Megillah, Daf Kaf, Part 4

 

Introduction

The Mishnah states that one should perform certain mitzvoth (including reading the Megillah) after the sun has already risen. But it added that if one performed any of them after dawn, meaning after it was already a bit light outside but the sun had not yet risen, the act is valid. Our sugya comments on the source of this halakhah.

 

וכולן שעשו משעלה עמוד השחר כשר. מנהני מילי? אמר רבא: דאמר קרא +בראשית א‘+ ויקרא אלהים לאור יום – למאיר ובא קראו יום. –

 

If any of these things is done after dawn has appeared, it is valid.

From where is this rule derived? Rava said: For the verse says, "And God called the light day" something which gradually becomes light he called day.

 

Rava proves that day mitzvoth may be performed after dawn and before sunrise from the first day of creation. God called the light "day" even though there was no sun it wasn’t created until the fourth day. Thus even now that we have a sun, the light that appears in the sky before the sun is a sign of day.

אלא מעתה, ולחשך קרא לילה, [למחשיך ובא קרא לילה]? הא קיימא לן דעד צאת הכוכבים לאו לילה הוא! –

 

But according to this, [when it says] "And the darkness he called night" [are we to explain] that which gradually becomes dark he called night?

Do we not hold that until the stars come out it is not night?

 

The problem with Rava’s statement is that it would imply that night could begin without the stars. After all, God calls the darkness night even without the stars.

אלא אמר רבי זירא, מהכא: +נחמיה ד‘+ ואנחנו עשים במלאכה וחצים מחזיקים ברמחים מעלות השחר עד צאת הכוכבים, ואומר: +נחמיה ד‘+ (והיה) +מסורת הש"ס: [והיו]+ לנו הלילה (למשמר) +מסורת הש"ס: [משמר והיום מלאכה]+, מאי ואומר? – וכי תימא משעלה עמוד השחר לאו יממא, ומכי ערבא שמשא ליליא, ואינהו מקדמי ומחשכי – תא שמע (והיה) +מסורת הש"ס: [והיו]+ לנו הלילה משמר והיום מלאכה.

 

Rather R. Zera said: We derive it from here: "And so we worked on; and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared" and it says, "That in the night they may be a guard for us, and that we may work in the day" (Nehemiah 4:15-16).

What is the point of the second quotation? You might say that from the time of the first rising of the dawn it is not yet day, though from the time the sun begins to set it is already night and they rose early and stopped work late.Therefore come and hear: " That in the night they may be a guard for us, and that we may work in the day."

 

R. Zera proves that day begins at dawn from two verses in Nehemiah. In v. 15 we learn that while the workers were working, the guards watched over them from the rising of the morning (dawn) until the stars appeared. In v. 16 we see that these are the parameters of day it begins at dawn and ends when the stars come up. Thus if any of these mitzvoth are performed after dawn, the mitzvah is still valid.