Q&A: The obligation to read the Megillah is not mentioned in the Megillah itself…
The obligation to read the Megillah is not mentioned in the Megillah itself…
Question
I checked, and the obligation to read the Megillah is derived / learned from verses.
The authors of the Megillah [through divine inspiration?] did not bother to write such an obligation explicitly. [Or they decided not to write it explicitly.]
Precisely the obligation of feasting appears again and again, and likewise the obligation of sending portions, and it is even mentioned that they did so in the first year of the miracle.
Gifts to the poor are mentioned only once. And it is not mentioned that they did so in the first year.
Can one infer from this that the order of importance is as follows:
1. Feasting and rejoicing—the meal.
2. Sending portions.
3. Gifts to the poor.
4. Reading the Megillah.
?
I am not asking about the order in which reading the Megillah is fulfilled first at night and in the day and only afterward the other commandments [that is for secondary reasons from the laws of prayer—that one does not greet a person first, all the more so one does not send him food portions, and also “do not eat over the blood”]—rather, what is more important? What should one invest the bulk of one’s resources in?
And maybe instead of managing to pester the reader over every tiny thing and make him go back again from the beginning of the verse… and afterward going to hear it again at another minyan… just hear it calmly. And invest the resources in a pleasant and successful meal, appropriate food gifts, and gifts to the poor… more than the resources that get directed to reading the Megillah…
Answer
There is no ranking of importance based on plain meaning versus derivation. True, the Ra’avan in the pamphlet Divrei Soferim tried to infer from the midrash about “the conversation of the servants of the patriarchs is more pleasing” that the plain meaning is more important than derivation, but there is no proof from there at all. What is derived from Scripture and/or established by rabbinic enactment is no less important and equally worthy of investment as what is written explicitly in the Torah.
Discussion on Answer
“And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, to establish among them that they should observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth day of it, every year and year; as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month that was turned for them from sorrow to joy and from mourning to a holiday, to make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions each man to his fellow and gifts to the poor. And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them.”
The feasting and rejoicing they had already done before what Mordecai wrote. And in order to fulfill the other commandments of the holiday, one must first read what Mordecai wrote.
Can one fulfill the obligation via Zoom? And is a parchment Megillah required?
Regarding Zoom, see here: https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%A7%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%9E%D7%92%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%94-%D7%91%D7%96%D7%95%D7%9D
Regarding parchment, yes.
With God’s help, 13 Adar 5781
As best as I remember, one who did not hear a few words clearly from the reader can quickly read the verse from the Humash in his hand and continue fulfilling the obligation by listening to the Megillah reader, and the minority that he reads not from a kosher Megillah does not prevent fulfillment (provided that it does not become “reading out of order”). It seems to me that the synagogue rabbi can explain this to the congregation, and thereby save the Megillah reader unnecessary trouble..
Best regards, may he be blessed with health, joy, forgiveness, and healing.
For hoarseness, swallowing a raw egg is helpful—what they call “eggnog.”