Megillah 30a (ל.) — the Talmud in English

Abaye said:

It is not proper to do so, for if so,

people will say

that they did not read the section of Shekalim at all, but rather

they merely established it there,

meaning that the section of Tetzaveh had not ended at this point. For the section of Ki Tisa is a continuation of the section of Tetzaveh, and people would not recognize that it was read as the section of Shekalim.

Rather, Abaye said,

this is what we do:

six

readers

read from “And you shall command”

until the end of the section, and they continue and read from the section of Ki Tisa

until “And you shall make

a copper laver,”

and one then repeats [

returns]

and reads

again

from “When you take” until “And you shall make.”

The Gemara raises an objection: If

the first of Adar

falls in the section adjacent

to the section of Shekalim,

whether

it falls

before it,

that is, in the section of Tetzaveh, or

whether

it falls

after it, they read it—

the section of Shekalim—

and repeat it.

And now,

granted according to Abaye—

it works,

for this is the interpretation of the beraita: If the first of Adar falls in the section of Tetzaveh, which is adjacent to the section of Shekalim [that is, “When you take”], they read it—the section of “When you take”—after they finish the section of Tetzaveh, and repeat it; that is, they read again from the beginning of “When you take.”

But according to Rabbi Yitzḥak Nappaḥa—

it is difficult,

for he said that they do not repeat it; rather, only the seventh reader reads from the section of Ki Tisa!?

Rabbi Yitzḥak Nappaḥa could say to you: And according to Abaye—

does it work? It works

when the first of the month falls on the Shabbat

before it,

for then they repeat it, as we said.

But when it falls

after it,

that is, after the section of Shekalim,

how can you find

that they repeat its reading?

Rather, what can you say?

That what the beraita taught, “and they repeat it,” means that they

repeat it on different Shabbatot,

that is, they read the section of Shekalim on two consecutive Shabbatot. On the first Shabbat they read the section of Ki Tisa, and on the following Shabbat they read the section of Shekalim from “When you take” again.

Here too,

when it falls before it, when it says

they repeat it on different Shabbatot,

it means precisely that. It does not mean that they repeat its reading on that same Shabbat; rather, although they already read the section of Shekalim on this Shabbat, which is from the section of Ki Tisa, they read the section of Ki Tisa again on the following Shabbat.

If it falls

on the Shabbat of Shekalim in the section of

Ki Tisa itself, Rabbi Yitzḥak Nappaḥa said: Six read from “And you shall make” [

that is, the end of the reading for the section of Shekalim]—

until

the beginning of the section of

“And Moses assembled,” and one reads from

the beginning of

“When you take”—

until “And you shall make.”

Abaye strongly objected to this: Now people will say

that

he is reading in reverse order!

is

backward!

Rather, Abaye said,

this is what we do:

six

readers read from the beginning of “When you take”

—until “And Moses assembled,” and one repeats and reads

again

from “When you take” until “And you shall make

a copper laver.”

It was taught in support of Abaye: If it falls in Ki Tisa itself, they read it—

and repeat it.

We see that they read the section of Shekalim twice, unlike Rabbi Yitzḥak Nappaḥa, who said that they do not read it again.

We learned in our Mishna:

If it falls within the week—

they advance it to the preceding Shabbat.

It was stated: When the first of Adar falls on Friday, Rav said: They advance

the reading of the section of Shekalim to the preceding Shabbat.

And Shmuel said: They postpone

it and read it on the immediately following Shabbat.

What are their reasons?

Rav said they advance it—

because

if so,

if we postpone the reading until the day after the first of the month,

the days before the tables [

will be reduced]

will be lacking,

for they must read the section of Shekalim two Shabbatot before the date on which the tables are set up in the provinces, namely, the fifteenth of Adar [according to the view of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel above, 29b]. If we postpone the reading, fewer than two weeks will remain until the fifteenth!?

And Shmuel,

who

said they postpone it,

could say to you: Ultimately,

if the first of the month happens to fall on Friday, then the

fifteenth

of Adar also

happens to fall on Friday. [

the eve of Shabbat]

And

if so,

the tables will not be set up until Sunday,

for they will not sit on Friday out of respect for Shabbat.

