Resources for Megillah 19

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

1. There is a מחלוקת אחרונים as to whether a woman is כשרה to write a מגילה. The פּרי מגדים in סימן תרצ"א משבצות זהב ס"ק ב suggests that a woman should be able to write the מגילה since she is a בר חיובא in at least שמיעת המגילה. See the קסת הסופר in the  הסופר, סימן כ"ח ס"ק ז לשכת who brings the מלאכת שלמה that disagrees since מזוזה disproves this, as it is something a woman is a בר חיובא  in, yet she is not כשרה to write one. The קסת הסופר himself brings a proof from our גמרא. The גמרא says that the מגילה must be written in דיו like a ספר תורה as it says  אסתר המלכה את כל תוקף ותכתב. It says explicitly in the פּסוק that אסתר wrote the מגילה, and since we are learning the הלכות of כתיבת המגילה from this פּסוק, it stands to reason that we should learn from here that a woman can write the מגילה.
2. The משנה says a דין that someone who travels from a place where they read on the 15^th to a place where they read on the 14^th, if he plans on staying though the morning of the 14^th he should read on that day. See the ר"ן on דף ו:' בדפּי הרי"ף who brings the ירושלמי that if after reading the מגילה on the 14^th he then goes home on the night of the 15^th, he reads the מגילה again. There is an important מחלוקת ראשונים here about a בן עיר that went to a כרך. See the רא"ש who quotes רש"י as understanding that if the בן עיר is in the כרך on the 14^th and plans to return home on the 15^th, he doesn’t read on the 15^th since being in the כרך on the 14^th doesn’t bring any חיוב with it. Instead, he reads on the 14^th even while in the כרך. However, the רא"ש disagrees and says that once you are in the כרך on the 14^th, your חיוב to read on the 14^th is נסתלק by being in the כרך, and you are considered like a בן כרך and must read on the 15^th even if you return back to the עיר on the 15^th. See the פּרי מגדים, סימן תרפּ"ח משבצות זהב ס"ק ו that says another interesting נפקא מינה: if a בן עיר went to a city which reads on both days מספק. According to רש"י, the main point is if you were in a town with a חיוב קריאה, then you have a חיוב קריאה and would need to read both days. According to the רא"ש, the main point is if your own חיוב was נסתלק, and since that didn’t happen in this town, you don’t read on the 15^th.
3. The משנה says that everyone can read the מגילה except a קטן (and a חרש ושוטה). There is an important מחלוקת ראשונים as to why this is true. After all, if the child has reached the age of חינוך he is חייב במצוות מדרבנן, and the whole מצות מגילה is a  מצוה דרבנן, why can’t a דרבנן be מוציא a דרבנן? Moreover, we know a child can be מוציא his father in bentching if the father only ate a כזית which is a שיעור דרבנן. Seeתוספות here who explains that someone that is a double דרבנן (such as a child who only has a חיוב דרבנן of חינוך for all מצוות and here the מצוה itself is a דרבנן), cannot be מוציא an adult who is only a single דרבנן. The case where a child can be מוציא his father in bentching is where the child had a שיעור דאורייתא so it is one דרבנן being מוציא one דרבנן. See the ר"ן on דף ו:' בדפּי הרי"ף ד"ה מתני who brings the רמב"ןwho says the following incredible יסוד: children do not have a חיוב במצוות at all. The חיוב חינוך is on the father, not the child. As such the child is really not מחויב in מגילה at all. The גמרא that says a child can bentch for his father was talking about an older child who is above 13. As to רבי יהודה who says a קטן can be מוציא a גדול in מגילה, it is because he holds that חז"ל made a special חיוב for children in מגילה since אף הן היו באותו הנס. See also the מאירי who says a child cannot be מוציא a גדול since for an adult it is דברי קבלה and for the child it is just חינוך which is a regular דין דרבנן and a חיוב דרבנן can’t be מוציא a חיוב מדברי קבלה.The שולחן ערוך in סימן תרפּ"ט סעיף ב Paskens like the רבנן who says a child cannot be מוציא a גדול. See the מגן אברהם ס"ק ד who asks that in הלכות חנוכה the שולחן ערוך Paskens like the בעל העיטור that a child can light חנוכה candles for the house! See the פּרי מגדים in the פּתיחה כוללת ח"א אות י"ח who answers, similar to the מאירי, that מגילה is דברי קבלה as opposed to Chanukah. רב שמואל רוזובסקי זצ"ל in זכרון שמואל סימן י"ט says that there is marked difference between being מוציא someone in a מצוה vs. having something be considered a מעשה מצוה. The חנוכה candles are a חיוב on the house. For that, since the child is חייב in חינוך, his action is considered a מעשה מצוה. When it comes to מקרא מגילה, there the child is being מוציא the גדול and for that a child which is a double דרבנן can’t be מוציא an adult who is a single דרבנן.

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