The Farmers Reward

Guest Post by Shlomo Price

Nowadays, everyone celebrates Purim on one of two days: either the 14th or 15th of Adar. However, the first Mishnah in Megilah describes that it wasn’t always this way:

“מְגִלָּה נִקְרֵאת בְּאַחַד עָשָׂר, בִּשְׁנֵים עָשָׂר, בִּשְׁלֹשָׁה עָשָׂר, בְּאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר, בַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר, לֹא פָחוֹת וְלֹא יוֹתֵר.

כְּרַכִּין הַמֻּקָּפִין חוֹמָה מִימוֹת יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בִּן נוּן, קוֹרִין בַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר. כְּפָרִים וַעֲיָרוֹת גְּדוֹלוֹת, קוֹרִין בְּאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר, אֶלָּא שֶׁהַכְּפָרִים מַקְדִּימִין לְיוֹם הַכְּנִיסָה:”

“The Megilah [can theoretically be] read on the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, or 15th of Adar, no earlier and no later. Large cities walled from the times of Yehoshua read on the 15th. Large unwalled cities as well as rural villages both read on the 14th, just that the villages sometimes read the Megilah a few days earlier on the day of commute to the larger cities.”

To someone familiar with the Purim story, the idea of reading the Megilah a few days early is a little confusing considering that those dates didn’t have any significance in the neis of Purim.

However, the opening Gemara of the Masechtah spends quite a few lines justifying it via allusions in the pesukim of the Megilah themselves proving that the Anshei Kenesses haGedolah always intended for these days to be options for fulfilling the Mitzvah of Mikra Megilah in addition to the classic 14th & 15th.

So now there are two questions we have to ask:

1. What is the difference between a village and a large city that warrants a difference between them?

2. What is the reason for the takanah?

The Mishnah on 5a seems to address our 1st question:

“אִי זוֹ הִיא עִיר גְּדוֹלָה? כֹּל שֶׁיֵּשׁ בָּהּ עֲשָׂרָה בַּטְלָנִין. פָּחוֹת מִכָּאן, הֲרֵי זֶה כְּפָר.”

“What is a “large city”? Any city with 10 non-working men. A city with less than this is a village.”

Rashi on the Gemara there elucidates this concept of “non-working men”:

“עשרה בטלנין - שבבית הכנסת שהן בטלים ממלאכתן וניזונים משל צבור כדי להיות מצויין בתפלה בבית הכנסת…”

“”These ten non-working men were hired by the town to always be [learning] in the Shul to make sure there is always a minyan ready for tefillah…”

From here alone it seems that the difference between cities and villages is that, unlike the village, the city had a guaranteed minyan, something which is needed for Megilah reading because of Pirsumei Nisa (a minyan is crucial when the Megilah is read before the 14th, and it’s lechat’chilah on the 14th and 15th as well - see Mishnah Berurah 690:61).

Yet, Rashi on the opening Mishnah explains the difference a little differently, and seems to address both of our questions:

“...אלא שהכפרים נתנו להן חכמים רשות להקדים קריאתה ליום הכניסה יום שני בשבת שלפני י”ד או חמישי בשבת שהוא יום כניסה שהכפרים מתכנסין לעיירות למשפט לפי שבתי דינין יושבין בעיירות בשני ובחמישי כתקנת עזרא (ב”ק דף פב.) והכפרים אינן בקיאין לקרות וצריכין שיקראנה להם אחד מבני העיר ולא הטריחום חכמים להתאחר ולבא ביום י”ד…”

To paraphrase: The villages didn’t have batei dinim, so they would generally commute to the big cities on Mondays & Thursdays to go to Beis Din (Ezra decided that batei dinim should convene every Monday & Thursday - see Bava Kama 82a), and the villagers needed the professional baalei kriah in the big city to read the Megilah for them anyway, so the Rabbis were lenient on them and allowed them to read the Megilah early.

However, as Rashba on the Mishnah was asks, the Gemara at the very bottom of 4a explicitly addresses both of our questions and doesn’t seem to say what Rashi said:

“אָמַר רַבִּי חֲנִינָא: חֲכָמִים הֵקֵילּוּ עַל הַכְּפָרִים לִהְיוֹת מַקְדִּימִין לְיוֹם הַכְּנִיסָה כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּסַפְּקוּ מַיִם וּמָזוֹן לַאֲחֵיהֶם שֶׁבַּכְּרַכִּין.”

“R’ Chanina: The Rabbis were lenient regarding the villages in order that they should [be available to] supply food and water to their brethren in the large cities.”

This Gemara leads us to two conclusions:

1. First, on a historical level, we see from here that the villagers were responsible for the supply of food and water to the big cities; they were presumably farmers and ranchers.

2. Secondly, the takanah seems to be for the benefit of the large-city dwellers so that they should be able to enjoy their usual supply of food and water. Presumably, if the villagers also had to worry about their chiyuv of Mikra Megilah, their usual delivery route would be disrupted.

However, the Gemara 4b a few lines later rejects the second conclusion, citing proofs from the continuation of the Mishnah on 2a that this could not have been a takanah for the city dwellers. Instead, they say that the takanah was not “כְּדֵי “שֶׁיְּסַפְּקוּ, but rather “מִפְּנֵי שֶׁמְּסַפְּקִים”. What exactly does this new version mean? Well, it’s a machalokes Rishonim.