Therefore, they postpone it

and read it the day after the first of the month, since two Shabbatot will still remain before the tables are set up.

We learned: If it falls within the week, they advance it to the preceding Shabbat, and interrupt for the following Shabbat.

Does this not mean—

even if

the first of the month

falls on Friday,

and it teaches that they advance it to the preceding Shabbat, in accordance with Rav!?

And we reject this:

No.

If it falls

specifically within the week—

then they advance it, since in that case, if they postpone it, the days before the tables will certainly be reduced. But if it falls on Friday, one can say that they postpone it.

Come and hear: Which is the first Shabbat?—

Any Shabbat in which the first of Adar falls,

within that week,

even

if the first of the month falls

on Friday.

Does this not mean that the phrase

“even on Friday”

“even on Friday”

is analogous to “within it”?

For

just as

when the first of the month falls

within it,

they advance

the reading to the preceding Shabbat,

so too

when it falls

on Friday,

they advance it,

in accordance with Rav!?

Shmuel said:

The phrase “within it” in this beraita means that the first of the month falls

on it—on the Shabbat itself—for then they certainly read it on that Shabbat. And the beraita says that Friday is analogous to “within it”: Similarly, if it falls on Friday, they read it on the following Shabbat, as though it had fallen on Shabbat itself.

on the Shabbat itself; in that case they certainly read it on that Shabbat. And the beraita says that Friday is analogous to “during which”: just as when it occurs on Shabbat itself they read it on that Shabbat, so too, if it occurs on Friday, they read it on the following Shabbat, as though it had occurred on Shabbat itself.

And likewise, the school of Shmuel taught

in the Tosefta this beraita: “Any Shabbat in which the first of Adar falls

on it.”

And this dispute between Rav and Shmuel is

like

the dispute of the

tannaitic

opinions.

As it was taught:

“They alternate the Shabbatot,”

“alternate” being an expression of intervals. That is, they interrupt between the Shabbatot when the first of Adar falls on a weekday. They advance the reading of the section of Shekalim to the preceding Shabbat, since otherwise the days before the tables would be reduced; they interrupt on the following Shabbat, refraining from reading the special sections; and on the third Shabbat, immediately preceding Purim, they read the section of Zakhor, in order to juxtapose the reading of Zakhor to Purim.

These are the words of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi.

Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: They do not alternate.

And he proceeds to explain:

Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar said: When do I say

that they

do not alternate—

when

the first of the month

falls on Friday,

for in such a case, even if they read the section of Shekalim on the Shabbat after the first of the month, the days before the tables are not reduced, since the tables are not set up until after the Shabbat of the fifteenth of Adar, as Shmuel said above. Therefore, they postpone it and do not alternate.

But when it falls

on a weekday

within the week [

in the middle of the week], they have no choice but

to advance it,

and read

the section of Shekalim

on the preceding Shabbat, even though it is

still the month of

Shevat.

For if they do not advance it, the days before the tables will be reduced.

This is the dispute between Rav and Shmuel: The first tanna of the beraita holds that even if the first of Adar falls on Friday, they advance it, in accordance with Rav. Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar holds that in such a case they postpone it, in accordance with Shmuel.

We learned in our Mishna:

On the second, Zakhor, etc.

It was stated: When Purim falls on Friday, Rav said: They advance

the reading of

the section of Zakhor

to the Shabbat preceding Purim.

And Shmuel said: They postpone

it and read it on the Shabbat following Purim.

Over what do they disagree?

Rav said they advance it—

so that the performance does not precede the remembrance.

For if you say they postpone it, they perform the mitzvot of Purim first, on Friday, and on the following Shabbat they perform the remembrance, namely, the reading of the section of Zakhor.

And Shmuel,

who

said they postpone it,

could say to you: Since there are walled cities whose inhabitants perform

Purim

on the fifteenth,

that is, on Shabbat, in the case of the walled cities

performance and remembrance

come together [

they occur at the same time].

We learned: On the second—

Zakhor.

