Siman 687, Se'if 1 · The Night Reading

Shulchan Aruch, Siman 687: The Obligation of Reading the Megillah, containing two se'ifim

"A person is obligated to read the Megillah at night and to repeat it again by day. The time for the night reading is the entire night, and the time for the day reading is the entire day, from sunrise until the end of the day. And if he read it from the time that dawn broke, he has fulfilled his obligation."

(Shulchan Aruch, Siman 687, se'if 1)

The Night Reading

• Two readings: The mitzvah of reading Megillas Esther is performed twice, once at night and once by day. Note that the word "day" in the language of the Torah and Chazal can also mean the full twenty-four hour period, as the verse says, "and it was evening and it was morning, one day."

"A person is obligated to read the Megillah at night: from the time the stars come out."

(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 1)

• Actual nighttime: There is no concept here of adding on early, the way we add on to Shabbos, and one may not read before the stars come out. The night here means real night.

The source for not reading early: "in their proper times"

• The derivation from the verse: From the verse in the Megillah, "to observe these days of Purim in their proper times," Chazal derive several halachos, one of them being that the time of the one is not the time of the other. In other words, there has to be a complete separation between the two days.
• Residents of Yerushalayim, who read on the fifteenth: If they were to read close to sunset, or even after sunset but before the stars come out, they would still be reading within the fourteenth, and then the time of one would be the time of the other.
• Those who read on the fourteenth: If they read even a little early, they are reading within the thirteenth. In earlier generations there were circumstances in which the Megillah could be read on the eleventh, twelfth or thirteenth as well, but nowadays one may not read early.

(During wartime, when the request came up to move the reading earlier because of the danger of being out at night, this was a serious difficulty for exactly this reason.)

"A person is obligated": an obligation on the individual

• Krias haTorah: The enactment to read the Torah on Shabbos is an obligation on the community, not on the individual. Someone who did not come to shul may read it on his own, and it is proper that he read and know the weekly parashah, but he is not obligated to do so.
• Reading the Megillah: Here the enactment falls on the individual himself. It is certainly preferable to read with a tzibbur because of "in a multitude of people is the glory of the King," but someone who did not make it to shul is not exempt. He has to take a kosher Megillah and read it himself with the berachos.
• The precision of the wording: This is why the Shulchan Aruch writes "a person is obligated," rather than using language of a general communal obligation.

The Day Reading

• The meaning of "to repeat it": The students originally understood the phrase to mean learning the Mishnah of Maseches Megillah, and the Gemara explains that it means reading it a second time, from the word "sheniyah," by day.

"And to repeat it again by day: as a remembrance of the miracle, for they cried out in their time of distress by day and by night."

(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 2)

• Chapter 22 in Tehillim: According to Chazal, Esther said this chapter as she went in to Achashverosh, "and it was on the third day, and Esther donned royalty," on the day of the fast: "My God, I call by day and You do not answer, and by night, and there is no respite for me." That is, Klal Yisrael prayed and cried out during that period both day and night, and as a remembrance of that we read the Megillah at night and by day.

The precedence of the day reading

• The practical difference: Someone who knows he will only be able to hear the Megillah once, either at night or by day (for example, a person going out to reserve duty), should choose the day reading. This is the view of most poskim and the accepted halachah, although there is a minority who disagree.
• The reason: Most of the significant events in the Megillah took place during the day: the feasts, the two banquets that Esther made, the king's order to hang Haman, and likewise the verse, "On that day King Achashverosh gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews."
• What happened at night: "On that night the king's sleep was disturbed," and Haman coming into the king's courtyard. That event was an event driven from Heaven, whereas the events on the ground took place by day.
• A hint from the verse: In the verse "My God, I call by day and You do not answer, and by night, and there is no respite for me," the day is mentioned first, which hints that the main reading is the one by day.

Defining the Times of Night and Day

The end of the night: amud hashachar

"The entire night: until dawn. And if he did not read it before then, even due to circumstances beyond his control, he may no longer read it, since once dawn has broken it is already day."

