Megillah 4a — the Talmud in English

And further,

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said:

the cities

Lod, Ono, and the Valley of the Craftsmen—

were surrounded by a wall from the days of Joshua son of Nun .

Rabbi Yehoshua learned this tradition from his teacher: They were surrounded by a wall from the days of Joshua. And he needed to testify concerning them because their walls appeared to be newly built, as will be explained below.]

And we raise a difficulty:

and

when

these

cities—

did Joshua build them

[build them]?

But it was Elpaal who built them! For it is written: “And the sons of Elpaal were Eber, and Misham, and Shemer; he

[Shemer]

built Ono, and Lod, and its villages”?!

And we object:

but according to your reasoning,

there is also a difficulty, for it is written elsewhere that

Asa built them! For it is written: “And he built fortified cities in Judah”?!

Rabbi Elazar said: These

cities—

were surrounded by a wall from the days of Joshua son of Nun.

And

they were destroyed in the days of the Concubine at Gibeah,

when Israel destroyed the cities of Benjamin,

and Elpaal came—

and

built them again. They were again

[Again]

destroyed

[were destroyed],

and Asa came—

and repaired them

[strengthened their breaches].

It is precise also

that Asa did not build them originally,

for it is written: “And he said

[Asa]

to Judah, Let us build these cities.” It follows that the cities already existed

before

originally,

but they had been destroyed. And we conclude:

Learn from it! And Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: Women are obligated in the reading of the Megillah ,

for they too were included in that miracle,

for Haman decreed to destroy everyone, from young to old, children and women [and Tosafot brought that the Rashbam explained that the principal miracle was performed through them, namely through Esther; see there ].

And Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: If Purim occurs on Shabbat,

even though the Megillah is not read on Shabbat, but its reading is advanced to the day of assembly,

they ask and expound concerning the matter of the day .

A translator is placed before the sage, to expound concerning the matters of the Megillah of Esther before the public .

And we raise a difficulty:

Why specifically Purim,

when you say that they expound concerning the matter of the day?

Even

on

a Festival as well, even though they had already expounded concerning the matter of the day thirty days before the Festival, they expound also on the Festival itself; all the more so on Purim, when they do not expound concerning its matter before its time, certainly they expound on Purim itself. And what does it come to teach us

[So Tosafot explained the question ]?! And where do we find that they expound on a Festival concerning the matter of the day? See the book Nefesh Yehonatan [by Rabbi Yehonatan Eybeschutz] on the portion of Vayakhel, where he discussed this at length.

For it was taught: Moses instituted for Israel that they should ask and expound concerning the matter of the day. The laws of Passover—

on Passover; the laws of Atzeret—

on Atzeret; and the laws of the Festival

of Sukkot—

on the Festival

of Sukkot?!

And we resolve:

Purim required this

to teach it.

You might say: Let us decree because of

that

which

said

Rabba

later, that the Megillah is not read on Shabbat—lest one go to an expert to learn; here too, let us decree not to expound concerning the matter of Purim, lest they err and come to read the Megillah.

It teaches us

that we do not decree so.

And Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: A person is obligated to read

the Megillah at night,

and to repeat it during the day .

As a remembrance of the miracle, for they cried out day and night over their distress.

As it is stated [in the psalm “For the leader, upon the hind of the dawn,” which was said concerning Esther , as we say in tractate Yoma 29a]:

[in the psalm “For the Conductor, upon the hind of the dawn,” which was said concerning Esther , as we say in tractate Yoma 29a]:

“My God, I call by day—

but You do not answer; and at night—

there is no silence for me.”

They understood from this

the members of the academy, that this is what he meant:

to read it

the Megillah

at night, and

the fact that he said “to repeat it during the day” is from the language of Mishna, that is:

to recite its Mishna

[to repeat the mishnayot of tractate Megillah]

during the day .

Rabbi Jeremiah said to them: For me it was explained by Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba,

that this “to repeat it during the day” means as follows:

As people say: I will pass through this section—

and repeat it,

I will repeat it again. Here too, he should read it at night and read it a second time during the day .

It was also stated

like that which Rabbi Jeremiah said:

Rabbi Helbo said that Ulla of Beira said: A person is obligated to read the Megillah at night and to repeat it during the day. As it is stated [in the psalm “I will exalt You, O Lord, for You have drawn me up,” which refers to Mordekhai, Esther, Haman, and Ahasuerus, as we say in the Pesikta]:

[in the psalm “I will exalt You, Lord, for You have drawn me up,” which refers to Mordekhai, Esther, Haman, and Ahasuerus, as we say in the Pesikta]:

“So that glory may sing to You

and not be silent; O Lord my God, forever I will thank You.”

And we expound: “so that glory may sing to You”—during the day; “and not be silent”—at night .

We learned in our Mishna:

Except that the villages advance [the reading] to the day of assembly.

Rabbi Hanina said: The Sages were lenient with the villages, allowing them to advance

to read

to the day of assembly, so that

they would be free on the fourteenth of Adar, and

would provide

then

water and food for their brethren in the walled cities .