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Megillah 5b

מגילה ה׳ ע״ב

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

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Topic

How רבי could plant on פורים (which day, and whether work is forbidden at all), and the doubtful walled status of טבריה and הוצל

Overview

This amud finishes רבי אלעזר's report that רבי planted on פורים, bathed in public on שבעה עשר בתמוז, and tried to abolish תשעה באב. רבי אבא בר זבדא corrects him: רבי only wanted to drop תשעה באב in a year when it fell on שבת and had already been postponed. The גמרא then asks how רבי could plant on פורים, since רב יוסף taught that work is forbidden. After some back-and-forth, it answers that רבי lived in walled טבריה, kept the 15th, and planted on the 14th. Eulogies and fasting are forbidden on both days, but work is forbidden only on one's own day. רבה בריה דרבא gives a bolder answer: the people never accepted a ban on work on פורים at all, because 'יום טוב' is missing from the final פסוק. רב's curse on a man who planted flax is explained as a local custom not to work, or else רבי's planting was a joyful 'planting of joy.' The גמרא then asks why חזקיה was unsure about טבריה. The sea formed one of its walls, and it is unclear whether a walled city for the מגילה is defined by being protected or by not being exposed. The amud ends with רב אסי's doubt about הוצל and the opening of a childhood story told by רבי יוחנן, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

וְרָחַץ בִּקְרוֹנָהּ שֶׁל צִפּוֹרִי

And he bathed at the wagon-market of Tzippori

בְּשִׁבְעָה עָשָׂר בְּתַמּוּז,

on the seventeenth of Tammuz,

וּבִקֵּשׁ לַעֲקוֹר תִּשְׁעָה בְּאָב —

and he sought to uproot the Ninth of Av —

וְלֹא הוֹדוּ לוֹ.

and they did not agree with him.

The steps (28)

  1. Statementרבי bathed on שבעה עשר בתמוז and sought to uproot תשעה באב
  2. Rejectionרבי אבא בר זבדא corrects the story
  3. Conclusionרבי אלעזר accepts the correction
  4. ChallengeHow could רבי plant on פורים if work is forbidden?
  5. Resolutionרבי kept the 14th and planted on the 15th
  6. ChallengeBut רבי lived in walled טבריה
  7. ResolutionReverse it: רבי kept the 15th and planted on the 14th
  8. ChallengeWas רבי really sure טבריה was walled?
  9. Resolutionחזקיה was unsure, but רבי was sure
  10. ChallengeEven if רבי kept the 15th, isn't the 14th also forbidden?
  11. ResolutionThe two-day ban covers eulogies and fasting, not work
  12. Challengeרב cursed a man for planting flax on פורים
  13. ResolutionIt was that man's own פורים day
  14. ResolutionEven on one's own פורים day, work was never forbidden
  15. ProofProof from the verses: 'a good day' was dropped
  16. ChallengeThen why did רב curse the flax planter?
  17. ResolutionLocal custom: the flax planter's town treated it as forbidden
  18. ResolutionSecond answer: רבי's planting was a planting of joy
  19. ProofProof that 'planting of joy' is a real category
  20. ProofA ברייתא defines building and planting of joy
  21. Statementחזקיה read the מגילה in טבריא on both days
  22. ChallengeA verse shows טבריא was a fortified city
  23. ResolutionOn one side, the sea was טבריא's wall
  24. ChallengeA ברייתא says the sea is not a wall
  25. ResolutionThe doubt is only about the מגילה: exposed or protected?
  26. Statementרב אסי reads the מגילה in הוצל on both days
  27. StatementAnother version: רב אסי held הוצל was definitely walled
  28. Statementרבי יוחנן begins a story from his childhood