Gentlemen, we begin Masechet Megillah. Our tractate has once again been dedicated by our good friend, Mr. Norman Jamal, in honor of my parents—who, being responsible for bringing the rabbi into the world, are presumably the most responsible parties and therefore deserve the credit. May Norman be blessed for this dedication. We will have to work out how to say this every morning, but that is the dedication. It is an honor to be around my parents, and with that, we begin.
Today’s page is also dedicated by Mr. Amin Ajmi in memory of Sala Katan. May her soul be bound in the bond of eternal life. Amen.
We begin the new tractate, Megillah, on page 2. As we did with Tractate Ta’anit, we will try to study the tractate through the eyes of Rashi, Tosafot, and Maharsha. We now have books, and most of our members have access to the Maharsha, so you will be able to follow the discussion inside.
The Mishnah begins: “The Megillah is read”—and it is reasonable to assume that we are speaking about Megillat Esther. It may be read on the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, or fifteenth of the month. It is not read on all of those days; in some circumstances it is read on one of them, and in other circumstances on another.
Rashi immediately clarifies the wording: sometimes on this day and sometimes on that day, but no fewer and no more. One never finds a situation in which it may be read on the tenth or earlier, or after the fifteenth.
Walled cities that were walled from the time of Joshua son of Nun have a special status. The inhabitants of walled cities read on the fifteenth. Ordinary villages and ordinary large cities—we will later discuss what qualifies as a large city—read on the fourteenth. We have therefore already accounted for two of the five possible dates: the fourteenth and the fifteenth.
The villagers were sometimes permitted to read the Megillah early, before the fourteenth, on what was called the day of assembly. In earlier times, rabbinical courts sat in the large cities on Mondays and Thursdays, and people would come from the villages into the cities for their court cases. It was therefore a day of entry into the city. The Sages permitted the villagers to come early, on that day of assembly, since they were coming into the city anyway, and they could hear the Megillah there.
The villagers did not know how to read the Megillah themselves, so the Sages made this concession for them: they could come into the large cities early and have someone read the Megillah for them.
For example, if the fourteenth fell on a Monday, Monday was already a day of assembly. The villages and the cities would read on that day. We do not move them from one day of assembly to another; there is no reason to send them back to Thursday when they are coming into the city on Monday anyway. Let them read on Monday.
Walled cities from the time of Joshua son of Nun read on their own day, the fifteenth. If the fourteenth falls on a Tuesday—or, as our mnemonic on the page indicates, on a Wednesday—the villagers move back to the preceding Monday, which is the day of assembly. Thus, if Tuesday is the fourteenth, the villagers read on Monday, the thirteenth. If Wednesday is the fourteenth, they read on Monday, the twelfth.
We now have the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth. The only date still missing is the eleventh. The large cities read on the fourteenth, whether it is Tuesday or Wednesday, and the walled cities read on the following day, the fifteenth, whether that is Wednesday or Thursday.
If the fourteenth falls on a Thursday, that is already a day of assembly. The villagers and the large cities read on that day, and the walled cities read on Friday, the fifteenth.
If the fourteenth falls on a Friday, the villagers read on the preceding Thursday, the thirteenth. The novelty in this case is that not only the large cities read on the fourteenth; even the walled cities read on the fourteenth. This is because the fifteenth is Shabbat, and the Mishnah is teaching that we do not read the Megillah on Shabbat. Therefore, everyone remains on the fourteenth and reads on Friday.
If the fourteenth itself falls on Shabbat, the novelty does not concern the villagers; we already know that they read on the preceding Thursday. The Mishnah teaches that when the villagers go back to Thursday, the large cities also join them. Thus, for the first time, the ordinary cities read on a day preceding the regular day of assembly, even though the fourteenth did not fall on a day of assembly. Everyone is pushed back to Thursday. The walled cities, however, read on their day: if Shabbat is the fourteenth, they read on Sunday, the fifteenth.
Finally, if the fourteenth falls on Sunday, the villagers move back to the preceding day of assembly, Thursday. That Thursday is the eleventh. Thus, the case of the eleventh occurs when Purim falls on Sunday. The large cities read on Sunday, the fourteenth, and the walled cities read on Monday, the fifteenth. We have now accounted for all the dates in the Mishnah.
