Resources for Megillah 18

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

1. The גמרא brings a ברייתא that says the מגילה can be read in יוונית ליונים, גיפטית לגיפטים, etc. which the רי"ף brings להלכה. See the בעל המאור who asks on the רי"ף why would he bring this ברייתא since רב and שמואל both say that יוונית is valid for everyone, not just people who speak Greek. Moreover, ר' יוחנן in the first פּרק  paskened like רשב"ג who says Greek is כשר for ס"ת ושאר ספרים so it should be clear that we Pasken that way even for מגילה. The רמב"ן in מלחמות counters that מגילה is the exception which even רשב"ג would admit cannot be read or written in Greek for those who don’t speak Greek, since it says “ככתבם וכלשונם” which means it must be written in your own language. As such, even though רב ושמואל  hold it would be fine in Greek, we follow ר' יוחנן against רב ושמואל. The ר"ן disagrees with the entire premise and says that even the רי"ף agrees that יוונית is כשר for all. The issue is that no one knows ancient Greek anymore as it is a lost language. As such, Greek today means modern Greek and that is only כשר for people who understand Greek.
2. The גמרא says that the ברכה of את צמח comes after בונה ירושלים because, as רש"י explains, after the בית המקדש is built the Jews will look for דוד מלכם.  This seems to be saying that the בית המקדש will be built before משיח בן דוד comes. See the ירושלמי in שני  מעשר  פּרק ה הל' ב that says explicitly like רש"י explains our גמרא, that the בית המקדש will be built before מלכות בית דוד. However, see the גמרא in סנהדרין דף כּ' ע"ב that says that the Jews have three מצוות when they return to ארץ ישראל: first, to appoint a king, second, to destroy עמלק, and third, to build the בית המקדש, in that order. This would seem to contradict our גמרא. There are מדרשים on both sides as well.
3. The גמרא learns that the מגילה must be read from a קלף from a גזרה שוה to the פּרשה of  מחיית עמלק. See the מגן אברהם in סימן תרפּ"ה  who says that we see from our גמרא that one can be יוצא  the מצוה of זכירת עמלק  with the reading of the פּרשה of עמלק  in פּרשת בשלח since our גמרא is quoting פּרשת בשלח as the source of “זכור” needing to be read from a קלף. See the משנה ברורה in ס"ק ט"ז who disagrees since the פּרשה in בשלח doesn’t mention how evil עמלק is and why we therefore need to destroy them.In a related issue, see the ראש יוסף who asks that our גמרא sounds like there is an obligation to read the פּרשה of מחיית עמלק from a ספר. There is a מחלוקת ראשונים as to how often one must do this מצוה (see the חינוך מצוה תר"ג who mentions the various possibilities). The  אברהם מגן in סימן ס' ס"ק ב suggests that one can be מקיים the opinion that says to mention זכור  every day, by having in mind in אהבה רבה by the words “לשמך הגדול” that there is a מצוה to wipe out עמלק. The ראש יוסף asks that there is no קלף? He leaves it צ"ע.
4. The משנה says that if one read the מגילה while one is half asleep (מתנמנם), you are יוצא. See the מרדכי in סימן תשצ"א who brings from the ירושלמי that says that someone was sitting in front of זעירא  and being מתנמנם. When זעירא saw him he told him to go back and say it (the מגילה) again. This seems to be a contradiction to our משנה which says מתנמנם is יוצא. The מרדכי explains that this is not a סתירה to our משנה since the ירושלמי that says you are not יוצא is referring to someone listening while מתנמנם. This is brought להלכה in סימן תר"ץ סעיף י"ב. What is unclear is what the difference is between the reader vs. the listener. The משנה ברורה in ס"ק מ"א explains that if you read מתנמנם, at least you said all the words, but if you listen מתנמנם you probably missed some words. However, see the ברכי יוסף there who says that the ירושלמי is just saying לכתחילה if you haven’t yet finished the קריאה you should repeat the מגילה, but the משנה is saying that בדיעבד if you finished already then you are יוצא.

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