Megillah, Daf Lammed, Part 2
Introduction
According to the mishnah, if Rosh Hodesh Adar falls during the middle of the week, Parshat Shekalim is read on the previous Shabbat. In today’s sugya the amoraim dispute when Parshat Shekalim is read if Rosh Hodesh Adar falls on Friday.
חל להיות בתוך השבת מקדימין לשבת שעברה.
איתמר, ראש חדש אדר שחל להיות בערב שבת, רב אמר: מקדימין, ושמואל אמר: מאחרין.
רב אמר: מקדימין, דאם כן – בצרי להו יומי שולחנות, ושמואל אמר: מאחרין, אמר לך: סוף סוף חמיסר במעלי שבתא מיקלע, ושולחנות לא נפקי עד חד בשבא, הלכך מאחרין.
If it falls in the middle of the week, it is read on the Shabbat before.
It was stated: If Rosh Hodesh Adar falls on Friday: Rav says that [Parshat Shekalim] is read on the Shabbat before.
But Shmuel says that it is read on the Shabbat after.
Rav says it is read before, because otherwise there will be too few days of the tables.
Shmuel says it is read after. He could say to you that in the end, the fifteenth day [from Rosh Hodesh] falls on a Friday, and the tables will not be taken out till the Sunday; therefore we delay the reading [of Shabbat Shekalim].
The purpose of reading Shabbat Shekalim is to give time to discuss the laws of the half-shekel before the fifteenth of Adar, when tables will be set up to exchange coins so that people can pay their Temple tax. If we wait till Shabbat, the day after Rosh Hodesh, to read Shabbat Shekalim, there will be less than the necessary two weeks between the reading of the portion and the setting up of the tables. Therefore Rav says they read the week before.
Shmuel points out that if Rosh Hodesh Adar falls on the day before Shabbat then the fifteenth will also fall on Friday and the tables will not be taken out until Sunday. In the end, even if they read Parshat Shekalim on Shabbat, the day after Rosh Hodesh, there will be two weeks between the reading and the taking out of the tables. So it is possible to delay the reading till Shabbat.
תנן: חל להיות בתוך השבת מקדימין לשעבר, ומפסיקין לשבת אחרת. מאי לאו – אפילו בערב שבת! – לא, בתוך השבת דוקא.
It was taught: If it falls during the week, they move it [Parshat Shekalim] up to the previous Shabbat, and they stop [the order of special Shabbatot] for the following Shabbat. Does not this rule apply even where it falls on Friday?
No; only if it falls actually in the middle part of the week.
The Talmud tries to use the mishnah to prove that no matter when Rosh Hodesh falls during the week, Shabbat Shekalim is read the previous Shabbat. This would present a difficulty to Shmuel. But this difficulty is rejected because the mishnah can be read as referring to a case where Rosh Hodesh falls during the middle of the week, not Friday.
תא שמע: איזו היא שבת ראשונה – כל שחל ראש חודש אדר להיות בתוכה, ואפילו בערב שבת. מאי לאו – אפילו בערב שבת דומיא דתוכה, מה תוכה – מקדימין, אף ערב שבת – מקדימין! – אמר שמואל: בה, וכן תנא דבי שמואל: בה.
Come and hear: Which is the first Shabbat [of the series]? The Shabbat in which Rosh Hodesh Adar falls in the previous week, even if it is on Friday.
Is it not that "even on Friday" is the same as the middle of the week, so that just as when it falls in the middle of the week we read before, so too when it falls on Friday we read before?
Shmuel said: It should read "on it."
So too a Tanna of the house of Shmuel taught: "On it."
This baraita explains when the series of special Shabbat readings begins. It states that the series begins on the Shabbat following the week in which Rosh Hodesh falls. This seems to make no distinction between a case where Rosh Hodesh falls during the week and one where it falls on Friday. In either case, it would seem that we read Parshat Shekalim on the previous Shabbat. Again, this is a difficulty on Shmuel.
Shmuel emends the baraita to read "on it." Thus the baraita teaches that if Rosh Hodesh Adar falls on Shabbat, the special series of Sabbaths begins on that Shabbat. The baraita adds that if it falls on Friday, the same holds true. The special series of Sabbaths begins on the following Shabbat, not the Shabbat before.
כתנאי: מסרגין לשבתות, דברי רבי יהודה הנשיא. רבי שמעון בן אלעזר אומר: אין מסרגין. אמר רבי שמעון בן אלעזר: אימתי אני אומר אין מסרגין – בזמן שחל להיות בערב שבת, אבל בזמן שחל להיות בתוך השבת – מקדים וקורא משבת שעברה, אף על פי שהוא שבט.
This is similar to the following tannaitic dispute: They interrupt [the series of special] Sabbaths, the words of R. Judah Hanasi. R. Shimon b. Elazar says: They do not interrupt. R. Shimon b. Elazar said: When do I say that they do not interrupt? When it [Rosh Hodesh] falls on Friday; but if it falls in the middle of the week, it [the portion of Shekalim] is read on the Shabbat before, even though that is still in Shevat.
According to R. Judah the Prince, unless Rosh Hodesh Adar falls on Shabbat, the first two special Shabbat readings will be interrupted by a Shabbat without a special reading. Thus the Shabbat before Rosh Hodesh will be Shekalim, the Shabbat after Rosh Hodesh will have no special reading, and the Shabbat after that will be Zakhor. R. Shimon b. Elazar disagrees if Rosh Hodesh falls on Friday. Like Shmuel he would hold that Parshat Shekalim would be read on the day after, and then Zakhor the following week. In such a case there would be no interrupting Shabbat.
Thus in this baraita the opinion of R. Shimon b. Elazar matches that of Shmuel, whereas the opinion of R. Judah Hanasi matches that of Rav. Custom follows the opinion of Rav.