Taanis 18b

תענית י״ח ע״ב

Taanit 18b

Learn Taanis 18b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Fasting on the days around פורים, the stories of יום ניקנור and יום טוריינוס, the end of the chapter, and emergencies that call for an immediate outcry

Overview

The גמרא asks which early-reading case the משנה means when it says fasting and הספד are still allowed. It rules out the 14th, the 13th (יום ניקנור) and the 12th (יום טוריינוס), and challenges that it must mean the 11th, the day before יום טוריינוס. It answers that the משנה means the 12th after all, because יום טוריינוס was cancelled when שמעיה and his brother אחיה were killed on it, as רב נחמן also ruled. רב אשי adds that a cancelled day is not restricted again just because יום ניקנור comes next. The גמרא then tells the stories behind both days: the defeat of the Greek general ניקנור, and the death of טוריינוס right after he killed לוליינוס and פפוס. Back to the משנה, רב אחא and רבי אסי argue about how many fasts count as a 'beginning'. The הלכה follows חכמים: such a fast is kept and completed. The chapter ends with הדרן, and a new משנה teaches that sick plants, long gaps between rains, weak rain, or a city left dry call for crying out immediately.

Opening lines

The steps (24)

1. QuestionWhen does the משנה allow fasting and eulogizing?
2. RejectionNot walled cities reading on the fourteenth
3. ProofProof from מגילת תענית and רבא
4. RejectionNot the thirteenth, because it is יום ניקנור
5. RejectionNot the twelfth, because it is יום טוריינוס
6. ChallengeIt must be the eleventh, and the משנה still permits fasting
7. ResolutionBack to the 12th: יום טוריינוס was cancelled
8. Proofרב נחמן fasted on the 12th
9. ChallengeBut the 12th is the day before יום ניקנור
10. Resolutionרב אשי: no new restriction because of the next day
11. QuestionWhat are יום ניקנור and יום טוריינוס?
12. ResponseThe story of ניקנור
13. ResponseThe story of טוריינוס begins
14. Responseטוריינוס is not worthy of a miracle
15. Responseה׳ has many ways to punish us, but He will avenge our blood
16. Responseטוריינוס kills them and is killed himself
17. StatementBack to the משנה: no starting fasts on Thursday or ראש חודש
18. QuestionHow many fasts count as a beginning?
19. Responseרב אחא says three, רבי אסי says one
20. StatementThis is רבי מאיר's view; חכמים say fast and finish
21. ConclusionThe הלכה: fast and complete the fast
22. ConclusionHadran — Closing the chapter סדר תעניות כיצד
23. StatementNew משנה: the slow order of fasts is only for a late first rain
24. StatementMore emergencies: rain that is not enough, and a city left dry