Megillah, Daf Yod Tet, Part 2
Introduction
The mishnah which opens today’s section first discusses a person who travels from a walled city which reads the Megillah on the 15th of Adar to a town which reads it on the 14th or vice versa.
משנה. בן עיר שהלך לכרך ובן כרך שהלך לעיר, אם עתיד לחזור למקומו – קורא כמקומו, ואם לאו – קורא עמהן.
A resident of a town who has gone to a walled city or a resident of a walled city who has gone to a town, if he is to return to his own place he reads according to the rule of his own place, and if not reads with them.
The mishnah states simply that if a person travels from one type of town to another he retains the custom of the town of his origin if his intention is not to move to his new town. If his intention is not to return to his previous town, then he reads with the new place.
ומהיכן קורא אדם את המגילה ויוצא בה ידי חובתו? רבי מאיר אומר: כולה, רבי יהודה אומר: מאיש יהודי. רבי יוסי אומר: מאחר הדברים האלה.
From where does a man read the Megillah and thereby fulfill his obligation?
Rabbi Meir says: all of it.
Rabbi Judah says: from There was a Jew (Esther 2:5).
Rabbi Yose says: from After these things (3:1).
This is the second section of the mishnah. Today we read the entire book of Esther, but whether this is necessary is debated by the sages. Rabbi Meir says that one has to read the whole thing. Rabbi Judah says that he only has to read from 2:5, where Mordecai is first mentioned. Rabbi Yose says he only has to read from 3:1, where the actual plot by Haman (make a lot of noise when you say this) begins.
גמרא. אמר רבא: לא שנו אלא שעתיד לחזור בלילי ארבעה עשר, אבל אין עתיד לחזור בלילי ארבעה עשר – קורא עמהן. אמר רבא: מנא אמינא לה – דכתיב +אסתר ט‘+ על כן היהודים הפרזים הישבים בערי הפרזות, מכדי כתיב היהודים הפרזים, למה לי למיכתב הישבים בערי הפרזות? הא קמשמע לן: דפרוז בן יומו נקרא פרוז.
אשכחן פרוז, מוקף מנא לן? – סברא הוא, מדפרוז בן יומו קרוי פרוז – מוקף בן יומו קרוי מוקף.
GEMARA. Rava said: They taught this only if he intends to return on the night of the fourteenth; but if he does not mean to return on the night of the fourteenth, he reads with the rest.
Rava said: From where do I derive this ruling? As it is written, "Therefore do the Jews of the villages who dwell in the unwalled towns" (Esther 9:19). Since it is written, "the Jews of the villages" why did it need to write, "who dwell in the unwalled towns"? This teaches us that one who is a villager for one day is called a villager.
We have proved this for a villager. How do we know that it applies also to inhabitants of walled towns? It is reasonable: If a villager of one day is called a villager, a walled-city-dweller of one day is called a walled-city-dweller.
According to Rava, a person from a walled city (reads on 15th) who goes to a village (14th) and spends the night there, reads with the people of the village. This is derived from a superfluity in the verse. Villages are by definition unwalled. So why would the Megillah need to say "Jews of the villages who dwell in the unwalled towns"? This teaches that if one spends the night in the village, he is called a villager and reads on the 14th.
Logically, the same holds true for one who spends the day in the walled-city. Although he is a village dweller generally, he reads with the walled city.
ואמר רבא: בן כפר שהלך לעיר – בין כך ובין כך קורא עמהן. מאי טעמא? האי כבני העיר בעי למקרי, ורבנן הוא דאקילו על הכפרים כדי שיספקו מים ומזון לאחיהם שבכרכין. הני מילי – כי איתיה בדוכתיה, אבל כי איתיה בעיר – כבני עיר בעי למקרי.
Rava also said: A villager who has gone to a town reads with the rest in any case. What is the reason? He should read at the same time as the townspeople and it is the Rabbis who made a concession to the villagers so that they might supply food and drink to their brothers in the large cities.
Now this applies only so long as they are in their own place, but when they are in the town, they must read like the townspeople.
Earlier in the tractate we learned that villagers can move up the day of reading to the market days so that they could come to the city to provide food and drink to their brothers. Rava says that if a villager goes to a town that reads on the normal day, he reads with them, even if he doesn’t even spend the night. This is true even if he already read the Megillah with his village on the earlier date. Allowing villagers to read earlier is only a leniency instituted by the rabbis. The leniency applies only when he is with the villagers. If he is with the people of the town, he must read with them, even if he ends up reading twice.
איתיביה אביי: בן כרך שהלך לעיר – בין כך ובין כך קורא כמקומו. בן כרך סלקא דעתך? באם עתיד לחזור תליא מילתא! אלא לאו – בן כפר! – ולאו תרוצי מתרצת? תני: קורא עמהן.
Abaye raised an objection: If a resident of a walled city went to a town, in any case he reads according to the custom of his own place.
"A resident of a walled city" would you really think? His rule depends on whether he means to return.
Rather, this is "a villager."
[Rava could respond]: But have you emended the [baraita] in any case.
Read, [then] "reads with the rest."
Abaye raises a difficulty on Rava from a baraita. The baraita seems to say that if a resident of a walled city who would normally read on the 15th goes to an unwalled town, he reads according to the custom of his own place, on the 15th. But above, Rava said that it depends on whether he intends to return. If he does not intend to return, then he reads on the 14th.
This causes Abaye to change the language of the baraita to read, "A villager who went to a town." The baraita now reads that a villager who goes to a town reads like the people of his village, and not as Rava said, like the people of the town.
Rava responds by saying that if Abaye is going to emend a baraita, he too can emend it. According to Rava the baraita says that a villager who goes to a town reads with the rest, which accords precisely with what he had said above.