Let us now examine Rashi. I want to give an example of where the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth come from, since the fourteenth and fifteenth are clear. Rashi explains that the villagers were given permission to read early, and his wording suggests that this was a permission rather than an obligation. If they wish to take advantage of the leniency, they may; if they do not, no one forces them to do so.
One question arises: if the villagers do not know how to read the Megillah, how can a city resident read for them if it is not that person’s own day of obligation? If I am not mistaken, the Tur says that the reader reads and they repeat after him. The word “read” does not necessarily mean that the reader is taking them out of their obligation in the ordinary sense; he reads the words, and they repeat them because they do not know the words themselves.
Can someone who is not presently obligated enable someone else to fulfill an obligation? Ordinarily, the principle of mutual responsibility might allow that. A person may already have fulfilled the obligation and still enable another person to fulfill it. But perhaps the obligation must be attached to the particular time. On Shabbat, for example, a person’s obligation in Kiddush is connected to Shabbat. Even if he has already fulfilled his own obligation, he is still within the relevant time and can enable someone else. Here, however, if the reader is not part of the obligation on that day, perhaps he cannot enable someone else. It is a difficult case, and this is the case Rashi is addressing.
If the Sages permitted the villagers to read early, perhaps they also permitted someone to enable them to fulfill the obligation. Otherwise, the leniency would not work.
Rashi also clarifies the expression “no fewer and no more.” It does not mean that the Megillah is read fewer than five times or more than five times. It means that it is never read before the eleventh and never after the fifteenth. This clarification is necessary because the language could otherwise sound as though the Mishnah were describing a number of readings rather than a range of dates.
The Gemara then introduces a rabbinic decree: we do not read the Megillah on Shabbat, lest a person come to carry it in the public domain. We have encountered this kind of decree in other tractates, including Rosh Hashanah and Sukkah, concerning the lulav.
Rashi asks: why not leave the walled cities to read on Sunday when the fourteenth falls on Friday? The answer is that the Mishnah has already established that the Megillah may not be read after the fifteenth. Sunday would be the sixteenth. Therefore, there is no choice but to move the walled cities earlier. When the fourteenth falls on Friday, they cannot read on Shabbat, and they cannot read on Sunday, so they read on Friday together with the other cities.
That explains the eleventh as well. When Purim falls on Sunday, the villagers go back to the preceding Thursday, which is the eleventh. We do not move from one day of assembly to another; we move from an ordinary weekday to a day of assembly, Monday or Thursday. We do not move from Monday to Thursday or from Thursday to Monday merely to create a different day of assembly.
That is the Mishnah. The Gemara now has to establish the sources for all these details. There are many facts in the Mishnah, and we must understand where each one comes from.
The Gemara asks: how do we know this? At first glance, one might ask, why do you need a source? The Mishnah itself explains that the villagers read early because they are coming into the cities for court cases. The Gemara will later explain that the Sages were lenient with the villagers and allowed them to read on the day of assembly because they were already coming into the city.
But there was another reason for the early reading. If the villagers read the Megillah on the regular day of Purim, they would be occupied with the reading and would not be available to provide food and services for the people celebrating in the large cities. By allowing them to read early, the villagers could be present on the fourteenth and make a livelihood by providing food, goods, and services for Purim. They could open their shops and kiosks instead of being occupied with reading the Megillah.
So what is the Gemara asking? It is not asking why the villagers read early; that reason will be provided later. The question is: who established all these possible dates?
If you say that the Men of the Great Assembly established only the fourteenth and fifteenth, and that later rabbis came and uprooted their enactment by adding the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth, that cannot be correct. One court cannot uproot the ruling of an earlier court unless it is greater than the earlier court in wisdom and in number, and we assume that a later court does not possess that status.
Therefore, if the Men of the Great Assembly established the days of Purim, how did the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth come into the picture? We are forced to say that all of these dates were established by the Men of the Great Assembly. But the Megillah itself does not explicitly mention the eleventh, twelfth, or thirteenth. It mentions the fourteenth and fifteenth. The Men of the Great Assembly must therefore have found an indication within the Megillah that Mordecai and Esther permitted these additional days to be commemorated as well.
That is the Gemara’s question: where is the source? We know that there are at least two dates, the fourteenth and fifteenth, although even the distribution of those two dates will require analysis. But where do the additional dates come from?
Rav Shaman bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan that the source is the verse, “To establish these days of Purim in their appointed times.” The key word is “times.” The Gemara understands the plural to teach that the Sages established many times for the reading of the Megillah.
