Study Megillah folio 18B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
סירוסין — לא יצא. רבי מונא אומר משום רבי יהודה: אף בסירוגין, אם שהה כדי לגמור את כולה — חוזר לראש. אמר רב יוסף: הלכה כרבי מונא שאמר משום רבי יהודה.
But if he reads it out of order, i.e., if he changes the order of the words or verses of the Megilla, he has not fulfilled his obligation. R' Mona said in the name of R' Yehuda: Even when he reads it at intervals, if he pauses and interrupts his reading long enough for one to finish reading the whole Megilla during that time, he must go back to the beginning and start again. Rav Yosef said: The halakha is in accordance with the opinion of R' Mona, who stated his opinion in the name of R' Yehuda.
אמר ליה אביי לרב יוסף: כדי לגמור את כולה — מהיכא דקאי לסיפא, או דלמא: מרישא לסיפא? אמר ליה: מרישא לסיפא, דאם כן, נתת דבריך לשיעורין.
Abaye said to Rav Yosef: When R' Mona said: Long enough for one to finish reading the whole Megilla, did he mean from the verse where he is now until the end? Or perhaps he meant long enough to read the entire Megilla from the beginning until the end. He said to him: R' Mona meant from the beginning until the end, as if it were so that he meant from where he paused until the end of the Megilla, you would be subjecting your statement to the varying circumstances of each case. There would be no standard principle to determine the length of a permitted pause; in each case, depending on where one stopped, it would take a different amount of time to finish the Megilla until the end. And the rabbis did not institute measures that are not standardized.
אמר רבי אבא אמר רבי ירמיה בר אבא אמר רב: הלכה כרבי מונא. ושמואל אמר: אין הלכה כרבי מונא. בסורא מתנו הכי. בפומבדיתא מתנו הכי: אמר רב כהנא אמר רב: הלכה כרבי מונא. ושמואל אמר: אין הלכה כרבי מונא. רב ביבי מתני איפכא, רב אמר: אין הלכה כרבי מונא, ושמואל אמר: הלכה כרבי מונא.
R' Abba said that R' Yirmeya bar Abba said: Rav said that the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of R' Mona, but Shmuel said that the halakha is not in accordance with the opinion of R' Mona. The Talmud elaborates: This is how they taught the opinions of the rabbis in Sura. However, in Pumbedita they taught it slightly differently, like this: Rav Kahana said that Rav said that the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of R' Mona, but Shmuel said that the halakha is not in accordance with the opinion of R' Mona. Rav Beivai taught the opposite: Rav said that the halakha is not in accordance with the opinion of R' Mona, but Shmuel said that the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of R' Mona.