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Megillah 17a

מגילה י״ז ע״א

Learn Megillah 17a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

יעקב's missing fourteen years with עבר, the end of the first פרק, and the משנה and sources for reading the מגילה in order

Overview

The גמרא asks why the תורה records ישמעאל's lifespan, and answers that it helps us work out יעקב's age. Adding up the years from the פסוקים makes יעקב 116 when he came to מצרים, but he told פרעה he was 130. The גמרא explains that the missing 14 years were spent learning in the house of עבר. A ברייתא shows that these years were not punished as time away from his parents: יוסף was separated from יעקב for only 22 years, which matches 20 years with לבן plus 2 years on the road home. The first פרק then ends with its הדרן. The new פרק opens with a משנה listing how the מגילה must be read: in order, from a written scroll, and in an understood language or in אשורית, from a scroll written in אשורית on parchment with ink. The גמרא finds the source for reading in order in 'נזכרים ונעשים' and extends the rule to הלל, קריאת שמע and תפלה, with four אמוראים giving sources for הלל. It then begins to find the source for שמע through a dispute between רבי and חכמים, and the פסוק behind רבי's view continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

לָמָּה נִמְנוּ שְׁנוֹתָיו שֶׁל יִשְׁמָעֵאל?

Why were the years of Ishmael counted?

כְּדֵי לְיַחֵס בָּהֶן שְׁנוֹתָיו שֶׁל יַעֲקֹב.

In order to calculate through them the years of Jacob.

דִּכְתִיב: ״וְאֵלֶּה שְׁנֵי חַיֵּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל

As it is written: 'And these are the years of the life of Ishmael,

מְאַת שָׁנָה וּשְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה וְשֶׁבַע שָׁנִים״.

a hundred years and thirty years and seven years.'

The steps (33)

  1. QuestionWhy does the תורה list ישמעאל's years?
  2. ResponseTo calculate יעקב's years
  3. Questionישמעאל was fourteen years older than יצחק
  4. Statementישמעאל was 74 when יעקב was born, so he lived 63 more years
  5. ProofA ברייתא: יעקב was 63 when blessed, the same time ישמעאל died
  6. ProofWhy the verse mentions 'sister of נביות'
  7. StatementAdding up יעקב's age until he came to מצרים: 116
  8. ChallengeBut יעקב told פרעה he was 130
  9. ResolutionThe missing fourteen years were spent in the house of עבר
  10. ProofA ברייתא confirms יעקב was in עבר's house for fourteen years
  11. QuestionHow do we know יעקב was not punished for those years?
  12. Responseיוסף was away twenty-two years, just like יעקב
  13. ProofThirty-six years minus fourteen leaves twenty-two
  14. ChallengeBut יעקב was only with לבן for twenty years
  15. ResolutionHe delayed two years on the road home
  16. ProofEighteen months in סוכות and six in בית אל
  17. Conclusionהדרן — Closing the chapter מגילה נקראת
  18. StatementThe מגילה must be read in order, from a scroll, in an understood language
  19. StatementPauses and dozing are fine; reading while writing or correcting needs intent
  20. StatementThe scroll must be in אשורית, on parchment, with ink
  21. QuestionWhat is the source for reading in order?
  22. Responseרבא: like the days of פורים, the reading must be in order
  23. ChallengeThe verse speaks about observing, not reading
  24. ResolutionRemembering is linked to observing
  25. StatementThe same rule applies to הלל, שמע, and תפלה
  26. QuestionWhat is the source for הלל?
  27. Responseרבה: From sunrise to sunset
  28. Responseרב יוסף: This is the day God made
  29. Responseרב אויא: Let God's name be blessed
  30. ResponseFrom now and forever
  31. QuestionNext item on the list: the שמע
  32. StatementThe ברייתא: must the שמע be in Hebrew or any language
  33. QuestionWhat is רבי's reason