View Auction Listing - Talmud Bavli, Tractate Megillah

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Bidding Information
Lot #		18754
Auction End Date		8/21/2007 11:53:00 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)

Title Information

Title (English)

Talmud Bavli, Tractate Megillah

Title (Hebrew)

תלמוד בבלי, מסכת מגילה

Author

[Pocket Ed.]

City

Amsterdam

Publisher

Joseph Dayyan

Publication Date

1730

Collection Information

Independent Item

This listing is an independent item not part of any collection

Description Information

Physical
Description

[62], 33-45, [1] ff., 192:115 mm., age and use staining, edges rubbed and rounded, nice margins. A very good copy bound in modern cloth over boards.

Detailed
Description

Pocket size edition where each full folio page is printed on two pages. This size of Talmud was first introduced in Amsterdam and became very popular among travelers. Unfortunately the conditions these volumes were subjected to, did not allow many to survive and the single copies that did survive are generally in rather poor condition. Tractate Megillah is the tenth tractate in the order Mo'ed, in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds. Megillah, in four chapters, deals with liturgical readings from the Bible, especially with the reading of the Scroll of Esther on Purim to which the word megillah particularly refers, and with related subjects. The regulations concerning the reading of the Scroll of Esther on Purim are largely dealt with in the first two chapters of the tractate. Chapter 1 is primarily concerned with determining on which day of Adar the megillah is to be read, there being a difference between walled cities on the one hand and open towns and villages on the other. Only the first half of this chapter (mishnayot 1–4) deals with the megillah, while the remainder (5–11) is a collection of various halakhot, which were included because they are all introduced by the same formula ("The only difference between A and B is..."). According to J. N. Epstein (Tanna'im, 257) this group belongs to the Mishnah of R. Akiva (Tosef. 1:7–21, gives a similar but longer group of such halakhot). Chapter 2 first discusses the appropriate way of reading the megillah, e.g., whether reciting by heart and reading in a language other than Hebrew are valid. It goes on to deal with the technicalities of writing a megillah to be used for public reading, e.g., whether it must be written on parchment, or whether paper may be used. Among other questions discussed is the qualification of the reader, and whether women or minors are fit to read it. There is also much extraneous matter in this chapter. Chapter 3 starts with a discussion on the sanctity of the synagogue and its appurtenances, but its main contents are the public readings from the Pentateuch and haftarah. Chapter 4 continues with the main subject but deals with other liturgical questions (e.g., public reading of the Shema, priestly blessings, etc.). The sequence of the chapters as set out above is the one found in current editions of the Mishnah, Jerusalem Talmud, and Tosefta, but in the Babylonian Talmud the order of the last two chapters is reversed. The reason is that since the first Mishnah of chapter 4 opens with the words "He who reads the megillah," it was thought appropriate that this chapter follow the first two, which deal mainly with the megillah.

Paragraph 2

עם פירוש רש"י ותוספות והרא"ש, ותורה אור ועין משפט ... חדושי מהרש"א ... בשולי היריעה ... נעשה בכרך קטן, למען ישא איש בכנף מעילו ... בלכתו בדרך ... שנת מ'גילה נ'קראת'

כל שני עמודים מהוים עמוד אחד של המהדורות הרגילות. חידושי מהרש"א לא נדפסו בשולי העמודים אלא בסוף, מדף מד,ב ואילך.

Reference
Description

CD-EPI 0317269; EJ

Associated Images

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Listing Classification

Period

18th Century:

Checked

Location

Holland:

Checked

Subject

Other:

Talmud

Characteristic

Language:

Hebrew

Manuscript Type

Kind of Judaica