Study Megillah folio 7A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
״השנית״ ואיצטריך למיכתב ״בכל שנה ושנה״. דאי מ״בכל שנה ושנה״ הוה אמינא כי קושין, קא משמע לן ״השנית״. ואי אשמועינן ״השנית״ הוה אמינא בתחילה בראשון ובשני, קא משמע לן ״בכל שנה ושנה״.
the term: The second, and it was also necessary to write the phrase: In each and every year; proof from one of the verses would have been insufficient. As, if I had derived the halakha only from the phrase: In each and every year, I would have said my conclusion according to our question raised earlier: Why not celebrate Purim in the Adar adjacent to Shevat? Therefore, it teaches us using the term: The second. And had it taught us only the term: The second, I would have said that Purim must be celebrated both in the first Adar and in the second Adar, ab initio. Therefore, it teaches us: In each and every year, indicating that even in an intercalated year, just as in an ordinary year, Purim is to be celebrated only once.
ורבי אליעזר ברבי יוסי האי ״השנית״ מאי עביד ליה? מיבעי ליה לכדרב שמואל בר יהודה, דאמר רב שמואל בר יהודה: בתחילה קבעוה בשושן, ולבסוף בכל העולם כולו.
The Talmud asks: And R' Eliezer, son of R' Yosei, what does he do with this term: The second? Since he holds that the Megilla is read in the first Adar, what does he derive from the verse? The Talmud answers: He requires the term to derive that statement of Rav Shmuel bar Yehuda, as Rav Shmuel bar Yehuda said: Initially, they established the observance of Purim in the city of Shushan alone, and ultimately they established it throughout the world, according to the second letter of Purim.
אמר רב שמואל בר יהודה: שלחה להם אסתר לחכמים: קבעוני לדורות! שלחו לה: קנאה את מעוררת עלינו לבין האומות. שלחה להם: כבר כתובה אני על דברי הימים למלכי מדי ופרס.
Apropos the statement of Rav Shmuel bar Yehuda with regard to the establishment of the holiday of Purim, the Talmud cites a related statement. Rav Shmuel bar Yehuda said: Esther sent to the rabbis: Establish me for future generations. Esther requested that the observance of Purim and the reading of the Megilla be instituted as an ordinance for all generations. They sent to her: You will thereby arouse the anger of the nations upon us, as the Megilla recounts the victory of the Jews over the non-Jews, and it is best not to publicize that victory. She sent back to them: I am already written in the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia, and so the Megilla will not publicize anything that is not already known worldwide.