(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 3)

• The beginning and end of the night: The night begins with the emergence of the stars and ends at amud hashachar (dawn), not at sunrise.
• How long an interval: Amud hashachar precedes sunrise. Some calculate ninety minutes and some even a hundred and twenty minutes, while in Eretz Yisrael the more accepted ruling is that the gap between amud hashachar and sunrise is seventy-two minutes.
• One who was prevented or fell asleep: Even if he did not read because of circumstances beyond his control, once dawn has broken it is already day and he can no longer fulfill the obligation of the night reading.

Why lechatchilah from sunrise

• The difficulty: If the night ends at amud hashachar, then from that point on the day begins, and one would have expected the halachah to say that the time for the day reading starts at amud hashachar.

"From sunrise: because not everyone is expert in identifying dawn, and at times a person will read too early. Therefore lechatchilah one must wait until sunrise, which is clearly day to everyone."

(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 4)

• The difficulty of identifying it: Sunrise is easy to gauge, since everyone can see the sun beginning to peek over the horizon. Amud hashachar, by contrast, is very hard to pinpoint precisely, and it is generally established by calculating backwards from sunrise.
• The concern: Because of that lack of clarity, a person might read too early, while it is still night.
• The parallel at the other end of the day: At the end of the day, sunset alone is not enough, since bein hashemashos is a mixture of day and night, and therefore Chazal established that we wait for the stars to emerge. The same applies in the morning: even though amud hashachar is already day, the time is not clear, so we wait for sunrise.

Bedieved and in pressing circumstances

"And if he was somewhat pressed, he may read it lechatchilah from the time dawn breaks."

(Mishnah Berurah)

• One who must rush off to work: Workers who leave early and have no other option may read from amud hashachar, provided that they know clearly when amud hashachar is. Nowadays, when the times are fixed and publicized, this is far easier.

The end of the time for the day reading

"Until the end of the day: meaning sunset. And if it dragged on into bein hashemashos, he should read it without a berachah."

(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 5)

• Why sunset and not the emergence of the stars: Bein hashemashos is defined in halachah as a doubt whether it is day or night, since the sun has set but the stars have not yet come out, and therefore one may not rely on it lechatchilah.
• Bein hashemashos in practice: Someone who forgot and it dragged on into bein hashemashos does read, since there is nothing lost by the reading itself, but without a berachah, out of concern for a berachah levatalah in case night has already arrived and it is no longer the time for reading the Megillah.

Se'if 2: Interrupting Torah Study for the Reading of the Megillah

"We interrupt Torah study to hear the reading of the Megillah. All the more so with the other mitzvos of the Torah, that they are all set aside before the reading of the Megillah. For there is nothing before which the reading of the Megillah is set aside except a meis mitzvah who has no one to bury him: one who encounters such a body buries it first and afterward reads."

(Shulchan Aruch, Siman 687, se'if 2)

• What "we interrupt" means: It does not mean that the learning is cancelled entirely, but that it is pushed off. If the shiur or the Daf Yomi is scheduled for the hour when the Megillah is read, the shiur will be held earlier or later. Usually it is convenient to schedule it afterward.

The Acharonim's question: the Megillah itself is Torah study

Someone who learns Megillas Esther with his son, whether from a printed book or from a kosher Megillah, is fulfilling the mitzvah of talmud Torah just as with learning Yeshayahu or Yirmiyahu. If so, it is hard to call stopping one's learning in order to read the Megillah "interrupting Torah study," since the reading itself is learning.

1. One answer: "a person only learns where his heart desires": Each person has the sugya and the style of learning that draws him, one in Tosafos, one in the plain meaning and one in derash. When you interrupt a person in the middle of a difficulty that fascinates him and move him over to Megillas Esther, the quality of that learning is not the quality of the learning his heart is drawn to. Even though the Megillah is Torah study, it is not the same kind of learning, and therefore it is called an interruption.
2. A further answer, the Chazon Ish: Nobody disputes that Megillas Esther is Torah study, but a person who has already filled himself with learning is expected to rise higher and engage in deeper sugyos. When you bring him back to Megillas Esther, you are lowering him from his level of learning, and that itself is called an interruption. This does not mean he should stop dealing with the weekly parashah and with Tanach, only that he should not remain immersed exclusively in them, since a person needs to advance in his learning.