Rashba (and Ritva explains similarly):

“...מפני שביום הכניסה מתכנסין לספק מים ומזון לכרכים, והקלו להם לקרות בשעת כניסתן כדי שלא יטרחו ביום פורים ויתבטלו מסעודתן…”

“Because they would anyways typically commute to the big city to deliver food and water on the previous Monday/Thursday, they were lenient on them so that they wouldn’t be too busy on the 14th [because of having to go hear the Megilah in the big city where they have professional baalei kriah*] and end up not having time to travel home and have the seudah.”

*Rashba doesn’t write this explicitly, but it doesn’t seem to me that he would argue with Rashi on this specific point - more on that in a bit.

Rashi:

“שכר הוא להם בשביל שהן מספקין, הלכך, היכא דאין נכנסין לא קולא הוא לגבייהו ואין כאן שכר.”

“It’s a reward for them because they supply the cities with food and water; therefore, if they didn’t anyway commute a few days early, this would neither be a leniency nor a reward.”

This is a very interesting chidush; Rashi describes it not simply as a convenience for them, but as a reward. We’re rewarding these farmers/truckers for their many hours of hard work at the fields, pastures, and reservoirs to provide everyone with food and water by allowing them to read the Megilah even a few days early when they’re delivering the food and water.

So now let’s get back to Rashba’s question: Why does Rashi on the Mishnah describe the takanah differently than here?

Rashba answers that Rashi over there is addressing another type of city in addition to the villages, namely larger cities which still do not have 10 non-working men, which are treated like villages, because, presumably, they also didn’t have professional baalei kriah and would commute to a city with 10 non-working men on leining days.

(We see from here another interesting historical fact that it seems that only those who didn’t work for a living knew how to lein. If anyone has a different explanation, I’d be more than happy to hear it.)

So, to sum it up, we have 2 explanations for what exactly was this takanah of reading the Megilah early:

1. Rashba, Ritva, and Rashi (about cities without 10 non-working men): The takanah was a convenience for those who would commute into the larger cities on leining days so that their Purim celebration would be one without added stress.

2. Rashi on 4b: It was also a reward out of hakaras hatov to the farmers and ranchers for their hard work in providing food and water for the big cities.

And now to one last suggestion that I would like to add to reveal another dimension to this takanah:

“Purim” is an interesting name for the holiday. Why specifically do we highlight the lots that Haman drew?

I believe the answer can be found in the Gemara on 7a:

“שָׁלְחָה לָהֶם אֶסְתֵּר לַחֲכָמִים׃ כִּתְבוּנִי לְדוֹרוֹת. שָׁלְחוּ לָהּ׃ ״הֲלֹא כָתַבְתִּי לְךָ שָׁלִישִׁים״, שִׁלֵּישִׁים וְלֹא רִבֵּעִים…”

“Esther sent to the Anshei Kenesses haGedolah: Write me down [in Tanach] for the generations! They responded: But the pasuk in Mishlei 22:20 says it should be only written three times, not four!”

Rashi there explains that there are already three times in Tanach where we mention fighting Amalek, one at the end of Beshalach (Shemos 17:8-16), a second time at the end of Ki Setzei (Devarim 25:17-19), and a third time by the war of Shaul in (Shmuel Aleph 15:1-33).

We see from here that the significance of Purim is the battle with Amaleik, the battle between “Yehudim” - those who are “modeh” - those who acknowledge Hashem’s presence and providence in this world, and Amaleik - “אשר קרך בדרך” (Devarim 25:18) - who call everything coincidence and nature.

Therefore, we highlight Haman’s signature lottery where he highlighted this trait of Amaleik to strip everything of Divine Providence.

This is also why we read a Megilah which has no mention of Hashem’s name - we’re tasked with reading Hashem into the story ourselves.

In addition, על דרך דרש, Haman tells Achashveirosh about an “עַם־אֶחָ֗ד מְפֻזָּ֤ר וּמְפֹרָד֙ בֵּ֣ין הָֽעַמִּ֔ים בְּכֹ֖ל מְדִינ֣וֹת מַלְכוּתֶ֑ךָ” (Esther 3:8) - a separated nation, one that doesn’t recognize that they are all brothers and bound together in the divine plan.

We can now add that final dimension to the takanah: Purim is a holiday where we celebrate Hashgachas Hashem, and, along with it, ratzon Hashem. As a result, the Anshei Kenesses haGedolah wanted everyone to be able celebrate it comfortably, as everyone in Am Yisrael has their own role and importance, from the Kollel guys sitting and learning all day to the farmers and ranchers spending their days out in the fields. For this same reason, we have the mitzvos of Mishlo’ach Manos and Matanos La’Evyonim - we are displaying that we believe everyone is important and that we want to share in the simcha with them.

This Purim, let us celebrate the importance of every Jew in Hashem’s nation no matter what role they have. Especially when times like these lead to the typical controversial debates surrounding drafting and the like, let us take a step back and start to appreciate each and every one of our brothers.

Chag Purim Samei’ach!