And we initially understood that this refers to the first clause of the Mishna, to the first of Adar that falls on Shabbat.

But when the first of the month falls on Shabbat

Purim falls on Friday, and it teaches

that we read

on the second

the section of

Zakhor,

in accordance with Rav, who says that they advance it!?

Rav Pappa said: It does not refer to the first clause, but to the final clause. It teaches that when the first of the month falls within the week, they advance the reading of Shekalim to the preceding Shabbat and interrupt on the following Shabbat. And what does

“

“

on the second”

mean? It means

the second after the interruption,

that is, on the Shabbat following the interruption they read Zakhor.

Come and hear: Which

is the

Shabbat

of the second section,

the second,

that is, the section of Zakhor?—

Any Shabbat in which Purim falls [

after it],

even

if Purim falls

on Friday.

Does this not mean that Friday

is analogous to “within it”? Just as

if Purim falls

within it—

it is certainly the case that they

advance it—so too

when Purim falls

on Friday,

they advance it,

in accordance with Rav!?

Shmuel said:

The phrase “in which Purim falls” means

on it,

that Purim falls on Shabbat itself, in which case they read the section of Zakhor on that very day. And the beraita teaches that even if Purim falls on Friday, it is considered as though it falls on the following Shabbat, and they read the section the next day, in accordance with Shmuel.

And likewise, the school of Shmuel taught

in this beraita: “Any Shabbat in which Purim falls

on it.”

If

Purim

falls on Shabbat itself ,

Rav Huna said: According to everyone, they do not advance it,

but read the section of Zakhor on the Shabbat of Purim. For performance did not precede remembrance; rather, they occur together, while for the inhabitants of walled cities remembrance precedes performance.

And Rav Naḥman said: It remains a dispute,

for even in this case Rav says that they advance it, so that the performance of the mitzvot of Purim by the inhabitants of the unwalled towns will precede remembrance.

It was also stated

that Rav disputes even in this case:

Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said that Rabbi Abba said that Rav said: When Purim falls on Shabbat—

they advance it and read on the preceding Shabbat

the section of

Zakhor.

We learned in our Mishna:

On the third, the red heifer, etc.

The Sages taught: Which is the third Shabbat?—

Any Shabbat immediately preceding Purim,

that is, the Shabbat after Purim.

It was stated: Rabbi Ḥama bar Rabbi Ḥanina said: The Shabbat immediately preceding the first of Nisan

is the third Shabbat, on which they read the section of the red heifer.

And they do not disagree. The

statement that we said, that they read it on the Shabbat immediately preceding the first of Nisan, applies when

the first of Nisan falls on Shabbat,

so that there is no need to advance the reading of the section of HaḤodesh to the preceding Shabbat; rather, they read it on the first of the month itself. In such a case, it is preferable to read the section of the red heifer close to Nisan, in order to juxtapose the warning to those who are impure with Passover.

But

the

statement that we said, that they read it on the Shabbat following Purim, applies when

the

first of Nisan

falls in the middle of the week,

for then they advance the reading of the section of HaḤodesh to the Shabbat preceding the first of Nisan, and they read the section of the red heifer on the Shabbat before that, which is the Shabbat immediately preceding Purim.

We learned in our Mishna:

On the fourth—

“This month shall be for you.”

The Sages taught: When the first of Adar falls on Shabbat—

they read

the section of

Ki Tisa, and they conclude with a haftara from Jehoiada

the priest [this beraita was explained above in alternating ways, according to Rav’s view and according to Shmuel’s view].

And which is the first Shabbat?—

Any Shabbat in which the first of Adar falls,

that is, the Shabbat preceding it,

even

if the first of the month falls

on Friday.

On

Shabbat

the second

they read

Zakhor, and conclude with: “I remember.”

And which is the second Shabbat?—

Any Shabbat in which Purim falls, even on Friday.

On

Shabbat

the third—

they read the section of

the red heifer, and conclude with: “And I shall sprinkle you.”

And which is the third Shabbat?—

Any Shabbat immediately preceding Purim.

On the fourth

they read

“This month shall be for you,” and conclude with: “So said the Lord God: In the first month, on the first of the month.”