The wording of the Mishnah Berurah and the reason behind it

"We interrupt Torah study: even though Torah study is equal in weight to all the mitzvos, and even if it is the Torah study of a large group, nevertheless one must interrupt and go to hear it read with the tzibbur, because of 'in a multitude of people is the glory of the King.'"

(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 7)

• Even a large group: Even a group of a hundred men learning together interrupts its learning and goes to hear the Megillah with the tzibbur.
• Kohanim at their avodah: The Gemara says that even Kohanim occupied with the service of the korbanos interrupt their avodah, go to hear the reading of the Megillah, and return to continue.
• What the interruption actually consists of: Some of the Acharonim explained that the interruption is the walk itself from the beis midrash to the shul, since the reading itself involves learning, but on the way it is hard to learn the way one learns from a sefer.
• "The glory of the King" and pirsumei nisa: Alongside the reason of "in a multitude of people is the glory of the King" stands the element of pirsumei nisa, publicizing the miracle, inherent in the Megillah reading, and for that reason learning is set aside before it.
• Publicizing the miracle as a Torah obligation: Some say that although the reading of the Megillah is rabbinic, the obligation to publicize the miracle is itself from the Torah, and the Chachamim determined that this publicizing is accomplished through reading the Megillah. The Chasam Sofer says the same regarding Chanukah, that the publicizing itself is from the Torah.

In passing · Questions on the times of the day and on customs

1. The origin of the term "amud hashachar"

• Hanetz hachamah: This expression is self-explanatory, the sun is sprouting up and beginning to be seen above the horizon, from the language of "the pomegranates have budded," meaning they are beginning to blossom.
• Amud hashachar: This expression is not clear, and the commentaries struggle with it. Some say "shachar" is from the word black, meaning that the blackness begins to withdraw from the eastern side while the west is still dark. Others say it is the name of a star, as in "ayeles hashachar," a star that continues to stand and be visible at the hour when most of the stars have already disappeared as the light rises, and the time is named after it.
• "The observer says: barkai": This is the language of the Mishnah in describing the service in the Beis HaMikdash, and it is not a time that appears in halachah. Some explain that it refers to sunrise. In halachah only two times are mentioned: amud hashachar and hanetz hachamah.

2. The time for davening, tefillin and Krias Shema

• Davening before sunrise: Someone who leaves early for work, or who wants to make it to the Daf Yomi, may daven from amud hashachar, and this is a leniency that appears in halachah.
• The advantage of hanetz hachamah: Lechatchilah it is better to wait for sunrise, and this includes what Chazal said about the merit of one who joins geulah to tefillah at sunrise, that he comes to no harm all that day.
• Tefillin and Krias Shema: Regarding Krias Shema the Torah does not say "day and night" but "when you lie down and when you rise," and therefore Chazal set a different time: "from when one can recognize his friend," about twenty minutes after amud hashachar, when he can recognize his friend at a certain distance even though there is no sunlight yet. Tzitzis, tefillin and Krias Shema all go together at this time.
• A common mistake: Some think that once amud hashachar has arrived one may already put on tefillin and say Krias Shema, and that is not so. One may daven and say other things, but tefillin and Krias Shema only from when one can recognize his friend.
• An illustration of the times: When alos hashachar is around five o'clock, one may put on tefillin and say Krias Shema already at five twenty-five. Do not confuse this time with hanetz hachamah, which is about an hour later, nor with the final time for Krias Shema, which is around nine.

3. The berachah of Shehecheyanu and Minchah

• Shehecheyanu by day: Sefardim do not recite Shehecheyanu at the day reading. This matter will be explained in its place, in the halachos of the berachos on the Megillah.
• Minchah before the Megillah: Someone who davens Minchah early on erev Purim may afterward read the Megillah at its proper time; there is no connection between the two.