Question: Should a person residing in Yerushalayim go to Tel Aviv (or the like) to hear Megillah a day early, on the 14th of Adar?
Short Answer: Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt”l cites a machlokes Rambam and Ramban whether the 14th or 15th day of Adar is the main day of Purim. This author suggests that if the 14th day is the main day, perhaps it is preferable for someone in Yerushalayim to hear the Megillah on 14 Adar.
Explanation:
I. Rambam vs. Ramban
Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt”l (cited in the new Batei Yosef, Chanukah-Purim, pp. 76-78) notes that there is a fundamental machlokes between the Rambam and the Ramban with respect to which day of Purim is more important.
The Rambam (Hilchos Megillah 1:4-5) lists the proper times to read the Megillah. Any walled city from the time of Yehoshua bin Nun reads the Megillah on the 15th of Adar. Other cities read on 14 Adar. The Rambam then explains that Shushan is an exception, where it did not have walls from the time of Yehoshua, but it nevertheless reads on 15 Adar, as that was when the neis occurred and B’nei Yisrael rested. So why did the chachamim base it off of Yehoshua? In order to give kavod to Eretz Yisrael, which was without walls at that point, but had walls (at least many cities in Eretz Yisrael) from the time of Yehoshua.
Rav Soloveitchik notes that the Rambam is clear that the 15th is the main day of Purim, and therefore the cities of Eretz Yisrael get honor by reading it on 15 Adar.
The Ramban (Megillah 2a), on the other hand, appears to hold that the main day is 14 Adar. The Ramban writes that the unwalled cities were in great danger during the war in the time of Purim. They, therefore, instituted a yearly party on the day after they won the war – on 14 Adar. The walled cities, while they made a party the first year on the day after they rested, 15 Adar, they did not institute a yearly party, as they were not in grave danger, due to the protection of their walls. It was only at a later point that they too learned of the dangers of Haman and agreed to institute a yearly party to commemorate the neis.
Rav Soloveitchik notes that the Ramban implies that the main day is 14 Adar, as the unwalled cities were in greater danger and enacted the takanah first.
II. An Important Ramification
Rav Soloveitchik suggests an important ramification. The Mishnah (Megillah 19a) states that if a 14th person (i.e., from Tel Aviv) went to a place where they read the Megillah on the 15th (e.g., Yerushalayim) or vice versa, the person reads like his hometown “if he plans on returning.” The Gemara adds that “plan on returning” means before the morning of the 14th day.
Rashi understands that we are only talking about a person from Yerushalayim going to Tel Aviv. If he remains in Tel Aviv on the morning of 14 Adar, he is branded a resident of Tel Aviv for purposes of the Megillah, and he must read it on 14 Adar. Rashi adds that if a Tel Aviv person goes to Yerushalayim and remains there on the morning of 15 Adar, he reads it on 15 Adar. However, if he returns on the 14th to Tel Aviv, he reads it on 14 Adar, even though he was in Yerushalayim on the morning of 14 Adar.
The Rosh (Megillah 2:3) disagrees. It is all dependent on where a person is on the morning of 14 Adar, regardless if you are from Tel Aviv and in Yerushalayim or vice versa.
The Rambam (Hilchos Megillah 1:10), according to the interpretation of the Maggid Mishneh and the Kesef Mishneh, rules like Rashi. If a Tel Aviv person is in Yerushalayim, he reads like on the 15th if he remains there on the morning of 15 Adar. If a Yerushalayim person goes to Tel Aviv, he reads on 14th if he remains there on the morning of 14 Adar.
Rav Soloveitchik suggests that the Rosh and the Rambam disagree as to which day is more important. The Rosh holds that the 14th is the more important day, like the Ramban, and thus it alone is the determinant for when the traveler reads the Megillah. The Rambam, on the other hand, holds that the 15th is the more important day, as he explained above. This is why the 15th helps determine when the traveler reads the Megillah.
III. The Halachah
The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 688:5) paskens like the Rambam. Therefore, the Mishnah B’rurah (13) elaborates that a Tel Aviv person who travels to Yerushalayim reads only on the 15th if he is going to be in Yerushalayim on the morning of 15 Adar. [As an aside, the Dirshu Mishnah B’rurah footnotes add that there is a machlokes Mishnah B’rurah and Chazon Ish when this “intent” is established. The Mishnah B’rurah establishes it when he leaves his house, while the Chazon Ish establishes it on the night of 15 Adar.]
A Yerushalayim person who travels to Tel Aviv needs to remain there on the morning of the 14th to read it on 14 Adar. The footnotes to the Dirshu Mishnah B’rurah cites a machlokes Acharonim, however, where the Yerushalayim person returns to Yerushalayim before the night of 15 Adar. Does he need to read the Megillah again with a brachah or not? The Minchas Yitzchak and the Sheivet HaLevi (cited therein) hold that no brachah is recited on the second reading, while Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach and Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv hold that a new brachah is recited.
IV. Should You Go To Tel Aviv?
But is there any preference for a Yerushalayim person to read the Megillah on 14 Adar? A similar question was asked by the Siach Yitzchak (as quoted in Pardes Yosef HeChadash, Purim, p. 104).
The Siach Yitzchak asked whether there was an inyan of zrizin makdimin l’mitzvos for a person in Yerushalayim to go to hear the Megillah a day early in Tel Aviv. He compares it to the issue by Kiddush Levanah – whether it is preferable to do it immediately or wait until Motza’ei Shabbos where you recite it with hiddur mitzvah (in Shabbos clothes). Here, too, it is a hiddur, according to the Rambam, to recite it on 15 Adar. The Pardes Yosef does not cite the Siach Yitzchak’s resolution.
However, this author would suggest that, according to the Ramban according to Rav Soloveitchik, there is certainly a benefit to read the Megillah on 14 Adar, as it is the main day and it is zerizin makdimin.
Rabbi Ephraim Glatt, Esq. is the Associate Rabbi at the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, and he is a Partner at McGrail & Bensinger LLP, specializing in commercial litigation. Questions? Comments? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
