MEGILAH - 006b – מגילה נקראת – פרק ראשון – מגילה, ו ע”ב

Germamya of Edom,^[1]

גרממיא - the name of a kingdom, which is of Edom:

for if they were to go out, they would destroy the entire world.

And Rabbi Chama bar Chanina said: There are three hundred crowned princes^[2] in Germamya of Edom,

and three hundred and sixty-five chieftains^[3]

מרזבני - dukes:

in Rome.

And every day these go out against those, and one of them is killed, and they are busy setting up a king.^[4]

And Rabbi Yitzchak said: If a person tells you: I toiled and did not find — do not believe him.^[5]

יגעתי - in Torah:

I did not toil, yet I found — do not believe him.

I toiled and I found — believe him.

This applies to words of Torah; but in business, it is help from Heaven.

And even in words of Torah we said this only of sharpening one's understanding,

but to retain one's learning,

לאוקמי גירסא - so that it will not be forgotten by him:

that is help from Heaven.

סייעתא דשמיא - and there is one who toils and does not find:

And Rabbi Yitzchak said: If you see a wicked man for whom the hour is smiling, do not provoke him.

As it is said (Tehillim 37:1): Do not compete with evildoers.^[6]

And not only that, but his ways prosper, as it is said (Tehillim 10:5): His ways prosper at all times.

יחילו - they prosper. Similar to it: therefore his goodness shall not prosper (Iyov 20:21):

And not only that, but he wins in judgment.

As it is said: Your judgments are far above, out of his sight.

מרום משפטיך מנגדו - they are removed from him:

And not only that, but he sees the downfall of his enemies.

As it is said: As for all his foes, he blows at them.

יפיח בהם - with a mere puff of breath they fall:

Is that so?

But Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai: It is permitted to provoke the wicked in this world.

As it is said (Mishlei 28:4): Those who forsake the Torah praise the wicked, but those who keep the Torah contend with them?

And it was taught: Rabbi Dostai bar Masun said: It is permitted to provoke the wicked in this world.

And if a person whispers to you, saying: Do not compete^[7] with evildoers, and do not envy those who do wrong?

— one whose heart strikes him says so.

מי שלבו נוקפו - one who is afraid because of the sins in his hand says so:

Rather, do not compete with evildoers — to be like the evildoers.

אל תתחר - this is not a term of provoking, but that you should not take hold of his deeds, as in: How then can you compete with horses? (Yirmiyahu 12:5), meaning that he cannot run as they do:

And do not envy those who do wrong — to be like those who do wrong?

And it says (Mishlei 23:17): Let your heart not envy sinners, etc.?

ואומר אל יקנא לבך בחטאים כי אם ביראת ה' כל היום - perforce this envy is not a term of provoking war, but of taking hold of his deeds, since the end of the verse says: but only in the fear of Hashem all day long:

There is no contradiction: this is in his own personal matters, that is in matters of Heaven.^[8]

And if you wish, say: both are in his own personal matters, and there is no contradiction: this is a completely righteous man, that is one who is not completely righteous.^[9]

As Rav Huna said: What is meant by what is written (Chavakuk 1:13): Why do You look upon the treacherous, and remain silent when the wicked swallows one more righteous than he?

More righteous than he — he swallows; a completely righteous man — he does not swallow.

And if you wish, say: the hour is smiling on him is different.^[10]

Ulla said: Italia of Yavan — this is the great city of Rome.

איטליא של יון - a great city that grew because of the sin of Menashe: when he brought an idol into the Heichal, Gavriel descended and stuck a reed into the sea, and a great area grew around it, and Italia of Yavan was built there. From the islands of Elishah (Yechezkel 27:7) is translated in the Targum: from the provinces of Italia:

And it is three hundred parsaos^[11] by three hundred parsaos.

And it has three hundred and sixty-five markets,^[12]

שווקים - streets:

like the number of the days of the solar year.

And the smallest of them all is that of the poultry sellers, and it is sixteen mil by sixteen mil.

