- Five Days of Megillah
Earlier this month, I was notified that the IDF Rabbinate faces a shortage of Megillah scrolls. There are a number of ways to handle this, including paying scribes to quickly write more megillot. I would like to explore here an option that should be lower on this list. Of course, safety comes first and, if militarily necessary, a soldier is exempt from hearing Megillah because lives are at stake. However, often there is time for soldiers to fulfill this mitzvah even during war. It is worthwhile to examine the different halachic options in this situation even if they will not be used.
The first Mishnah in Megillah says that the Megillah can be read in five days. Normally it is read on the 14th of Adar. In cities that were walled in ancient times, like Jerusalem, Megillah is read on the 15th. However, the enactment of Purim allowed for villagers to hear Megillah on the market day before the holiday, which could be either the 11th, 12th or 13th of the month. Since often villagers did not have someone local who could read the Megillah for them, the Sages allowed them to hear it on a day that they would already be traveling into the city. This applies only to the mitzvah of Megillah. They observed all the other mitzvot of Purim on Purim day but heard Megillah on an earlier day.
Rav Elazar Rokeach (Rokeach, no. 236) points out that the word Purim is mentioned in the book of Esther five times, serving as a hint to the five times we read the Purim Megillat Esther. Rav Shlomo HaCohen of Vilna (Cheishek Shlomo, Megillah 2a) points out that of those five mentions, Purim is spelled twice full (with a vav) and three times missing (without a vav). The two full times refer to the 14th and 15th, when Megillah is read together with the other mitzvot of the day. The three missing times refer to the 11th, 12th and 13th, when Megillah is read but the day is not full because the other mitzvot are observed on a different day.
- End of the Five Days
The Gemara (Megillah 2a) says that this practice was discontinued. There are two versions of the key word explaining why it was stopped. The standard text says that everyone looks to Purim (ho’il u-mistakelin bah). Rashi (11th cen., France; ad loc., s.v. aval) explains that people look to Purim as their marker to determine when Pesach occurs, i.e. 30 days later. If people hear Megillah earlier, they might get confused about the timing of Pesach, with all its serious implications. Rav Yitzchak Alfasi (Rif; ad loc.) explains differently, that the poor look to Megillah reading to know when they should go out and collect money. Ritva (Megillah 2a, s.v. ika de-amri) provides more detail: the poor need a single day to collect money otherwise they will be unsure where to go on which day and will lose out on the opportunity.
Another version of the text, quoted by Rif and others, is that the Sages discontinued this practice because it is dangerous for people (ho’il u-mistakenin bah). Since it became more dangerous to practice Judaism publicly, we only celebrate Purim on one or two days rather than five. Ritva explains that if Purim lasts for five days, it becomes a louder celebration that might catch the attention of hostile governments who may legislate against the celebration of Purim altogether. Interestingly, Rav Avraham Ha-Yarchi (Sefer Ha-Manhig, beginning of Hilchot Megillah) seems to have had a different text of the Talmud that said the practice was discontinued because of lack of danger. He says that villagers hear Megillah early because of the danger of intercity travel—we can’t ask them to travel to the city and undertake that risk so many times in a week. However, in later times when there was not as much danger, the Sages discontinued the practice of early Megillah readings.
III. A Remnant of the Five Days
Regardless of the explanation, the practice of early Megillah reading was already discontinued in the times of the Gemara. However, we see medieval scholars mention a remnant of this old practice. The Tosefta (Megillah 1:2) says that someone leaving on a caravan or a ship must read Megillah on Purim. Rav Mordechai Ben Hillel (Mordechai, Megillah no. 774) quotes an opinion that this only refers to someone who will have access to a Megillah scroll on Purim. If he does not, then he may read or hear Megillah on the 11th, 12th or 13th of Adar. Hagahot Ashri (Megillah 1:1) and Hagahot Maimoniyot (Hilchot Megillah 1:9) quote those who accept this opinion in practice. Meaning, even today, someone who needs to travel on Purim should try to hear Megillah on Purim. If that is completely impossible, he should hear Megillah on an earlier day (without the blessings). Significantly, this view is accepted in the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 688:7), and Rav Moshe Isserles (Gloss, ad loc.) adds that if necessary,one can read Megillah all the way from Rosh Chodesh Adar!
If someone traveling can hear Megillah a few days early if he has no access to a megillah on Purim, then presumably soldiers at war can do so as well. This is a sub-optimal option, low on the list of possible halachic solutions. However, because the IDF has a severe shortage of Megillah scrolls, it can quadruple its ability to provide megillot to soldiersby sending scrolls and readers on the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th of Adar.
One complication to this is the ruling of Rav Avraham Gombiner (Magen Avraham 688:11) who says that the early reading must be in a group of 10 people. Normally, it is best to read Megillah with a group but it is not required on Purim itself, according to the Magen Avraham. However, this ruling requires that an early Megillah reading always requires 10 people. But what if this factor might not always be possible for army units in the middle of war? I believe that this ruling is a minority opinion. While Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan (Mishnah Berurah 688:20) follows Magen Avraham on this, Rav Yosef Teomim (Peri Megadim, Eshel Avraham 688:11), Rav Ephraim Zalman Margoliyos (Yad Ephraim on Magen Avraham, op cit.) and Rav Yechiel Michel Epstein (Aruch Ha-Shulchan 688:18) explicitly disagree with Magen Avraham and do not require 10 people for an early Megillah reading. Similarly, Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky (Kovetz Halachot, Purim 7:13) says that someone who has surgery scheduled on Purim and will be unable to hear Megillah should read it on the 11th, 12th or 13th, even without 10 people.
Israel has plenty of rabbis who know the situation well and the IDF has its own rabbinate structure that is embedded within the army. They understand the current situation and can decide the proper approach for reading Megillah in this difficult time. And, of course, preserving life takes precedence above all mitzvot. All that notwithstanding, perhaps if there are no other options when Purim time arrives, soldiers on or near the front lines can hear Megillah a day or more earlier if they will not otherwise have access to a Megillah on Purim.
Rabbi Gil Student is the editor of TorahMusings.com.