One might object that the extra wording is needed for the fourteenth and fifteenth themselves. The time of the fourteenth teaches that those who read on the fourteenth read on the fourteenth, and the time of the fifteenth teaches that those who read on the fifteenth read on the fifteenth. Perhaps the plural does not teach that additional dates were added.
The answer is that the wording could have taught only that each group reads on its own respective day. The additional expression teaches two things: first, that the time of one group is not the time of the other group; the fourteenth belongs to those who read on the fourteenth, and the fifteenth belongs to those who read on the fifteenth. One cannot simply choose whichever of the two days one prefers. Second, the plural wording allows for additional times beyond the two explicitly mentioned.
The Gemara then asks: if there are additional times, perhaps the Sages added many more than the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth. Maybe the Megillah could be read from the beginning of the month.
The Gemara answers that the expression “their times” is connected to the times already mentioned explicitly in the Megillah. We add two days in the same general range as the days that the Megillah itself includes. At this point, the Gemara is speaking of adding two days to the fourteenth and fifteenth. The third day, the thirteenth, will be established separately.
The Gemara then asks: who told you to add the eleventh and twelfth? Perhaps the two additional days are the twelfth and thirteenth. Rav Shmuel bar Nachmani answers that the thirteenth is automatic. On the thirteenth, everyone gathered to fight the enemies of the Jewish people—the inhabitants of Shushan together with the Jews in the other places. Since the entire Jewish people was involved in battle on that day, it is a time of gathering and a time appropriate for the commemoration of the miracle. Therefore, the thirteenth does not require an additional derivation.
What are we celebrating on the fourteenth? The miracle that occurred on the thirteenth. What are we celebrating on the fifteenth? The miracle that occurred on the thirteenth. The thirteenth was the day on which the Jews fought, but they could not read the Megillah that year because they were occupied with the battle. In later years, however, the thirteenth itself could be commemorated through the reading of the Megillah. Therefore, the fourteenth and fifteenth are explicit, the thirteenth is automatic, and the two additional dates must be the eleventh and twelfth.
The Gemara then asks: who told you to add days before the fourteenth? Perhaps the additional days are the sixteenth and seventeenth. The answer is that the Megillah does not permit a reading after the fifteenth. Therefore, the additional days must be before the days explicitly mentioned.
This is the first source: the derivation from “times,” “their times,” and “their appointed times.”
The Gemara brings another source. Rav Shmuel bar Nachmani says that the verse states, “Like the days on which the Jews rested.” It could have said simply “the days on which the Jews rested.” Why does it say “like the days”? The Gemara derives: days are mentioned, and “like the days” adds two more days, the twelfth and eleventh.
The Gemara follows the same reasoning. Perhaps the added days are the twelfth and thirteenth. No—the thirteenth is already known as the day on which everyone gathered to fight. Perhaps the added days are the sixteenth and seventeenth. No—the reading cannot take place after the fifteenth.
One might ask why this second derivation is necessary. The first derivation—“time, times, their times”—already seems to provide a complete source. The second derivation from “like the days” is simpler, but a derivation must be received through the tradition of the rabbi who teaches it. The rabbis are not necessarily free to substitute one derivation for another merely because one seems easier to us.
The Gemara then identifies the author of the Mishnah. Rav Huna says that this is the position of Rabbi Akiva, whom the Sages called “the anonymous one.” He was given this description because many anonymous Mishnayot follow the opinion of Rabbi Akiva. Rashi offers another explanation: anonymous teachings throughout the Talmud often come from one of Rabbi Akiva’s students, who learned the approach from him. The other students of Rabbi Akiva—Rabbi Nehemiah, Rabbi Yehudah, and others—also produced anonymous teachings, so Rashi ultimately returns to the first explanation: Rabbi Akiva is associated with the anonymous Mishnah because many anonymous Mishnayot follow his position.
In any event, according to Rabbi Yohanan, the author of this Mishnah is Rabbi Akiva. What is Rabbi Akiva’s derivation? He derives the additional dates from “time, times, their times,” as we have just learned. The thirteenth is automatic because it is the day of the battle, while the eleventh and twelfth are included through the additional wording.
The Sages, however, say that the Megillah is read only in its proper time. According to them, there is no leniency to read on the eleventh or twelfth. At this point, we are introduced to a different position, although the Gemara has not yet fully explained it.
