More Discussions for this daf
1. Cities that are near walled cities 2. 13 Adar 3. Questions
4. Gezeirah Shaveh must be handed down 5. Purim in Har Nof 6. Villagers reading the Megilah early on market days
7. Reading the Megilah on the 15th of Adar 8. Reading the Megilah 9. When the Megilah may be read on the 11th, 12th, and 13th
10. "Mentazpach" Tzofim Amarum 11. The end-letters MeNaTZPaCH 12. Rebbi Yehudah
13. Women Who Reside in the Kefarim 14. Heichan Remizah? 15. Rebbi Yehoshua ben Korchah argues with Rebbi Akiva?
16. End Letters 17. Tosfos 18. Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Korcha's Rebbe
19. Gezeirah Shavah of Perazi 20. Issues of Beis Din 21. Menatzpa"Ch
22. Various Questions 23. Ta'anis Esther in villages 24. Limiting the reading of the Megillah to the 14th
25. Walled city 26. רש״י ד״ה כדכתיב להיות עושים 27. תענית אסתר בכפרים
DAF DISCUSSIONS - MEGILAH 2

Jay Goldstein asked:

What will happen if someone from a large town was in a small town or someone from a small town was in a large town on PURIUM

Jay Goldstein, Lincolnwood IL

The Kollel replies:

Shalom! Here is what we wrote on the subject in our Insights to Megilah 19.

Best wishes,

Kollel Iyun Hadaf

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Megilah 19

1) HALACHAH: ONE WHO LEAVES TOWN FOR PURIM

OPINIONS: The Mishnah states that when a resident of an unwalled city finds himself in a walled city when Purim arrives, and when a resident of a walled city finds himself in an unwalled city, he reads the Megilah like his place of origin "if he plans to return to his place." If he does not plan to return to his place, he reads on the day on which his host city reads.

The Gemara explains that the Mishnah means that when a resident of a walled city plans to remain in the unwalled city throughout the night of the fourteenth of Adar, he reads the Megilah on the fourteenth with his host city even though he comes from a place which reads on the fifteenth. If he leaves before the end of the night (before daybreak), he reads on the same day as his hometown, on the fifteenth.

Does this explanation also apply to a resident of an unwalled city who is in a walled city on the night of the fourteenth? Does the person's status depend on where he finds himself on the night of the fourteenth or on the night of the fifteenth ? If he comes from a walled city and spends the night of the fourteenth in an unwalled city, and on the night of the fifteenth he is back in his hometown, when does he read the Megilah?

(a) RASHI says that the Halachah in the two cases is determined by two different dates. Being in an unwalled city on the night of the fourteenth determines whether one must read on the fourteenth, while being in a walled city on the night of the fifteenth determines whether he must read on the fifteenth.

According to Rashi, it is possible that a person could be obligated to read the Megilah on both days -- such as when he was in an unwalled city throughout the night of the fourteenth, and during the day he went to a walled city and was there throughout the night of the fifteenth. In such a case, he would be obligated to read on both days. (The RAN, who agrees with Rashi's explanation, makes this point, and he cites support from the Yerushalmi.)

(b) The ROSH says that the Halachah in both cases is determined by where the person is on the night of the fourteenth. If the resident of a walled city is in an unwalled city on the night of the fourteenth, he not only becomes obligated to read on the fourteenth but he loses the obligation to read on the fifteenth even if he returns to his walled city before the night of the fifteenth. If the resident of an unwalled city is in a walled city on the night of the fourteenth, he loses the obligation to read on the fourteenth and becomes obligated to read the next day, on the fifteenth.

The RIF adds an important detail. The Halachah does not depend on whether the person actually stays in the city throughout the entire night of the fourteenth (or fifteenth according to Rashi). Rather, it depends on whether the person intended to stay in the city. If he intended to leave the host city before daybreak, he does not become obligated to read the Megilah with that city even if he ends up staying in the city. (The TAZ adds that this detail applies only l'Kula, as a leniency. That is, if one intended to leave the city before daybreak but ended up staying, he does not have to read the Megilah with that city. However, if one intended to stay in the city past daybreak but he ended up leaving during the night, his initial intention does not obligate him to read on the day that his host city reads. Rather, he reads with his hometown.)

What is the Halachah when one arrives in the host city after nightfall? The MISHNAH BERURAH (OC 688:12) writes that the day he reads is determined by where he intended -- at the time he embarked for the city -- to be at daybreak of the fourteenth (or fifteenth). He does not read the Megilah on the day of the host city if -- at the time he embarked for that city -- he intended to leave before daybreak of the fourteenth, but he does read with that city if he intended -- at the time he embarked -- to stay there past daybreak.

HALACHAH: The MISHNAH BERURAH cites the opinion of Rashi, that when a resident of an unwalled city travels to a walled city, the day on which he reads the Megilah depends on where he plans to be during the night of the fourteenth. When a resident of a walled city travels to an unwalled city, the day on which he reads depends on where he plans to be during the night of the fifteenth. The Mishnah Berurah (in Bi'ur Halachah) adds that one should not depend on this ruling with regard to reciting a Berachah, but he should ask a competent rabbinical authority how to conduct himself.