Megillah, Daf Kaf Tet, Part 4
Introduction
The rest of this chapter deals mainly with the portions of the Torah read on holidays and special Shabbatot. In mishnaic times they did not complete the Torah once a year as they did in Babylonia and as we do today, but rather about once every three years. Another difference between the ancient custom and that of today is that today when certain holidays fall on Shabbat we read the regular Torah portion and then we add a special reading for that day. In mishnaic times, since they didn t really have a regular Torah portion, they only read the special reading. Thus if Rosh Hodesh fell on Shabbat they would read only the portion for Rosh Hodesh and interrupt the regular continuous reading of the Torah.
Today’s mishnah deals with the four special Shabbatot that precede Pesah. They are:
1) Shekalim to remind people that on Adar they would have to bring the half-shekel to the Temple (see tractate Shekalim). This was read before Rosh Hodesh Adar.
2) Zakhor Deuteronomy 25:17-19. This is read before Purim and connects Amalek with Haman.
3) Parah Numbers 19. We read about the red heifer to remind people that before Pesah they must be pure in order to eat the Pesah sacrifice.
4) Hahodesh Exodus 12:1-20. Read the Shabbat before Nissan to remind people that Pesah is approaching and that they must begin preparing.
משנה.
1) ראש חדש אדר שחל להיות בשבת – קורין בפרשת שקלים,
a) חל להיות בתוך השבת – מקדימין לשעבר, ומפסיקין לשבת אחרת,
2) בשניה זכור,
3) בשלישית פרה אדומה,
4) ברביעית החדש הזה לכם, בחמישית חוזרין לכסדרן.
5) לכל מפסיקין, בראשי חדשים, בחנוכה, ובפורים, בתעניות, ובמעמדות, וביום הכיפורים.
Mishnah Four
1) If Rosh Hodesh Adar falls on Shabbat the portion of shekalim is read [on that day].
a) If it falls in the middle of the week, it is read on the Shabbat before, and on the next Shabbat there is a break.
2) On the second [of the special Shabbatot] they read Zakhor;
3) On the third the portion of the red heifer;
4) On the fourth This month shall be for you;
5) On the fifth the regular order is resumed.
6) They interrupt [the regular order] for anything: for Rosh Hodesh, for Hanukkah, for Purim, for fasts, for Ma amadot, and for Yom HaKippurim.
Section one: On Rosh Hodesh Adar which falls on Shabbat they read Shekalim, which is Exodus 30:11-16. However, if Rosh Hodesh Adar falls during the week, they would read Shekalim on the Shabbat before Rosh Hodesh. On the Shabbat following Rosh Hodesh they would go back to reading where they had last left off in the regular cycle. This week would then be a break from the four special portions enumerated in our mishnah.
Sections 2-5: The mishnah now enumerates the four special portions, described above in the introduction. After Hahodesh, the order returns to its regular cycle. We should note the concept of Shabbat Hagadol, the Shabbat before Pesah, did not exist in mishnaic or talmudic times.
Section six: The regular reading of the Torah is interrupted for any special occasion. This includes all holidays. On fast days, meaning Mondays or Thursdays when they would fast for rain, they would not read the regular portion but rather the special readings for fasts. Ma amadot were described in greater length in tractate Taanit. These were gatherings by people in towns when their kohanim would go to the Temple. The people in the town would read from the beginning of Genesis and not from the regular Torah portion.
גמרא. תנן התם: באחד באדר משמיעין על השקלים חודש עיקר. ועל הכלאים.
בשלמא על הכלאים – דזמן זריעה היא, אלא על השקלים מנלן?
GEMARA. We have learned in another place (Mishnah Shekalim 2:1): On the first of Adar they make a proclamation with regard to the shekels and with regard to diverse seeds (kilayim).
It makes sense why they proclaim for kilayim because it is the time for sowing.
But why for the shekels?
In Mishnah Shekalim we learned that on the first of Adar they would make two announcements: 1) That people should check their fields to make sure that diverse seeds are not growing together. If they are, they must be uprooted. 2) That people should bring their shekels to the Temple.
It is understandable why the announcement about the kilayim was made at this time, for spring is the planting season. But why make the announcement about the shekels?
אמר רבי טבי אמר רבי יאשיה: דאמר קרא +במדבר כ"ח+ זאת עלת חדש בחדשו, אמרה תורה: חדש והבא קרבן מתרומה חדשה. וכיון דבניסן בעי אקרובי מתרומה חדשה, קדמינן וקרינן באחד באדר, כי היכי דליתו שקלים למקדש.
R. Tabi said in the name of R. Yoshayah: For the verse says, "This is the burnt-offering of each new moon in its renewal" (Numbers 28:14). The Torah says to us: Renew and bring an offering from the new contributions. And since it is in Nisan that we have to bring from the new contributions, we read beforehand on the first of Adar so that shekels should be brought [in time] to the Sanctuary.
The answer is that there is a month on which public offerings must be brought from new contributions, i.e. new shekels. That month is Nisan (this is derived in Rosh Hashanah). To give people some time to get their act together, they would let people know about this in the beginning of Adar. In the time of the Temple, they would make a public announcement. By the time of the Mishnah, this had been replaced with a Torah reading, as we read in our Mishnah.
כמאן – דלא כרבן שמעון בן גמליאל. דאי רבן שמעון בן גמליאל – האמר שתי שבתות, דתניא: שואלין בהלכות הפסח קודם לפסח שלשים יום, רבן שמעון בן גמליאל אומר: שתי שבתות.
With whose view does this accord? Not with that of R. Shimon b. Gamaliel. For if it were R. Shimon b. Gamaliel, he said [only] two weeks, as it has been taught: They ask about the laws of Passover from thirty days before Passover; R. Shimon b. Gamaliel.
The idea that they would announce the shekels thirty days before Nisan seems to accord with the first opinion in the baraita about teaching the laws of Pesah and not R. Shimon b. Gamaliel who says we only begin talking about Pesah two weeks before.
אפילו תימא רבן שמעון בן גמליאל, כיון דאמר מר: בחמשה עשר בו שולחנות יושבין במדינה, ובעשרים וחמשה יושבין במקדש – משום שולחנות קדמינן וקרינן.
You may even say it accords with the view of R. Shimon b. Gamaliel. For since a Master has said: On the fifteenth of this month [Adar] tables are set up in the provinces and on the twenty-fifth in the Temple," on account of the tables we read earlier [on the first of Adar].
There was a custom to begin to set up the tables to exchange money to the proper currency as early as the middle of Adar. Therefore, the mishnah accords even with R. Shimon b. Gamaliel since the first of Adar is only two weeks before money began to be collected in the provinces.