A question is raised: if the Sages reject the derivation from “their times,” what do they do with the fact that the thirteenth is a time of gathering for everyone? Perhaps they accept that point even if they reject the broader derivation. The issue is whether they reject the entire principle or only the extension to the eleventh and twelfth.
Rabbi Yehudah states that the early reading applied only in the earlier period, when the years were established through testimony. In those days, witnesses would come and testify regarding the new moon, and the rabbinical court would establish the beginning of the month. Couriers would then be sent to inform the Jewish communities when the month had begun and when the holidays would occur.
In the later period, when that system was no longer in operation and the Jewish people were scattered, people relied on Purim to calculate the date of Passover. They knew that Passover would occur thirty days after Purim. If they saw people reading the Megillah on the eleventh, they might calculate thirty days from the eleventh and begin Passover too early. The concern is not that they would eat matzah too early; that would not be the central problem. The concern is that they might still eat leaven on what was actually Passover because they had calculated the date incorrectly.
Therefore, in the present system, the early reading no longer applies. The Megillah must be read in its proper time.
Rashi explains that in the earlier system, the years were intercalated by the court, the months were sanctified by the court, and messengers were sent to inform the Jewish people when the month of Nisan had been sanctified and when the festivals would occur. Even if the messengers did not reach the most distant communities before Passover, those communities knew when Passover was because they relied on the messengers or on the established system. Once that system ceased, people began counting thirty days from Purim. That is why an early reading of the Megillah could create confusion about the date of Passover.
The Gemara then asks in whose view Rabbi Yehudah is speaking. It cannot be Rabbi Akiva, because Rabbi Akiva says that even in the present period, when the earlier system is no longer in place, the Megillah may still be read on the eleventh and twelfth. Therefore, Rabbi Yehudah’s position must be that of the Sages.
But this creates a difficulty. We had understood Rabbi Yohanan as saying that the Sages do not accept the derivation from “time, times, their times” at all. Yet Rabbi Yehudah’s statement indicates that the Sages did recognize the additional dates, at least in the earlier period when the years were established through testimony. They accepted the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth, but only under the earlier system.
Thus, the Sages do not necessarily reject the derivation altogether. They may accept it in a limited way, applying it only when the years and months are established through the court and messengers can inform the Jewish communities. Rabbi Akiva applies the derivation even in the later period; the Sages apply it only in the earlier period.
Rashi explains that the rabbis referred to by Rabbi Yehudah must have preceded Rabbi Akiva in the sense that they lived during the earlier period, when the Temple stood and the original system was in effect. Rabbi Akiva, who lived after the destruction of the Temple, was speaking about the later period as well and maintained that the early reading remained valid.
Maharsha is troubled by this explanation. Perhaps Rabbi Yehudah was not quoting rabbis from an earlier historical period. Perhaps he was quoting rabbis who were contemporaries of Rabbi Akiva. That would make the disagreement clearer: the rabbis of Rabbi Akiva’s generation said that the early reading applied only in the earlier period, while Rabbi Akiva said that it applied even in the later period.
If, however, the rabbis quoted by Rabbi Yehudah lived before Rabbi Akiva, what do we know about their position in Rabbi Yehudah’s own time? Rashi would be telling us only what they had said in their own period, not what they would have ruled later. Maharsha therefore explains that the rabbis may have been contemporaries of Rabbi Akiva. Their statement that the early reading applied only in the earlier period was itself a disagreement with Rabbi Akiva.
There are therefore two ways to understand the passage. According to Rashi, Rabbi Yehudah is citing a position that was formulated in the earlier period. According to Maharsha, he is citing rabbis of Rabbi Akiva’s generation who limited the application of the derivation to that earlier period.
For our purposes, the important point is that the Sages did recognize, to some degree, the possibility of reading on the eleventh and twelfth. Their disagreement with Rabbi Akiva concerned when that possibility applied. Rabbi Akiva applied it in all periods; the Sages applied it only when the years were established through testimony and the messengers could communicate the dates.
The Gemara then presents another version of the discussion. In the first version, Rabbi Yohanan said that the Mishnah was Rabbi Akiva’s, and that the Sages did not accept the derivation at all. In the second version, Rabbi Yohanan says that the Mishnah is Rabbi Akiva’s, and that the Sages also accept the derivation, but only in the earlier period. According to this second version, there is no contradiction: Rabbi Akiva and the Sages both derive the additional dates from the relevant verses; they disagree only about the period in which the derivation applies.
