Megillah, Daf Yod Tet, Part 4

 

Introduction

This section opens with a halakhic ruling related to the dispute over where one begins to read the Megillah.

אמר רבי חלבו אמר רב חמא בר גוריא אמר רב: הלכה כדברי האומר כולה. ואפילו למאן דאמר מאיש יהודי – צריכה שתהא כתובה כולה.

 

R. Helbo said in the name of R. Hama b. Guria, who said it in the name of Rav: The halakhah follows the one who says that the whole of it must be read; and even according to the one who says that it need be read only from "There was a Jew" it must all be written.

 

The halakhah is that we read the entire Megillah from beginning to end. It’s really not that long. Furthermore, even the position that holds that it is okay to start from later in the Megillah, the scroll from which he reads must contain the entire book.

ואמר רבי חלבו אמר רב חמא בר גוריא אמר רב: מגילה נקראת ספר ונקראת אגרת, נקראת ספר – שאם תפרה בחוטי פשתן פסולה, ונקראת אגרת – שאם הטיל בה שלשה חוטי גידין כשרה, אמר רב נחמן: ובלבד שיהו משולשין.

 

R. Hama b. Guria said in the name of Rav: The Megillah is called "book" and it is also called "letter." It is called "book" to show that if it is stitched with threads of flax, it is invalid; and it is called "letter" to show that if it is stitched with three threads of sinew, it is valid.

R. Nahman said: This is only on condition that they are evenly spaced.

 

The pages of a book are stitched together with sinews from animals. The pages of a letter are stitched with flax, a cheaper material. The Megillah is called both a book and a letter, so with regard to the stitching, the halakhah falls somewhere in between. One cannot use flax for all of the stitching. At least three threads must be of sinew. And they must be evenly spaced.

אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל: הקורא במגילה הכתובה בין הכתובים – לא יצא.

אמר רבא: לא אמרן אלא דלא מחסרא ומייתרא פורתא, אבל מחסרא ומייתרא פורתא – לית לן בה.

 

R. Judah said in the name of Shmuel: If one reads from a Megillah written among the rest of the Writings, he has not fulfilled his obligation.

Rava said: This is the case only if it is not a little shorter or longer than the rest, but if it is a little shorter or longer than the rest, there is no problem with it.

 

R. Judah says that the Megillah scroll used for the ritual reading of the Megillah cannot be part of a larger scroll containing the rest of the Writings. It needs to be a separate scroll so that it is recognizable.

Rava said that if the Megillah is on parchment that is slightly larger or smaller than the remainder of the Writings, then it can be used. This will make it recognizable that it he is reading not just from the Writings, but from Megillat Esther.

 

לוי בר שמואל הוה קא קרי קמיה דרב יהודה במגילה הכתובה בין הכתובים? אמר ליה: הרי אמרו הקורא במגילה הכתובה בין הכתובים לא יצא.

 

Levi b. Samuel was reading before R. Judah in a Megillah which was written among the Writings. He said to him: Behold they have said: If one reads from a Megillah written among the Writings, he has not fulfilled his obligation.

 

Interesting that Shmuel’s own son did not know that one cannot fulfill one’s obligation with a Megillah written among the rest of the Writings.

Also interesting to me whether it was common to have larger scrolls with multiple books in them or whether it was more standard to have scrolls with only one book in them. Perhaps several of the "Megillot" were written in one scroll. These are not so long, so it may have been more possible to write them all together.