Hodesh read?
"Command the children of Israel and say to them" has eight verses.
How are we to deal with them? If two persons read three verses each, then two verses will be left [to the end of the paragraph], and we do not leave over less than three verses to the end of the paragraph.
The first paragraph of the Rosh Hodesh reading has eight verses. If the first two readers each read three verses, then only two verses will be left in the paragraph. There is a rule that we don’t leave two verses left over at the end of a paragraph. This is just too little to be left over.
ניקרי ארבעה ארבעה – פשו להו שבעה. וביום השבת, הויין תרי, ובראשי חדשיכם, הויין חמשה, היכי נעביד? ניקרי תרי מהא וחד מהנך אין מתחילין בפרשה פחות משלשה פסוקים. ליקרי תרי מהא ותלתא מהך – פשו להו תרי!
Let them read four verses each? Then seven verses will be left altogether, "And on the Shabbat day" is two, and "And on your new moons" is five. How are we to deal with this? Let him read two from one paragraph and one from the next? We do not read less than three verses together at the beginning of a paragraph. Let him read two from one and three from the other? Then only two verses are left [to the end of the second paragraph]!
If the first two readers each read four verses from the first paragraph, then that paragraph is finished. We are now left with seven verses, two in one paragraph and five in the next paragraph. The first person cannot read three because once someone starts to read a paragraph, he must read at least three verses. If the first reader reads two verses in the first paragraph and three in the next, then only two are left, and all readers must read at least three verses.
אמר לו: זו לא שמעתי, כיוצא בה שמעתי. דתנן: ביום הראשון בראשית, ויהי רקיע, ותני עלה: בראשית – בשנים, יהי רקיע – באחד. והוינן בה: בשלמא יהי רקיע, באחד – דתלתא פסוקי הוו, אלא בראשית בשנים? חמשה פסוקי הוו, ותניא: הקורא בתורה לא יפחות משלשה פסוקים!
He replied: I have not heard [any halakhah] about this but I have heard a rule in a similar case, as we have learned: On Sundays, [the ma’amad read the paragraph] "In the beginning" and "Let there be a firmament", and we taught about this, "In the beginning" is read by two and "Let there be a firmament" by one" and we were somewhat perplexed by this. It is okay that "Let there be a firmament" can be read by one since it has three verses, but how can "In the beginning" be read by two, seeing that it has only five verses, and it has been taught, He who reads in the Torah should not read less than three verses."
Rava answers with a similarly problematic situation. The "ma’amad" refers to a group of priests who read the Torah during the week in which their fellow priests from the same watch are serving in the Temple. They read from the beginning of the Torah, one part of creation each day, plus the next day’s reading. So on the first day they read "In the beginning" and, "Let there be a firmament," the second day of creation. The first reading is read by two and the second by one. The problem is that the first paragraph has only five verses, so how can it be divided by two readers. We have a rule, after all, that every reader must read at least two verses.
ואיתמר עלה: רב אמר: דולג, ושמואל אמר: פוסק.
And it was stated [in answer] to this [question]: Rav says he should repeat, and Shmuel says he should divide a verse.
There are two solutions. Rav says he should repeat a verse and Shmuel says he divides a verse into two, thereby creating six verses.
רב אמר דולג, מאי טעמא לא אמר פוסק? קסבר: כל פסוקא דלא פסקיה משה אנן לא פסקינן ליה.
Rav said he should repeat. Why did he not say "divide"?
He was of opinion that any verse which Moses had not divided, we may not divide.
Rav did not allow dividing the verse because he held that the division of the Torah into verses was from Moses, and if he did not divide the verse, we are not allowed to do so.
ושמואל אמר: פסקינן ליה.
והא אמר רבי חנניא קרא: צער גדול היה לי אצל רבי חנינא הגדול, ולא התיר לי לפסוק אלא לתינוקות של בית רבן, הואיל ולהתלמד עשויין! – התם טעמא מאי – משום דלא אפשר, הכא נמי – לא אפשר.
And Shmuel held that we may divide.
But did not R. Hananiah the Bible teacher say: I was in great pain in the house of R. Hanina the Great, for he would not allow me to make [additional verse] divisions except for the school children, because they are there to be taught?
Now what was the reason there [why he was allowed to make divisions]? Because it could not be avoided; here too it cannot be avoided.
Shmuel holds that in times of great need we are allowed to divide verses that were not divided by Moses. Just as R. Hananiah divided up verses when teaching them to children, so too a Torah reader may divide them up when it is necessary.
ושמואל אמר פוסק, מאי טעמא לא אמר דולג? – גזירה משום הנכנסין ומשום היוצאין.
Shmuel said that he divides. Why did he not say that he repeats? It is a decree to prevent error on the part of those coming in and going out.
Shmuel doesn’t allow the repetition of verses lest someone goes out or comes in between the readings and thinks that the person before he came in read only two, or that the person who is reading after he leaves is going to read only two.