Megillah, Chapter 1, Mishnah 3. In the previous mishnayos we examined the difference between villages and walled cities and large towns. Now the Mishnah seeks to define: "Eizo hi ir gedolah?" - what qualifies as a town, and is not judged as a village where, when necessary, the reading of the Megillah was moved up to a day before the fourteenth.
Defining a large town:
The Mishnah says: "Kol she'yesh bah asarah batlanim" - any place that has ten men who have no other occupation besides sitting in the synagogue and being available there, so that there will be a fixed minyan at all times. Such a place is considered a large town. "Pachos mikan harei zeh kefar" - less than this number, its status is that of a village, and therefore the Megillah is read there on the Monday or Thursday before the proper time.
"Ba'elu amru makdimin v'lo me'acharin":
In these matters, the matters of reading the Megillah, the Sages said that we move the reading earlier and do not push it off later, for the verse says "v'lo ya'avor" - the Megillah may not be read after the fifteenth, and therefore a later reading is not an option at all. In contrast, however, there are matters that are pushed off to a later date, and are not moved up:
"Zman atzei kohanim" - an allusion to what we learned in Maseches Sanhedrin, that there were certain families who would bring wood to be burned on the altar, and these are called 'the wood of the kohanim and the people.' They brought it on fixed days, and together with it they would also bring additional offerings.
Tishah B'Av.
Chagigah - if a Yom Tov falls on Shabbos, it is impossible to bring the chagigah offering that would ordinarily be brought. On Shabbos it may not be brought at all, and on Yom Tov it may be brought according to most opinions.
Hakhel - the assembly of Hakhel, which took place on Sukkos following the Shemittah year, at which the king would read from the Torah before the entire nation.
In all of those times, if they fell on Shabbos, we push them off and do not move them up - their observance is deferred to a later date and is not advanced.
Reasons for the deferral:
The Gemara explains that the general reason we do not move these things up is that the time of their obligation has not yet arrived. And in detail:
Tishah B'Av: we do not move it up, since something connected to punishment we do not seek to bring on any earlier than necessary.
The chagigah offering: it does not override Shabbos, because it can be brought on any one of the seven days of Pesach or Sukkos.
Hakhel: it is deferred because of Shabbos, because everyone must be brought, and each person even brings his youngest children, and they cannot be carried on Shabbos. The Yerushalmi adds another reason: they needed to build a large platform in the Courtyard on which the king would stand, and it could not be built on Shabbos. And it could not be moved up either, since making it before Shabbos or before Yom Tov would have caused excessive crowding in the place, and therefore they deferred it.
The status of the days on which the reading was moved up:
The Mishnah continues: "Af al pi she'amru makdimin v'lo me'acharin - mutarin b'hesped uv'ta'aniyos". Even though we said that the Megillah is read earlier when necessary, those days - the eleventh, the twelfth or the thirteenth - are permitted in eulogy and in fasting, even though on Purim itself this is not possible. This is because these are not actually the days of Purim, and the advance was made solely for the sake of the reading.
Matanos la'evyonim: this mitzvah too, which is fulfilled on Purim, may be fulfilled earlier, on one of those days.
Mishloach manos: gifts from one person to another are given specifically at the time of the meal, at the festive Purim meal, and therefore they must be fulfilled at their proper time.
The opinion of Rabbi Yehudah:
Rabbi Yehudah said: "Eimasai?" - when did the Sages permit the small villages to read early, on the eleventh, the twelfth or the thirteenth? "Bizman she'nichnasin b'sheini uv'chamishi" - when it is the practice of those villages to come to the large towns on Mondays and Thursdays. "U'makom she'ein nichnasin lo b'sheini v'lo b'chamishi - ein korin osah ela bizmanah" - but in a place where it is not their practice to come to the large towns on Mondays and Thursdays, the Megillah is read only at its proper time, on the fourteenth of Adar, and not on any other date.