And the king dines each day in one of them.

And one who lives there, even though he was not born there, receives a portion from the king's house.

פרס - food:

And one who was born there, even though he does not live there, receives a portion from the king's house.

And there are three thousand bathhouses^[13] in it.

And five hundred windows send smoke out beyond the wall.

חלונות שמעלים מהן עשן חוץ לחומה - they are higher than the wall and do not blacken the wall with smoke, and this is a mark of importance:

One side of it is the sea, and one side mountains and hills.

One side is a wall of iron, and one side gravel and deep water.

חולסית - a place of fine stones:

Mishnah

If they read the Megillah in the first Adar, and the year was then made a leap year, they read it in the second Adar.^[14]

There is no difference between the first Adar and the second Adar^[15] except the reading of the Megillah and gifts to the poor.

אלא מקרא מגילה - that is, if one did them in the first, he has not fulfilled the obligation:

Gemara

This implies that with regard to the order of the special portions,

סדר פרשיות - the portions of Shekalim, Zachor, Parah and HaChodesh, as we learned in the Mishnah of "Bnei Ha'ir," which are practiced in Adar:

this one and that one are equal.

זה וזה שוין - if he read them in the first, he need not read them again in the second:

Whose view is our Mishnah?

Not the first Tanna, not Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Yosei, and not Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel?

As it was taught: If they read the Megillah in the first Adar and the year was then made a leap year, they read it in the second Adar,

for all the mitzvos practiced in the second are practiced in the first, except the reading of the Megillah.

Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Yosei says: They do not read it in the second Adar,

for all the mitzvos practiced in the second are practiced in the first.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says in the name of Rabbi Yosei: They read it in the second Adar as well, for all the mitzvos practiced in the second are not practiced in the first.

And they agree regarding eulogy and fasting, that they are forbidden on both.

שאסורין בזה ובזה - on the fourteenth and fifteenth of both of them:

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel is the same as the first Tanna?

ואמר רב פפא גרסינן: - the reading is: "and Rav Papa said":

Rav Papa said: The order of the portions is the difference between them.

For the first Tanna holds: ideally in the second, but if they did it in the first, it is done — except the reading of the Megillah, which even if they read it in the first, they read it again in the second.

And Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Yosei holds: even the reading of the Megillah is ideally in the first.

And Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel holds: even the order of the portions, if they read them in the first, they read them again in the second.

ורבן שמעון בן גמליאל כו' - for he spoke of all mitzvos:

Whose view is it?

If the first Tanna — the gifts are difficult?

If Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Yosei — the reading of the Megillah is also difficult?

If Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel — the order of the portions is difficult?

In truth it is the first Tanna, and he taught the reading of the Megillah, and the same applies to the gifts to the poor, for one depends on the other.

And if you wish, say: in truth it is Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, and the Mishnah is incomplete, and this is what it teaches:

מתניתין הכי קתני - and it does not speak of the order of the portions at all:

There is no difference between the fourteenth of the first Adar and the fourteenth of the second Adar except the reading of the Megillah and the gifts — which implies that regarding eulogy and fasting this one and that one are equal; and the order of the portions it does not discuss.

Rabbi Chiya bar Avin said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: The halachah follows Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, who spoke in the name of Rabbi Yosei.

Rabbi Yochanan said: And both expounded one verse.

In each and every year.

Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Yosei holds: in each and every year — just as every year it is the Adar adjacent to Shevat, so here it is the Adar adjacent to Shevat.

And Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel holds: in each and every year — just as every year it is the Adar adjacent to Nissan, so here it is the Adar adjacent to Nissan.

It makes sense for Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Yosei: the reasoning is that one does not pass over mitzvos.

אין מעבירין כו' - once it has come to my hand, I should hurry to do it, for so it was taught in the Mechilta: And you shall guard the matzos — if a mitzvah comes to your hand, do not let it become stale:

But Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel — what is his reason?

