Resources for Megillah 4
Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman
- The גמרא says in the name of רבי יהושע בן לוי that a person must read the מגילה at night and then read it again the next day. See תוספות ד"ה חייב who says the עיקר reading of the מגילה is during the day time. תוספות brings many proofs to this, including the היקש of עשיה לזכירה which would indicate that just as the Purim סעודה is during the day time, so is the reading of מגילה. See the ר"ן in the first paragraph of the מסכתא who suggests that the כפרים who read the מגילה during the day of the יום הכניסה may not have read the מגילה on the preceding night! See the טורי אבן here in ד"ה כגון as well as the נודע ביהודה in מהדו"ק או"ח סימן מ"א who both say the night reading is only a דרבנן while the day reading is treated as a דאורייתא since it mentioned in the מגילה and is therefore דברי קבלה. The משנה ברורה brings this להלכה in שער הציון סימן תרצ"ב ס"ק כ"ז. See also the פּרי מגדים in סימן תרצ"ב א"א ס"ק ב who suggests that originally מרדכי and אסתר were only מתקן the day reading and only later added the night reading. See also the בנין שלמה סימן נ"ח who makes a shocking suggestion that the reading of the מגילה at night did not exist at all in the times of the משנה and was only added in the times of רבי יהושע בן לוי. The הר צבי in או"ח חלק בּ סימן ק"כ argues strongly with the בנין שלמה’s suggestion.
- ריב"ל says that even women, who are normally exempt from a מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא, are obligated to read the מגילה since אף הן היו באותו הנס. See תוספות in ד"ה נשים חייבות who says the משמעות is that a woman is obligated in the מצוה in exactly the same manner as a man. Consequently, a woman could be מוציא a man in מקרא מגילה. The ריטב"א adds that while it would still be a lack of כבוד הציבור for her to lein publicly, she is considered part of the מנין for מקרא מגילה. Typically, women are not included as part of a מנין where including them will allow the מנין to add things it wouldn’t otherwise say (such as adding Hashem’s name in bentching when there are ten). In such cases, there would be a חשש פּריצותא. Here, however, where the מנין is only for פּירסומי ניסא and having a מנין doesn’t alter what is said, there is no concern of פּריצותא and the woman can be מצטרף.
In contrast to תוספות, the ראשונים bring the שיטה of the בה"ג who says women do not have a מצוה of קריאה; they only have a מצוה of שמיעה. As such, a woman may not be מוציא a man. See the טורי אבן here in ד"ה נשים חייבות who says that even if you agree with תוספות that both men and women share the מצוה of מקרא מגילה, women still may not be מוציא a man. A man is commanded to read the מגילה on the level of דברי קבלה, like a דין דאורייתא while a woman is only obligated as a result of אף הן היו באותו הנס. It is clear from תוספות here in ד"ה שאף that אף הן היו באותו הנס is a חיוב דרבנן and one bound by a חיוב דרבנן cannot exempt one bound by a חיוב מדברי קבלה.Hתוספות continues and says it might even be possible that when a man’s חיוב is only דרבנן (such as at night), a woman would still not be allowed to be מוציא him since she is considered תרי דרבנן (a דרבנן on a דרבנן), a lower level חיוב. He does not seem convinced of this last point though as the concept of תרי דרבנןs is not so clear.
- The גמרא says we don’t read the מגילה on שבת because of גזירה דרבה. Many ראשונים (תוספות, ר"ן, ריטב"א) ask why we חז"ל didn’t forbid doing מילה on שבת for the same reasoning, i.e. you might come to carry the knife in רה"ר? There are many different answers given in the ראשונים. See the ט"ז in סימן תקפּ"ז ס"ק ה who answers this question with his famous יסוד. He says that anytime the Torah explicitly says to do something, חז"ל would never make a גזירה against doing so. The Torah explicitly indicates we should do מילה, even on Shabbos, therefore, חז"ל could not forbid it.
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