Megillah, Daf Yod Tet, Part 5

 

Introduction

Today’s section continues where we left off yesterday, discussing someone who reads from a Megillah written in a scroll which includes the other Writings.

 

אמר רבי חייא בר אבא אמר רבי יוחנן: הקורא במגילה הכתובה בין הכתובים – לא יצא. ומחו לה אמוחא: בצבור שנו.

 

R. Hiyya b. Abba said in the name of R. Yohanan: One who reads the Megillah written among the rest of the Writings, he has not fulfilled his obligation; and he at once protested against this remark: [This was stated in reference to reading]: In a congregation.

 

If one reads the Megillah alone, he may read it from a scroll that contains other Writings in it as well. The rule that the Megillah must be written in a separate scroll is only for reading in public, when there is the function of letting people know of the miracle.

 

ואמר רבי חייא בר אבא אמר רבי יוחנן: שיור התפר – הלכה למשה מסיני. ומחו לה אמוחא: ולא אמרו אלא כדי שלא יקרע.

 

R. Hiyya b. Abba also said in the name of R. Yohanan: That a space should be left unstitched [in the Sefer Torah] is a halakhah from Moshe on Sinai and he at once protested the remark by saying: They only said this so that it should not be torn.

 

The Talmud now proceeds with another case in which R. Hiyya b. Abba transmitted a statement something and then immediately qualified the remark. There is a halakhah that one must leave the top stitch and the bottom stitch in a Torah scroll undone. At first he says that this is a halakhah from Moses on Sinai, meaning it is considered a very ancient practice. But then he qualifies his remark and says that this is a halakhah enacted only so that the scroll should not be torn. If the whole connection between the sections is sewn up tight, then when a person begins to roll it tightly he won’t notice that he is overdoing it and it will tear. However, if there is an undone stitch on the top and bottom, he will notice when it begins to pull and he won’t roll it too tightly.

Since the halakhah is not a "halakhah from Moses on Sinai" a Torah scroll without the top and bottom stitches undone is still valid.

 

ואמר רבי חייא בר אבא אמר רבי יוחנן: אלמלי נשתייר במערה שעמד בה משה ואליהו כמלא נקב מחט סדקית – לא היו יכולין לעמוד מפני האורה, שנאמר +שמות ל"ג+ כי לא יראני האדם וחי.

 

R. Hiyya b. Abba also said in the name of R. Yohanan: Had there remained in the cave in which Moses and Elijah stood a hole the size of the eye of a fine needle, they would not have been able to endure the light, as it says, "For man shall not see me and live" (Exodus 33:20).

 

This statement is here because it is stated by the same amoraim as above. Both Moses and Elijah are placed in a cave over which God passes (Exodus 33:22; I Kings 19:10-13). The cave was completely sealed, according to R. Hiyya b. Abba, for had they been able to see the light of God’s presence, they would not have been able to live.

 

ואמר רבי חייא בר אבא אמר רבי יוחנן: מאי דכתיב +דברים ט‘+ ועליהם ככל הדברים אשר דבר ה‘ עמכם בהר – מלמד שהראהו הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה דקדוקי תורה ודקדוקי סופרים, ומה שהסופרים עתידין לחדש, ומאי ניהו – מקרא מגילה.

 

R. Hiyya b. Abba also said in the name of R. Yohanan: What is the meaning of what is written, And on them was written according to all the words which the Lord spoke with you in the Mount" (Deuteronomy 9:10)? It teaches us that the Holy One, blessed be He, showed Moses the minute details of the Torah, and the minute details of the Scribes, and the innovations which would be introduced by the Scribes; and what are these? The reading of the Megillah.

 

This is a theme we have seen several times throughout the tractate. Purim and the reading of the Megillah were instituted later in Jewish history, by the Scribes, another word for rabbis. But the reading of the Megillah was already revealed to Moses on Sinai. It is an innovation that is really not an innovation.