Gemara Clarity

Megillah 32a

מגילה ל״ב ע״א

Learn Megillah 32a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Megillah 32a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The closing laws of מסכת מגילה: blessing over the open ספר תורה, proper handling and honor of the ספר תורה, and studying each festival's laws in its season.

Overview

This amud, the last of מסכת מגילה, opens by finishing a discussion from the previous amud. רבי זירא described the practice step by step instead of saying 'הלכה כרבי יהודה', because some people had switched the names in the ברייתא. The גמרא then brings that ברייתא. רבי מאיר says the reader closes the scroll before the ברכה, so people will not think the ברכות are written in the Torah. רבי יהודה says the reader may bless over the open scroll, and that is the הלכה. Next comes a series of practical rules about handling a ספר תורה: how to roll and tighten it, why the greatest person present should do גלילה, and why one should not hold the bare parchment. In between, רבי יוחנן teaches when one may rely on a בת קול. He also applies a harsh פסוק to reading without a tune, and אביי objects and reapplies it to scholars who quarrel. The amud ends with the משנה's teaching that each יום טוב's portion is read in its own time, and משה's תקנה to study each festival's הלכות on that festival.

Opening lines

מִשּׁוּם דְּאָפְכִי לְהוּ.

Because there are those who reverse them.

תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן:

The Rabbis taught:

פּוֹתֵחַ וְרוֹאֶה, גּוֹלֵל וּמְבָרֵךְ,

He opens and looks, rolls it closed and blesses,

וְחוֹזֵר וּפוֹתֵחַ וְקוֹרֵא.

and then opens it again and reads.

The steps (30)

  1. ResolutionWhy the ruling had to be stated: some reversed the names
  2. StatementThe ברייתא: close the scroll before the blessing, or bless while it is open?
  3. QuestionWhat is רבי מאיר's reason?
  4. Responseרבי מאיר's reason: people might think the blessings are written in the Torah
  5. Resolutionרבי יהודה's view: the translation can be confused with the text, the blessings cannot
  6. StatementThe final ruling: open, look, bless, read
  7. ChallengeWhy not just name רבי יהודה?
  8. ResolutionSome people swapped the names
  9. StatementThe לוחות and בימות have no holiness
  10. StatementClose the scroll on a seam
  11. StatementRoll from the outside, not the inside
  12. StatementTightening the scroll from the inside
  13. StatementThe greatest of the readers rolls the Torah
  14. ProofThe roller earns the reward of all the readers
  15. ChallengeDo the others lose their reward?
  16. ResolutionA reward equal to all of them
  17. StatementA source for relying on a בת קול
  18. StatementLimits on relying on a בת קול
  19. StatementReading Torah without a tune
  20. Challengeאביי objects: is a weak voice really that bad?
  21. ResolutionThe verse refers to scholars who quarrel
  22. StatementHolding a bare Torah scroll leads to being buried bare
  23. ChallengeCan it really mean buried without clothing?
  24. ResolutionBuried bare means without מצוות
  25. ChallengeWould he really lose all his מצוות?
  26. Resolutionאביי: he loses only that מצוה
  27. StatementRoll the cloth, not the Torah scroll
  28. StatementEach festival's reading is done in its own time
  29. Statementמשה set up studying each festival's laws on that festival
  30. Conclusionהדרן: closing פרק בני העיר and מסכת מגילה