Rabbi Tavi said: The reason of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel is that juxtaposing redemption to redemption is preferable.

גאולה לגאולה - Purim to Pesach:

Rabbi Elazar said: The reason of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel is from here.

As it is written: To confirm this second letter of Purim.

השנית - in the second month:

And it was necessary to write

Tosafos

הא לענין סדר פרשיות זה וזה שוין - if they read the four portions in the first Adar, when they did not yet know that the year would need to be intercalated, and afterwards they made it a leap year, they need not read them in the second Adar:

ורבי אליעזר ברבי יוסי סבר אף מקרא מגילה [לכתחלה בראשון. And it seems] that he infers this from the superfluous phrase taught, "for all the mitzvos practiced in the second are practiced in the first," [which implies] ideally. Some have the practice of making days of feasting and joy on the fourteenth and fifteenth of the first Adar, and the plain sense of the Mishnah also implies so, since it says "except the reading of the Megillah alone and gifts to the poor," implying that regarding feasting and joy this one and that one are equal. But this is not correct, for the Gemara says: regarding eulogy and fasting this one and that one are equal, implying that there is no feasting and joy. For perforce one does not depend on the other: if they did depend on each other, it should have told us that they observe feasting and joy, and automatically eulogy would be forbidden; for the days listed in Megillas Taanis, on which eulogy is forbidden, have no feasting and joy. And so is the halachah: one need not be stringent to make feasting and joy in the first Adar:

מסתבר טעמיה דאין מעבירין על המצות - from here there is a difficulty with what we say in Perek Eizehu Mekoman (Zevachim 51a and there), in the Gemara, which says that he would pour the remainder of the blood on the western base of the altar, and infers the reason because the verse says: at the base of the altar of the burnt-offering. The difficulty there: why do I need a verse? Derive it from the rule that one does not pass over mitzvos — when he comes out of the entrance of the Heichal, which is on the west, the western base is what he meets first. Some explain that "one does not pass over mitzvos" applies only where he has two mitzvos before him and must do first the one he meets first; but this is not so, for here there is only one mitzvah, and even so the reason given is that one does not pass over. Rabbeinu Yehudah answered that without the verse I would have said that one should not pass over ideally, but after the fact it is valid; therefore the verse is needed to forbid it even after the fact. Alternatively, it seems that from the rule of not passing over we would know only that the whole western side of the altar is valid, but not that the base is required; therefore the verse is needed to teach us the base:

Notes

1. 1. Germamya is Germania, a kingdom of Edom.
2. 2. Literally "those tied with a crown" — crowned princes.
3. 3. Chieftains.
4. 4. There were 365 rulers, like the number of the days of the solar year, one ruler for each day; when one died they had to fill his place. That is the meaning of "they are busy setting up a king": they are occupied with raising up a king over themselves, and being occupied, they cannot harm the world. This is what the verse cited above says: זממו אל תפק, "do not let his scheme succeed."
5. 5. Mentioned earlier, on amud a, regarding "believe" and "do not believe"; this comes as its continuation.
6. 6. Do not start up with those who do evil.
7. 7. Provoke.
8. 8. In his own personal matters it is forbidden to provoke him; in other matters it is permitted to provoke him.
9. 9. That even in his own personal matters, if he is completely righteous he may provoke him, but if he is not completely righteous it is forbidden to provoke him.
10. 10. When the hour is smiling on him it is forbidden to provoke him, but when the hour is not smiling on him it is permitted to provoke him.
11. 11. A parsah is about 2.0–2.3 miles.
12. 12. Marketplaces.
13. 13. Bathhouses.
14. 14. For they did not fulfill the reading of the Megillah in the first Adar, since its time is in the second Adar.
15. 15. That is, there is no difference: the mitzvos that belong to the month of Adar are fulfilled whether they are done in the first Adar or in the second, except the reading of the Megillah and gifts to the poor, which must be done in the second Adar specifically; if one did them in the first Adar he has not fulfilled the obligation and must do them again in the second Adar.