Gemara Clarity

Megillah 22b

מגילה כ״ב ע״ב

Learn Megillah 22b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Megillah 22b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

How many people read the Torah on different days, and the laws and stories about bowing down (נפילת אפים, קידה, השתחואה)

Overview

The גמרא first finishes rejecting a proof from a story about רב about how many people read from the Torah on a תענית ציבור. It then brings a ברייתא that settles the question: on days when a long service keeps people from work, such as a תענית ציבור and תשעה באב, three read. On ראש חודש and חול המועד, four read. רב אשי objects that the כלל of our משנה seems to add fast days to the four-reader group. The גמרא answers that his reading fits no known תנא, since even the ברייתא about תשעה באב allows at most three readers. It then explains that the כלל is only a סימן: each step up in a day's importance adds one reader, which gives four for ראש חודש and מועד, five for יום טוב, six for יום הכפורים, and seven for שבת. Next the גמרא goes back to the story of רב, who did not fall on his face on a fast day, and gives three explanations: the stone floor, his custom of bowing fully stretched out, and the rule that an important person should not fall on his face in public. A ברייתא then defines קידה, כריעה and השתחואה. A story follows about לוי, who was injured demonstrating קידה. The amud ends as רב חייא בר אבין begins describing how אביי bowed, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

מִיפָּק לָא נָפְקִי.

As for leaving, they would not leave.

תָּא שְׁמַע,

Come and hear:

זֶה הַכְּלָל:

This is the general rule:

כֹּל שֶׁיֵּשׁ בּוֹ בִּיטּוּל מְלָאכָה לָעָם,

Any day on which there is a loss of work for the people,

The steps (28)

  1. RejectionPeople would not walk out on רב
  2. ProofA ברייתא: three read on fast days, four on ראש חודש and חול המועד
  3. ConclusionConclusion: three read on a fast day
  4. Challengeרב אשי cites the כלל of our own משנה
  5. ChallengeThe כלל must be including fast days
  6. ChallengeIf רב אשי is right, whose view is the משנה?
  7. ProofThe ברייתא about readers on תשעה באב
  8. ChallengeThen what does 'זה הכלל' add?
  9. ResolutionThe כלל adds ראש חודש and חול המועד
  10. ChallengeBut the משנה already names those days
  11. ResolutionThe כלל is only a memory aid
  12. ConclusionThe ladder of readers: four, five, six, seven
  13. StatementThe story of רב on a fast day in Babylonia
  14. QuestionWhy didn't רב bow down?
  15. ResponseBowing on a stone floor is forbidden
  16. ChallengeThen why only רב?
  17. ResolutionThe stone was only in front of רב
  18. ChallengeWhy didn't רב just move to where the people were?
  19. ResolutionHe did not want to bother the people
  20. ResolutionA second answer: רב bowed fully stretched out, unlike the others
  21. ChallengeWhy didn't רב just bow without stretching out?
  22. Resolutionרב would not change his custom
  23. ResolutionA third answer: an important person is different
  24. StatementThree kinds of bowing: קידה, כריעה, השתחואה
  25. Statementלוי demonstrates קידה and becomes lame
  26. ChallengeWas it really the bowing that made Levi lame?
  27. ResolutionBoth causes together made him lame
  28. Statementרב חייא בר אבין begins a report about how אביי bowed