Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 8, scan section 42

read on the Sabbath. Why so ? Said Rabha: All are obliged to read the Megilla, but not all are able to read it ; and this is a precautionary measure, lest one take the Megilla in his hand and go with it to an expert to learn to read it, and at the same time he will carry four ells in public ground. (Therefore it must not be read on Sabbath at all.) And the same is the reason why we do not blow the cornet on the New Year's day when it falls on Sabbath, and do not use the Lulab on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles when it falls on Sabbath. R. Jose said : Here is another reason: It is because the poor hope only for the day when the Megilla is read to receive gifts, a thing which cannot be done on Sabbath. We have learned the same also in the fol- lowing Boraitha: Because it was said that the inhabitants of vil- lages read in advance on the day of assembly, the charity that must be given on that feast shall be collected and distributed on the same day, because the poor hope only for the day when the Megilla is read. The enjoyment of eating and drinking, how- ever, must be only on the appointed time. Rabh said: If the Megilla is read in the right-time, it may be read even by an individual ; but if not on the right-time, then only when ten men are together. R. Assi, however, said: In both instances it must be read only when ten men are together. It happened once that Rabh had not ten men : he took the trouble to assemble ten men because of R. Assi's decision. MISHNA: What must be considered as a large town ? Any town in which there are ten Batlonim. Should there be less than that number, it is legally considered a village. It was said with respect to these, that " it may be done sooner, but not later" ; but the day of the delivery of wood for the priests, the fast on the 9th of Abh, the festive sacrifices, and the day of assembly (to fast and pray for rain) are to be postponed to a later day, but must not be kept before their proper time. Although it was said in respect to the reading of the Megilla that it may be done earlier but not later, it is yet permitted on these days to pronounce funeral orations and to fast, also to give the gifts to the poor. Said R. Jehudah: When is it allowed to read the Megilla before its proper time ? In places where it is customary for the country people to assemble in the towns on io THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. Mondays and Thursdays; but where that does not take place, the Megilla may only be read on its proper day. GEMARA: We have learned in a Boraitha: By the ten Batlonim are meant those who are always in the house of prayer (and must be supported by the congregation, so that at the prayer should never be less than ten men, as is explained in Tract Berachoth). * ' It may be done sooner, but not later. ' ' Why so ? Said Samuel: Because in the Book of Esther it was said, " shall not trespass." " Delivery of wood for the priests, the gth of Abh," etc. The 9th of Abh shall not be made sooner, because calamities are not lamented in advance; and concerning the festive sacrifice and the assembly, it cannot be done earlier, because that duty has not arrived yet. And a Boraitha taught: " The festive sacri- fice, and all the time appointed for it (if it was not brought in its right time), can be postponed, but not made earlier." It is right, the festive sacrifice itself; if the festival falls on Sabbath, we postpone it till after Sabbath. But what is meant by " its time shall be postponed " ? Said R. Ushia: The Boraitha meant to say thus : The feast-offering, when the festival falls on Sabbath, and the burnt-offering which must be brought when the pilgrims visit Jerusalem [see Deut. xvi. 16, 17], even when the festival did not fall on Sabbath, the offering had to be postponed for the time during the seven days after it. And this is according only to Beth Shammai (Betzah, Chap. II., Mishna 3). Rabha, how- ever, said: What is meant by " the time of the feast-offering may be postponed " ? Only for the seven days it can be post- poned, not later. R. Eleazar said in the name of R. Hanina: Rabbi used to set out a plant on Purim, and washed himself in the market of Ziporith (publicly) on the 17th day of Tamuz (which is a fast- day), and intended to abolish the fast of the 9th of Abh. But the sages did not agree with him. Said to him R. Abba bar Zabda: Rabbi, this was not so, for it once happened when the 9th of Abh fell on Sabbath, and it was postponed to Sunday, and Rabbi declared : When it has been postponed, it shall not be kept at all. And the sages did not agree with him. And the former then read the verse [in Ecc. iv. 9] : " Two are better than one." (Rashi explains this, that he means to say the second statement was better than the first ; but it seems to us the explanation is different. He means to say that if so, both happened twice, and TRACT MEGILLA. n Rabbi did not intend to abolish the 9th of Abh, but did abolish.) Hezekiah used to read the Megilla in Tiberia both days — the 14th and the 15th — because it was doubtful to him whether Tiberia had been surrounded with a wall from the time of Joshua b. Nun. But how can this be doubtful ? Is it not written [Josh. xix. 35] : " And the fortified cities Ziddim, Zer and Chammath, Rakkath and Kinereth"? And we have a tradition that Rak- kath is Tiberia. It was doubtful to him, because on one side the sea was its wall. If so, why is it doubtful ? The sea is not a wall, and we have learned in a Boraitha that what is written [Lev. xxv. 30], " the city that has a wall," means a wall, but not if the houses are built around like a wall — and that excludes Tiberia where the sea is the wall ? He was not doubtful in respect to the law about houses in a walled town, but in respect to the Megilla, because the expression in the Megilla is " open towns," and he doubted whether the city, having the sea as a wall, is called open or not. R. Asi used to read the Megilla in the city of Hutzl also on both days, because he doubted whether it was surrounded in the time of Joshua with a wall or not. According to others, R. Asi said : This Hutzl, which was in the tribe of Benjamin, I am certain was walled in the time of Joshua b. Nun. R. Johanan said : When I was a child I said a thing, and afterward the elders were asked, and it was found that I was right ; namely, Hammath, that is, Tiberia. And why is it called in the Bible Hammath ? Because of the hot springs that are in Tiberia.* Rakkath is Ziporith, but why is it called in the Bible Rakkath ? Because it is situated on the summit of a mountain, as the banks of a river are more elevated than the river.t Kin- ereth, that is, Genoser; but why is it called Kinereth ? Because