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Text Excerpt
למימרא דתקנתא דכרכין הוי? והתנן: חל להיות בשני — כפרים ועיירות גדולות קורין בו ביום. ואם איתא, ליקדמו ליום הכניסה! הוו להו עשרה, ועשרה לא תקינו רבנן.
The Talmud asks: Is that to say that this ordinance is for the benefit of the cities? Didn’t we learn in the Mishnah that if the 14th occurred on a Monday, the residents of villages and large towns read it on that very day? If it is so, that the ordinance allowing the villagers to sometimes advance their reading of the Megilla is for the benefit of the cities, let the villagers advance their reading to the previous day of assembly even when the 14th occurs on a Monday. The Talmud responds: That would mean that Megilla reading for them would take place on the tenth of Adar, and the rabbis did not establish the tenth of Adar as a day that is fit to read the Megilla.
תא שמע: חל להיות בחמישי — כפרים ועיירות גדולות קורין בו ביום, ואם איתא, ליקדמו ליום הכניסה דאחד עשר הוא! מיום הכניסה ליום הכניסה לא דחינן.
The Talmud continues: Come and hear a proof from a different statement of the Mishnah: If the 14th occurs on a Thursday, the villages and large towns read it on that day, the 14th, and the walled cities read it on the next day, the 15th. If it is so, that the ordinance is for the benefit of the cities, let the villagers advance their reading of the Megilla to the previous day of assembly, i.e., the previous Monday, as it is the 11th of Adar. The Talmud responds: We do not defer the reading of the Megilla from one day of assembly to another day of assembly.
תא שמע, אמר רבי יהודה: אימתי — במקום שנכנסים בשני ובחמישי, אבל מקום שאין נכנסים בשני ובחמישי — אין קורין אותה אלא בזמנה. ואי סלקא דעתך תקנתא דכרכין היא — משום דאין נכנסים בשני ובחמישי מפסדי להו לכרכין?
The Talmud continues: Come and hear that which was taught in the following Mishnah (5a): R' Yehuda said: When is the Megilla read from the 11th of Adar and onward? In a place where the villagers generally enter town on Monday and Thursday. However, in a place where they do not generally enter town on Monday and Thursday, one may read the Megilla only in its designated time, the 14th of Adar. The Talmud infers: If it enters your mind to say that the ordinance is for the benefit of the cities, would it be reasonable to suggest that because the villagers do not enter town on Monday and Thursday the residents of the cities should lose out and not be provided with food and water?