Megillah 32a (לב.) — the Talmud in English

And we explain:

because

there are those

who reverse them,

who say that Rabbi Yehuda stated his opinion in accordance with the words of Rabbi Meir, while Rabbi Meir stated his opinion in accordance with Rabbi Yehuda. Therefore, Rabbi Zeira did not say: “The halakha is in accordance with Rabbi Yehuda.”

The Sages taught:

One who goes up to read from the Torah

opens

the scroll

and looks

to see where he must read, and

rolls

the scroll closed,

and recites the blessing. And then he opens it again—

and reads. This is the statement of Rabbi Meir.

Rabbi Yehuda says: He opens it and looks,

but he does not roll it closed again,

and recites the blessing and reads.

What is the reason for Rabbi Meir’s opinion?

It is in accordance with the statement of Ulla.

For Ulla said: Why did they say

that

the one reading from the Torah should not assist the translator?

So that those who see it will not say

that

the translation is written in the Torah,

and they will come to write a translation in the Torah.

And

here too,

he must roll the scroll closed while reciting the blessing, so

that people will not say: The blessings are written in the Torah.

And Rabbi Yehuda

would say to you: With regard to the

translation,

there is room for error

and for one to say that it is written in the Torah, and that is why he should not assist the translator. But with regard to the

blessings,

there is no room for error

in this regard.

Rabbi Zeira said in the name of Rav Mattana: The halakha is—

He opens it and looks, and recites the blessing and reads.

There is no need to roll it closed before reciting the blessing.

And let him say: The halakha is in accordance with Rabbi Yehuda?

And we explain:

because

there are

those who reverse them.

Rabbi Zeira said in the name of Rav Mattana: The tablets [

Rashi wrote that some explain this as referring to the cases made for our scrolls, which do not have margins. Tosafot cited the Arukh, who explained that these are the blank margins of the Torah scroll, above and below and between the sheets. See there],

And

likewise

the platforms,

namely, the platform that they would make for the king, upon which he would read from the Torah [ on the evening following the first day of Sukkot, at the conclusion of the Sabbatical year, as the Gemara says in tractate Sota, 41a; see there]—

do not have sanctity .

Rabbi Shfatya said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: One who rolls a Torah scroll—

must position it at the seam.

That is, opposite the seam, so that the seam is in the middle. Because there it can properly be tightened.

And Rabbi Shfatya said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: A

single individual who reads from a Torah scroll and

rolls

the

scroll

of the

Torah

from one section to another, with the scroll resting on his lap,

rolls it from the outside,

that is, he rolls the page farther from him inward.

And he does not roll it from the inside

outward, lest, when he grasps the inner page to roll it, the outer page unfold and fall to the ground.

And when he tightens it,

after he has finished rolling it—

he tightens it from the inside

outward,

and he does not tighten it from the outside

inward, because he would then cover the writing with his arms, whereas it is a mitzva to display the writing to the people while tightening it.

And Rabbi Shfatya said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: Ten who read from the Torah [

Since the Torah is not read in the presence of fewer than ten people, it says “ten who read from the Torah,” but it does not mean that all of them read from the Torah],

the greatest among them—

rolls

the Torah scroll,

because this is its honor. Also, since he is the greatest among them, he is fit to receive a reward corresponding to that of them all, as the Gemara says below [Tosafot].

The one who rolls it

the Torah scroll

receives the reward of them all.

As Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Ten who read from the Torah, the one who rolls

the

scroll

of the

Torah—

receives the reward of them all.

And we raise an objection:

Can it enter your mind that he receives the reward of them all?

Does he take the reward for the mitzva of the congregation?

And we explain:

Rather, say

this:

He receives a reward corresponding to that of them all.

And Rabbi Shfatya said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: From where is it derived that one may make use of a heavenly voice,

that is, if a person is considering beginning to do something and hears a voice say “yes,” or hears it say “no,” he may follow that voice, and this does not constitute divination?

As it is stated: “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying

this is the way; walk in it, and so on.”

And this applies

where

he hears a man’s voice,

even

in a city, and a woman’s voice in the wilderness

specifically. Because such a voice is uncommon, and necessarily the heavenly voice has come to him.

And this is when it says: “Yes, yes,” and when it says: “No, no,”

that is, when it repeats its words; then we say that it is a heavenly voice.

And Rabbi Shfatya said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: Anyone who reads without melody, and studies without song,

the verse says about him: “I also gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances by which they could not live.”

Abaye challenged this:

But is it because

he does not know how to beautify his voice that “ordinances by which they could not live”—

you read this verse concerning him

[

which is the conclusion of the preceding verse]?!

Rather, it is as Rav Mesharshiya said. For he said:

Two Torah scholars who sit in one city and are not comfortable with one another in matters of halakha,

meaning that they do not engage with one another in halakha in order to learn from each other, the verse says about them: “I also gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances by which they could not live” .

Rabbi Parnakh said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: Anyone who holds a Torah scroll

barehanded ,

without the cloth covering around it—

will be buried barehanded.

And we question: He will be buried

barehanded

literally?

Can this enter your mind?

And we explain:

Rather, say

this:

He will be buried barehanded—

without mitzvot.

And we question: But still,

can it enter your mind that he will be without mitzvot?

Does the fact that he held a Torah scroll barehanded cause him to lose all the mitzvot he performed?

Rather, Abaye said: He will be buried barehanded—

without that mitzva

that he performed at that time. For example, if he read from the Torah and held the scroll barehanded, he does not receive the reward for the mitzva of reading [Tosafot; see there].

Rabbi Yannai, son of Rabbi Yannai the Elder, said in the name of Rabbi Yannai the Great: It is preferable that the cloth be rolled

over the scroll; that is, he should hold the scroll and roll the cloth over it,

rather than roll the Torah scroll

inside the cloth; that is, he should not place the cloth in his lap and roll the scroll inside it.

We learned in our Mishna:

“And Moses declared the appointed times of the Lord to the Children of Israel”; their mitzva

is that each one be read at its proper time.

The Sages taught:

It is written: “And Moses declared the appointed times of the Lord to the Children of Israel.” Why was it necessary to write here, “And Moses declared”? Did Moses not declare all the mitzvot to Israel?

Rather, we derive from this that

Moses instituted for Israel that they should ask and expound concerning the subject of the day

the halakhot of Passover—

on Passover. The halakhot of Shavuot—

on Shavuot. The halakhot of the Festival— on the Festival . This was Moses’ practice: He would speak with them about the laws of each festival at its proper time, to make known the statutes of God and His teachings. And they accepted and fulfilled the reward of the mitzvot for themselves and for their children, in this world and the World to Come [the wording of Rashi].

We have returned to you, chapter “The Residents of the City,” and the tractate Megilla is concluded