Resources for Megillah 5

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

1. The גמרא quotes a מחלוקת between רב ורב אסי whether ten people are needed for מגילה reading בזמנה. There is a significant מחלוקת ראשונים regarding how to understand their מחלוקת as well as how to pasken. רש"י explains the מחלוקת between רב ורב אסי is only about whether לכתחילה you need ten people, but all would agree it isn’t מעכב בדיעבד. See the רי"ף, the רמב"ן, and רבינו תם who all understand that רב אסי means ten people are מעכב even בדיעבד. See the ר"ן in ר"ה דף ז בדפּי הרי"ף ד"ה והקשו who says that even if you hold the מגילה must be read with ten, you don’t have to be part of those ten. In other words, if you just hear the מגילה being read in shul, even if you are in a place where for whatever reason you are not considered to be מצטרף with those ten, you would still be יוצא the מגילה since it was read with ten people present. In a somewhat similar vein, see the ארחות חיים quoted by the בית יוסף in סימן תר"צ who says that if the מגילה was already read in your city with ten people and you missed it, even according to רב אסי you can לכתחילה read it ביחידות. It appears from both of these opinions that the חיוב of having ten people present is either a דין in the קריאה itself or the ציבור but not the individual. Other פּוסקים

2. The גמרא says that רבי planted a tree on פּורים. The גמרא asks how he could do מלאכה on פּורים when the פּסוק calls it a day of שמחה משתה ויו"ט. The גמרא answers in the name of רבה בריה דרבא that although פּורים was originally intended to be a day of יו"ט, it was not accepted as such. We see this two פּסוקים later where the פּסוק says ימי משתה ושמחה and leaves out the word יו"ט. See the משנת יעב"ץ in או"ח סימן ע"ט who has a fascinating הערה: he points out that not only did the word יו"ט get left out from the first פּסוק, but the order changed as well. In the second פּסוק where יו"ט is mentioned, it says “שמחה ומשתה”. In the first פּסוק where יו"ט is left out, it says “ימי משתה ושמחה”. He explains that if פּורים was going to be an official יו"ט, it would have a חיוב שמחה like any other יו"ט. Once פּורים was not accepted as a יו"ט, there was no longer a חיוב שמחה but rather a חיוב סעודה which creates a דין שמחה. The נפקא מינה he suggests, is that one would be allowed to get married on פּורים and there would be no issue of אין מערבין שמחה בשמחה since the only חיוב שמחה is relevant to the סעודה but not to the day itself. (This is indeed how the שולחן ערוך paskens in סימן תרצ"ו סעיף ח but against the מג"א there). See also the ימי הפּורים by רב יונתן זקס in סימן י"ט who suggests a different נפקא מינה in that if פּורים had a דין יו"ט, then the סעודת פּורים would necessarily require bread like all סעודות יו"ט. Since it is no longer a יו"ט, the חיוב סעודה may not require bread.

3. The גמרא says that if תשעה באב falls out on שבת, we push it off till Sunday. רש"י comments that this הלכה also applies to י"ז בתמוז and עשרה בטבת. See the ריטב"א here who explains that when תענית אסתר is נדחה it is observed earlier than the 13^th rather than later since it is not a sad fast but rather a fast of תשובה. Regarding עשרה בטבת, see the בית יוסף in סימן תק"נ quoting an אבודרהם who disagrees with רש"י and says an astonishing חידוש that if עשרה בטבת could fall out on שבת (which it can’t), we would even fast on שבת! He learns this from the fact that the פּסוק in יחזקאל says “בעצם היום הזה” which is the same words used by יום כיפּור. The בית יוסף says he does not know the source for this אבודרהם. See the קונטרס חנוכה ומגילה סימן ח quoting the Brisker Rov who explains based on the ריטב"א in ר"ה דף י"ח that the other two fasts are referred to in זכריה as “the fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth month”. The ריטב"א there explains that the fasts were בעיקר נקבע during the month of תמוז and אב as opposed to specific days. Based on this the Brisker Rov says it is possible to push off the other fasts since they just need to be in the right month. By contrast, עשרה בטבת is referred to as בעצם היום הזה which means it must be on that day only.

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