The Gemara then brings a contradiction involving Rabbi Yehudah. A teaching in the name of Rabbi Yehudah stated that the present-day restriction applies because people calculate Passover from Purim. But another Mishnah says that the early reading is available in places where people customarily gather on Mondays and Thursdays. If a place does not have that practice, the villagers are not required to burden themselves by coming in on a day when they ordinarily do not come.
This seems to create a contradiction. The first teaching sounds as though the early reading is prohibited in the later period altogether. The second Mishnah sounds as though it remains available in the later period, provided the villagers normally come into the city on Mondays and Thursdays.
The Gemara resolves the contradiction by suggesting that the first teaching may actually be the position of Rabbi Yosei rather than Rabbi Yehudah. The wording was transmitted in different ways, and the attribution to Rabbi Yehudah may not be precise. The teacher who reported the tradition may have heard it attributed once to Rabbi Yehudah and once to Rabbi Yosei. Since the version attributed to Rabbi Yehudah creates a contradiction, the Gemara suggests that the precise attribution is Rabbi Yosei.
This is not simply a matter of changing a name whenever a difficulty arises. The teacher already had uncertainty about the attribution. Since he had heard the teaching attributed to both Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Yosei, and since the version attributed to Rabbi Yehudah contradicted the Mishnah, the Gemara explains that the attribution to Rabbi Yosei was the precise one, while the attribution to Rabbi Yehudah was not exact.
The Gemara then returns to the Mishnah’s statement that walled cities read on the fifteenth. It asks: from where do we know that walled cities have a special reading day?
Rav Ashi says that the source is the verse, “Therefore the Jews of the open cities who dwell in the unwalled towns observe the fourteenth day.” The verse explicitly assigns the fourteenth to those who live in open, unwalled cities. Since the Megillah mentions the fourteenth and fifteenth, and the fourteenth has been assigned to the open cities, the remaining day—the fifteenth—must belong to the walled cities.
This is an implication rather than an explicit statement. The Megillah gives us two days, the fourteenth and fifteenth, and tells us that the open cities read on the fourteenth. Therefore, the walled cities must read on the fifteenth.
The Gemara challenges this reasoning. Perhaps the open cities read on the fourteenth, while the walled cities do not read at all. Why assume that the walled cities must have a reading day?
That possibility is rejected. The inhabitants of walled cities are certainly Jewish and are included in the verse describing the Jews throughout the kingdom of Ahasuerus who accepted Purim. The kingdom extended from India to Ethiopia, and it certainly contained walled cities. Therefore, the walled cities must also be included in the obligation.
The Gemara then returns to the original premise: the open cities read on the fourteenth, and the walled cities read on the fifteenth. But perhaps the walled cities have an option: perhaps they may read either on the fourteenth or on the fifteenth. The verse says that the Jews observed Purim on the fourteenth and fifteenth, and perhaps that means that the open cities read on the fourteenth while the walled cities may choose between the two days.
The Gemara answers that if the verse had said, “on the fourteenth day and the fifteenth day,” without the additional separating expression, one might have understood the two days as a single unit or as interchangeable. The wording separates the two: these people read on the fourteenth, and those people read on the fifteenth. The time of one group is not the time of the other group.
Even so, perhaps the walled cities may read on either the fourteenth or fifteenth, while the open cities are restricted to the fourteenth. The Gemara rejects this based on the principle that each group has its own designated time. Once the fourteenth has been established as the time of the open cities, it is not the time of the walled cities. Their time is the fifteenth.
The Gemara then asks how we know that the walled cities read on the fifteenth rather than on the thirteenth. Again, the answer is that Shushan provides the model. The Megillah explicitly records that Shushan celebrated on the fifteenth. Since Shushan was an open city rather than a walled city from the time of Joshua, the fifteenth cannot be assigned solely on the basis of the city’s physical walls. Nevertheless, it is the only city whose observance on the fifteenth is explicit in the Megillah. The walled cities are therefore compared to Shushan and read on the fifteenth.
This produces three categories: ordinary open cities, which read on the fourteenth; Shushan, which reads on the fifteenth because the miracle occurred there on that day; and walled cities, which read on the fifteenth by comparison with Shushan.
