{"id":10583,"date":"2007-03-01T23:28:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-01T23:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/production.ou.org\/life\/other\/masechet_megillah2329\/"},"modified":"2015-10-25T09:05:59","modified_gmt":"2015-10-25T14:05:59","slug":"masechet_megillah2329","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_megillah2329\/","title":{"rendered":"Masechet Megillah 23a-29b"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Coming Week’s Daf Yomi by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz<\/em><\/p>\n

This essay is based upon the insights and chidushim (original ideas) of Talmudic scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, as published in the Hebrew version of the Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud.<\/em><\/p>\n

This month\u2019s Steinsaltz Daf Yomi is sponsored by Dr. and Mrs. Alan Harris, the Lewy Family Foundation, and Marilyn and Edward Kaplan<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Megillah 23a-b<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

In describing the public Torah reading<\/a>, the Mishnah<\/a> teaches that every person called to the Torah<\/a> must read at least three pesukim<\/em>, but that the meturgaman<\/a><\/em> should be given only on passage at a time to translate.<\/p>\n

Although we are not familiar with the practice today, the\u00a0meturgeman<\/i>\u00a0was an essential fixture in the synagogue during Torah reading in the time of the Mishnah and the Talmud<\/a>, as well as for generations that followed. For Jews of Yemenite<\/a> extraction, the meturgeman<\/i>\u00a0is part of the standard Torah readings in their synagogues to this day. The job of the meturgeman<\/i>\u00a0was to translate the Torah reading into a language that could be understood by all – Aramaic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As can be well imagined, when the meturgeman<\/i>\u00a0participated in the service, the Torah reading took a much longer amount of time. Although the Torah reading could not be shortened, when it came to reading the Haftarah<\/a><\/em> – the portion from the Prophets that is read following the completion of the Torah reading – if there was a meturgeman<\/i>\u00a0(and it should be noted that the Aramaic translation in Navi<\/a><\/em> is even longer than in Chumash<\/a><\/em>, as it includes commentary alongside the literal translation), it made sense to shorten the reading. Thus, the original establishment of the Haftarah<\/em> as consisting of minimally 21 pesukim<\/em> (probably stemming from a desire to mimic the seven aliyot<\/a><\/em> to the Torah, which are made up of three pesukim<\/em> each) was cut down to ten pesukim<\/em>, or even fewer.<\/p>\n

There is another type of meturgeman<\/i>\u00a0who is occasionally referred to in the Gemara<\/a>; he is the individual whose job it was to “broadcast” the teachings of the Sage to the audience who came to hear him – an essential job prior to the invention of the loudspeaker. Such a meturgaman<\/em> not only presented the words of the Sage, but offered explanations and clarifications of the teachings, as well.<\/p>\n

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Megillah 24a-b<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

In Israel it is common practice for kohanim<\/a><\/em> to bless<\/a> the congregation on a daily basis towards the end of the repetition of the amidah<\/a><\/em> prayer. In the Diaspora<\/a> it is a much less frequent occurrence, which takes place only on the festivals of Pesach<\/a><\/em>, Shavu’ot<\/a><\/em> and Sukkot<\/a><\/em>, as well as on the High Holy Days<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Mishnah<\/a> teaches that a kohen<\/em> whose hands are disfigured should not participate in this blessing; according to Rabbi Yehuda<\/a> if someone\u2019s hands are colored with dye he too should not participate, as it will be distracting to the congregants. Although the popular notion is that it is forbidden to look at the hands of the kohanim<\/em> while they are offering the blessing, since the Sages teach that the presence of the Almighty appears there at that time, the rishonim<\/a><\/em> already have noted that the sense of Divine presence during the Priestly Blessing is only true in the Temple. Thus, the Me’iri<\/a> and R”id<\/a> – echoing the Talmud Yerushalmi<\/a><\/em> – explain that the concern here is that the congregants may be distracted from paying attention to the bracha<\/a><\/em>. Based on this, we find the ruling of the Rama<\/a> in the Shulchan Arukh<\/a> <\/em>(Orach Chaim<\/em> 128:30) that if the local custom requires the kohen<\/em> to cover himself with a tallit<\/a><\/em> during the blessing, the restrictions of the Mishnah would not apply.<\/p>\n

Other limitations which may restrict kohanim<\/em> from participating in the blessing include those whose pronunciation of the blessing is less that perfect. The baraita<\/a><\/em> teaches that the people of Bet She’an<\/a>, Bet Haifa<\/a> and Tivonim were not permitted to bless the people because they could not distinguish between the pronunciation of the letter aleph<\/a><\/em> and the letter ayin<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Unlike the people who grew up in the southern part of Israel, people who were raised in the Galilee<\/a> – and, apparently, in particular cities in the Galilee where there was a large non-Jewish population – did not learn proper Hebrew pronunciation. Guttural sounds with origins in the throat – like the letters ayin<\/em> and het<\/a><\/em> – were difficult for those who grew up in places where languages other than Hebrew were prevalent.<\/p>\n

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Megillah 25a-b<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Mishnah<\/a> teaches that a number of seemingly innocuous expressions should be avoided. Here are two examples:<\/p>\n