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Megillah 15a

מגילה ט״ו ע״א

Learn Megillah 15a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Megillah 15a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Identifying prophets through their names, אגדות about famous women, and דרשות on מגילת אסתר chapters 4–5

Overview

The גמרא continues its list of prophets descended from רחב and asks how we know their fathers were prophets too. עולא answers that a father named in a prophetic verse was also a prophet, and a ברייתא adds that ancestors named with praise or blame share in it. רב נחמן's claim that מלאכי is מרדכי is refuted by a ברייתא that lists them separately. רב נחמן then supports the view of רבי יהושע בן קרחה that מלאכי is עזרא, since both fought intermarriage. Next come ברייתות about famous beautiful women, including the power of רחב's name. The גמרא then returns to explaining פסוקים in מגילת אסתר: מרדכי's cry, אסתר's fright, התך as דניאל, אסתר going to the king willingly, and her being clothed in רוח הקודש. A string of teachings from רבי אלעזר in the name of רבי חנינא follows: on the blessing and curse of a הדיוט, on quoting in the name of the speaker, and on the loss of a צדיק. The amud ends as רב חסדא begins to explain why seeing מרדכי made המן feel his success was worthless, and his explanation continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

בִּשְׁלָמָא אִינְהוּ — מִיפָּרְשִׁי,

Granted, regarding them, it is explicit,

אֶלָּא אֲבָהָתַיְיהוּ מְנָלַן?

but their fathers, from where do we derive it?

כִּדְעוּלָּא.

As Ulla taught.

דְּאָמַר עוּלָּא:

For Ulla said:

The steps (34)

  1. QuestionHow do we know the fathers were prophets?
  2. Responseעולא's rule about names in prophecy
  3. StatementA ברייתא on righteous and wicked lineage
  4. Statementרב נחמן: מלאכי is מרדכי
  5. ChallengeA ברייתא lists מלאכי and מרדכי separately
  6. Conclusionרב נחמן is refuted
  7. StatementA ברייתא debates whether מלאכי is עזרא
  8. Proofרב נחמן cites מלאכי's prophecy against intermarriage
  9. Proofעזרא is the one who sent away the foreign wives
  10. StatementThe four most beautiful women in the world
  11. StatementHow each of four women drew attention
  12. Statementרבי יצחק on the power of רחב's name
  13. Challengeרב נחמן says the name does not affect him
  14. Resolutionרבי יצחק meant only someone who knew רחב
  15. QuestionWhat did מרדכי cry out?
  16. Responseרב and שמואל explain מרדכי's cry
  17. QuestionWhat does 'וַתִּתְחַלְחַל' mean?
  18. Responseאסתר's fear caused a physical reaction
  19. Statementהתך was really דניאל
  20. Statementאסתר asks whether the Jews broke the Torah
  21. Statementהתך did not bring back the bad news himself
  22. Statementאסתר goes to the king willingly for the first time
  23. Statementאסתר will now be lost to מרדכי
  24. StatementWhat it means that מרדכי 'passed'
  25. ChallengeWhy does the verse say she wore 'royalty' and not 'royal clothes'?
  26. Resolutionאסתר was clothed in רוח הקודש
  27. StatementDo not take lightly the blessing of an ordinary person
  28. ProofThe examples of דוד and דניאל
  29. StatementDo not take lightly the curse of an ordinary person
  30. Statementה׳ puts in the water before the pot
  31. StatementQuoting someone by name brings redemption
  32. StatementWhen a righteous man dies, the loss belongs to his generation
  33. Statementהמן said 'all this is worth nothing' when he saw מרדכי
  34. Statementרב חסדא explains why seeing מרדכי upset המן so much