Megillah 20b — the Talmud in English

Counting during the day

specifically

,

as it is written: “And she shall count for herself seven days.” And therefore she can immerse only during the day, for she requires counting in order to immerse.

We learned in our Mishna:

And all of them, if they performed them from when the dawn column arose, are valid.

From where are these matters?

Rava said, for the verse says: “And God called the light Day.” The one that brightens and comes, that is, dawn—

He called Day.

And we challenge this:

If that is so,

the end of the verse, as it is written:

“And the darkness He called Night,”

so too, shall we expound

the one that darkens and comes, the verse calls Night,

that is, from sunset it is already night? But

do we not hold that until the emergence of the stars—

it is not night?!

Rather, Rabbi Zeira said:

We learn it from here, that from dawn it is called day, for it is written [when Nehemiah was building the wall of Jerusalem, and they wished to wage war against him]:

“And we were carrying out the work, and half of them were holding spears, from dawn until the emergence of the stars.”

We see that the beginning of the day is dawn.

And it says: “And the night was our guard, and the day was work.”

And we consider it:

What is the purpose of “and it says”?

Why was the latter verse needed?

And we explain: This is what it is saying:

And should you say

that in truth

from when the dawn column arose

it is not day

until sunrise,

and from when the sun sets

already

it is night

before the emergence of the stars,

and

from the fact that they carried out work from dawn there is no proof, for only

they

were the ones who

rose early and worked late,

as they rose early before the day and worked late after the day?

Come and hear: “And the night was our guard, and the day was work.”

For from this verse we understand that they carried out work specifically during the day; if so, we see that day is from dawn until the emergence of the stars.

Mishna:

Although we hold that the zealous rise early for mitzvot, and we learn it from what is written: “And Abraham rose early in the morning,” nevertheless,

the entire day is valid

for the following mitzvot:

for reading the Megillah,

and for reading the Hallel, for sounding the shofar, for taking the lulav, for the prayer of the additional offerings, and for

the offering of the

additional offerings, and for the confession of the bulls,

that is, the bull for an unintentional matter of the community, and the bull of an anointed priest, concerning which they confess the sin for which they brought them.

And for the confession of the tithe [

the same matter as is written: “And you shall say before the Lord your God: I have removed the holy thing from the house, etc.”],

and for the confession of the Day of Atonement [

when the priest places his hands upon the bull and confesses].

And likewise

for laying on of hands, for slaughtering

of sacrifices,

for waving

of the meal-offering,

for bringing near

the meal-offering, that is, bringing it to the southwestern corner of the altar, opposite the edge of the corner, and afterward taking its handful [as we say in tractate Menahot 19b].

For taking the handful

of the meal-offering,

and for burning

the handful,

for pinching, and for receiving

the blood of the sacrifice,

and for sprinkling

the blood,

and for giving the sota to drink, and for breaking the heifer's neck, and for the purification of the leper [

with birds, cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet thread].

And just as the entire day is valid for these mitzvot, so

the entire night—

—

is valid for harvesting the omer,

and for burning fats and limbs,

whose mitzva is at night.

This is the rule: Anything whose mitzva is during the day—

—

is valid throughout the entire day.

Whereas

anything whose mitzva is at night—

—

is valid throughout the entire night.

Gemara:

From where do we know

that the entire day is valid for reading the Megillah?

For the verse says: “And these days are remembered and performed.”

For reading the Hallel—

from where do we know it?

For it is written: “From the rising of the sun until its setting

the name of the Lord is praised.” It implies—the entire day, from the rising of the sun until its setting.

Rav Yosef says:

From this verse we learn it concerning reading the Hallel, for it is written:

“This is the day the Lord has made.”

And for taking the lulav—

from where do we know it?

For it is written: “And you shall take for yourselves on the first day.”

And for sounding the shofar—

—

for it is written: “It shall be a day of sounding the shofar for you.”

And for the additional offerings—

—

for it is written

concerning them:

“The matter of each day on its day.”

And for the prayer of the additional offerings—

for

the Sages made it equivalent to the additional offerings,

and we learned the additional offerings above from a verse.

And for the confession of the bulls—

—

he derives “atonement”—

“atonement” from the Day of Atonement.

For it was taught concerning the Day of Atonement:

It is written:

“And he shall make atonement for himself

and for his household”—

the verse speaks of verbal atonement [in tractate Yoma it is explained that it must necessarily refer to verbal atonement and not blood atonement, for it is written afterward: “And he shall slaughter the bull of the sin-offering”; we learn that the bull had not yet been slaughtered].

And atonement—

is during the day, for it is written: “For on this day he shall make atonement for you,”

thus, its atonement is during the day.

We learned in our Mishna:

And for the confession of the tithe, etc.

From where do we know that its time is the entire day?

For it is written

in the confession of the tithe:

“And you shall say before the Lord your God: I have removed the holy thing from the house,” and adjacent to it is: “This day the Lord your God commands you.”

We learned in our Mishna:

For laying on of hands and for slaughtering.

From where do we know it?

For it is written: “And he shall lay his hand and slaughter,” and it is written concerning the slaughtering: “On the day of your sacrifice.”

And for waving—

for it is written: “On the day when you wave the omer.”

And for bringing near—

for it is juxtaposed with waving. For it is written: “And the priest shall take from the woman's hand the meal-offering of jealousy, and he shall wave it and bring it near.”

And this bringing near is bringing near, for it is impossible to say that this means burning the handful, since it is written afterward: “And he shall take its handful and burn it.”

And for pinching, for taking the handful, for burning, and for sprinkling—

for it is written: “On the day when He commanded the children of Israel

to offer their sacrifices.” We see that the offering of a sacrifice is during the day, and all these rites are rites of offering a sacrifice [as is explained by Rashi from the verses; see there].

And for giving the sota to drink—

from where do we know it?

For

“Torah” is derived from “Torah.” It is written here

in the case of the sota:

“And the priest shall perform for her all this Torah,” and it is written there: “According to the Torah that they teach you

and according to the judgment.” ![](pamud.bmp "

they teach you and according to the judgment.” ![](pamud.bmp "

Precise page location")

Just as judgment—

is during the day

specifically [as we learn in tractate Sanhedrin 34b],

so here—

during the day.