Megillah, Daf Kaf, Part 3

 

Introduction

This section explains the mishnah which explained which mitzvoth must be performed during the day.

 

גמרא. מנלן? דאמר קרא +אסתר ט’+ והימים האלה נזכרים ונעשים, ביום – אין, בלילה – לא. – לימא תיהוי תיובתא דרבי יהושע בן לוי, דאמר רבי יהושע בן לוי: חייב אדם לקרות את המגילה בלילה ולשנותה ביום! – כי קתני אדיום.

 

Gemara. From where do we know this? Because the verse says, "And these days should be remembered and kept" (Esther 9:28) by day, but not by night.

Shall we say that this is a refutation of R. Joshua b. Levi; for R. Joshua b. Levi said: One must read the Megillah by night and a second time by day?

When the mishnah taught it, it referred to the day.

 

The verse demonstrates that the Megillah must be read at day.

R. Joshua ben Levi says that one must read it at night, and then read it again during the day. The mishnah which says that it must be read after the rise of the sun seems to contradict him.

The resolution is that the Mishnah refers only to the reading during the day. It does not mean that one does not have to read it at night. It just means that the day reading must be done after the rise of the sun.

ולא מלין וכו’. דכתיב +ויקרא י"ב+ וביום השמיני ימול.

ולא טובלין ולא מזין וכו’ – דכתיב +במדבר י"ט+ והזה הטהר על הטמא [וגו’] ביום השביעי, ואיתקש טבילה להזיה.

 

Neither should one circumcise. As it is written, "And on the eighth day he shall be circumcised" (Leviticus 12:3).

Neither should one immerse [in a mikveh] nor sprinkle. As it is written, "And the clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean . . . And on the seventh day" (Numbers 19:19) and immersing is compared to sprinkling.

 

The Talmud provides verses for how we know that circumcision, immersion in the mikveh, and sprinkling with purificatory waters must be done during the day.

וכן שומרת יום כנגד יום לא תטבול עד שתנץ החמה וכו’. פשיטא! מאי שנא שומרת יום כנגד יום מכל חייבי טבילות? – איצטריך, סלקא דעתך אמינא תיהוי כראיה ראשונה של זב, וראיה ראשונה של זב איתקש לבעל קרי, דכתיב +ויקרא ט"ו+ זאת תורת הזב ואשר תצא ממנו שכבת זרע, מה בעל קרי טובל ביום – האי נמי ליטבול ביומיה.

והא ביממא לא מצי טבלה, דכתיב +ויקרא ט"ו+ כל ימי זובה כמשכב נדתה יהיה לה – בליליא מיהת ליעביד מקצת שימור, ותטבול. קא משמע לן: כיון דבעיא ספירה ספירה – ביממא היא.

 

And similarly a woman keeping day for day should not immerse until the sun has risen.

This is obvious! Why should a woman keeping day for day be different from all others who are obligated to immerse?

It is necessary, lest you think that she should be the same as the first observation of one who had a genital discharge, and the first observation of one who had a genital discharge has been compared to one who had a seminal issue, as it is written, "This is the law of him that has had a genital discharge (zav) and of him from whom the flow of seed has gone out." Just as one with a seminal issue immerses during the day, so too this one immerses on the same day. This woman, however, cannot immerse on that day, because it is written, "All the days of her discharge she shall be as in the days of her menstrual impurity" ; so [you might say], by night at least she might keep watch for a short time and then immerse; therefore we are told that [she must not do this], because she requires to count [day for day]; and counting must be by day.

 

This long section answers one relatively straightforward question why did the mishnah have to specify that a woman who is counting one day for each day in which she saw abnormal genital discharge (zivah) has to immerse during the day. All people who immerse must do so, as the mishnah specifically said.

The answer is that there are some who do immerse during the day. Namely a man who had a seminal discharge. Similarly, a man who had an abnormal genital discharge immerses during the day. These people immerse during the day and at night are already pure. There is no counting. But a woman who has had a genital discharge must count one clean day for every impure day. She can’t immerse the same day that she had the discharge. So you might have thought that she could count the night as the day without discharge, therefore it comes to teach you that she must count a full day of cleanness, and only then immerse.