Megillah 5a

מגילה ה׳ ע״א

Learn Megillah 5a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Megillah 5a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Reading the מגילה with or without ten, which observances are moved earlier or later, and the meaning of 'all the time of חגיגה'

Overview

This amud opens by finishing an earlier point: even when the מגילה reading is moved earlier, the שמחה of פורים stays on its real date. רב rules that on the real date one may read the מגילה alone, but on a moved date ten are needed. רב אסי requires ten in both cases. The גמרא challenges רב from his statement 'ערב שבת זמנם', and then explains that this statement only rejects רבי's move to יום הכניסה. A new משנה defines a large city as one with ten בטלנין. It teaches that the מגילה is moved earlier, never later, while עצי כהנים, תשעה באב, חגיגה and הקהל are moved later, never earlier. The גמרא gives reasons: ״וְלֹא יַעֲבוֹר״ for the מגילה, not rushing tragedy for תשעה באב, and the obligation not yet having begun for חגיגה and הקהל. It then brings three readings of a ברייתא's phrase 'all the time of חגיגה', from רב אושעיא, רבא and רב אשי. The amud ends by starting a list of unusual practices of רבי, beginning with his planting on פורים.

Opening lines

The steps (31)

1. Conclusionפורים joy stays on its real date
2. Statementרב: alone on the real date, ten on a moved date
3. Statementרב אסי: always ten
4. Statementרב acts stringently for רב אסי's view
5. ChallengeDid רב really say that? His other statement about פורים on שבת
6. QuestionIsn't Shabbat itself the real date?
7. ChallengeSo the moved date is like the real date, even alone
8. RejectionNo, that statement is not about a minyan
9. Resolutionרב was rejecting רבי's view
10. StatementWhat counts as a large city
11. Statementמגילה is moved earlier, but some other dates are moved later
12. StatementAn early reading day is not fully פורים
13. Statementרבי יהודה limits early reading
14. StatementThe ten idlers are men who sit in the בית הכנסת
15. QuestionWhy is the מגילה read early but never late?
16. ResponseThe verse says 'and it shall not pass'
17. StatementYears are counted by months, not by days
18. StatementMonths are counted by days, not by hours
19. StatementBack to the משנה: observances that are only delayed
20. Responseתשעה באב: we do not rush tragedy
21. Responseחגיגה and הקהל: their time has not yet come
22. StatementA ברייתא: The Festival Offering and Its Time Are Postponed
23. QuestionWhat Does 'The Time of the Festival Offering' Mean?
24. Responseרב אושעיא: The עולת ראייה Is Postponed Even Past the יום טוב
25. StatementIdentifying the Author as בית שמאי
26. ProofThe Source: בית שמאי Forbid Burnt Offerings on a Festival
27. Responseרבא: Push it off within the festival, but no later
28. ProofProof from the משנה: The make-up period ends with the festival
29. Responseרב אשי: Even one-day שבועות has make-up days
30. ProofProof: When שבועות is on שבת, slaughter is after שבת
31. Statementרבי planted a sapling on פורים