The Gemara then raises another difficulty. All that has been demonstrated so far is that the actions associated with Purim—such as the feast and rejoicing—take place on the appropriate day. But the verse speaks of what the people did, not necessarily of the reading of the Megillah. Reading the Megillah is a commemoration, not one of the actions described by the word “observe.” From where do we know that the reading itself follows these dates?
The Gemara asks: from where do we know the principle of remembering? The answer will come from a further expression in the Megillah that connects the act of remembering with the act of observing. Whatever day is established for the observance is also the day established for the remembrance, meaning the reading of the Megillah.
This entire discussion demonstrates that the dates are not always stated in the Megillah in a straightforward manner. Some points are explicit, such as the fourteenth and fifteenth. Other points are derived by implication, through the distinction between open cities and walled cities, through the example of Shushan, and through the connection between observance and remembrance. The Gemara is decoding what is implicit in the text.
The Gemara then says that the Mishnah does not follow the position of a particular teaching. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha says that walled cities read on the fifteenth if they were walled from the time of Ahasuerus, rather than from the time of Joshua son of Nun. According to him, the relevant historical period is the time of the Purim story itself.
Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha’s position is understandable. We compare the cities mentioned in the Megillah to the cities of that period. If a city was walled during the time of Ahasuerus, it is considered a walled city for purposes of the fifteenth, even if it was not walled from the time of Joshua.
Our Mishnah, however, dates the walls to the time of Joshua son of Nun. How does the Mishnah know that? The Gemara derives it through a verbal analogy involving the expression “open cities.” When Moses described the future entry into the Land of Israel and the conquest of its cities, the terminology used for open cities is connected with the terminology in the Megillah. Through that verbal analogy, the walls are dated to the time of Joshua.
Rashi explains the significance of this point. A city may have been walled during the time of Ahasuerus but not from the time of Joshua. According to our Mishnah, that city would not read on the fifteenth; it would remain in the category of an open city and read on the fourteenth. The walled-city status depends specifically on the time of Joshua son of Nun.
We therefore have a major disagreement. According to the author of our Mishnah, the status of a walled city is determined by whether it was walled from the time of Joshua son of Nun. According to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha, it is determined by whether it was walled during the time of Ahasuerus.
The Gemara asks: if the Mishnah has a verbal analogy connecting the expression for open cities in the Megillah with the expression used regarding the cities conquered in the time of Joshua, why does Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha not accept that analogy? A verbal analogy must be received through tradition from one’s teacher. If Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha did not possess that tradition, we cannot challenge him on the basis of it.
The Gemara then examines the wording of the verse: “province and province, and city and city.” According to our Mishnah, “province and province” can distinguish between walled cities from the time of Joshua and walled cities from the time of Ahasuerus. “City and city” can distinguish between Shushan and the other cities.
Shushan is treated separately because the miracle there occurred on an additional day. Thus, according to our Mishnah, there are three categories: walled cities from the time of Joshua, which read on the fifteenth; ordinary open cities, which read on the fourteenth; and Shushan, which reads on the fifteenth because of the special miracle that occurred there.
According to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha, “province and province” can distinguish between cities walled during the time of Ahasuerus and cities that were not walled during that time. But what does “city and city” add? According to his view, all cities are governed by the same distinction: an open city reads on the fourteenth, and a walled city reads on the fifteenth. There seems to be no additional distinction between one city and another.
The Gemara answers that the extra wording teaches another rule. It does not merely distinguish between one city and another; it includes a city that is near a walled city and visible from it. Such a city may receive the status of the walled city even if it is not itself walled.
Thus, the verse teaches that not only the central city but also a neighboring city may follow its date, provided it is close enough and visible enough to be considered connected to it. The Gemara will later define the relevant distance and visibility. A city may be close but not visible because it lies in a valley, or visible but not close because it is on a mountain. The precise circumstances will be discussed later.
For now, we have established the central dispute. One position dates the walled-city status to the time of Joshua son of Nun, based on a verbal analogy. The other dates it to the time of Ahasuerus, based on the historical setting of the Purim story. The distinction is not merely technical; it determines whether a city reads on the fourteenth or fifteenth.
According to the first position, Shushan is a separate category because the miracle there occurred on the fifteenth, even though it was not necessarily a walled city from the time of Joshua. According to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha, the essential distinction is whether the city was walled during the time of Ahasuerus, and the additional wording teaches that nearby and visible settlements may follow the city’s date.
There is a Maharsha at this point, and there is also a Tosafot that we have not yet studied. We will continue with those explanations next.