Megillah

Embark on a journey of Jewish learning and discovery, exploring the depth of our Megillah resources, where tagged items including audio, programs, and podcast episodes await your exploration.

Megillah 7: I'll Drink to That

Rabbi Jay Kelman

One of the most well-known Talmudic passages of masechet Megillah is the teaching of Rava that “one is obligated l’beshumei, to drink, on Purim, until one does not know the difference between cursed Haman and blessed Mordechai” (Megillah 7b).…
Article
Dec 27, 2021

Megillah 4: Megillah, Take Two

Rabbi Jay Kelman

“Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: One is obligated to read the Megillah at night and lishnota, repeat it, during the day” (Megillah 4a). While this may seem like a rather bland teaching—who does not know that one must read the Megillah by day and night…
Article
Dec 20, 2021

Some Concluding Thoughts on Masechet Megillah

Rabbi Jay Kelman

“And I have given them statutes that are not good, and laws that they do not live with" (Yechezkel 20:25). In our last post, we discussed the application of this verse to those who learn Torah without singing. While there is much to…
Article
Aug 13, 2014

Megillah 32: Torah Tunes

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Learning Torah is meant to be enjoyable. It is for this reason that a mourner is not permitted to learn (Moed Katan 21a) [1]--the joy that learning engenders is not appropriate for a mourner. One of the ways we express joy is through…
Article
Aug 11, 2014

Megillah 21: We Stand on Guard for Thee

Rabbi Jay Kelman

One of the ways we show respect for a person is to stand in their honour, and such an honour is not only bestowed on people. The notion of the “changing of the guard”, with those guards standing at attention, is one of the ways we…
Article
Aug 7, 2014

Megillah 17: Must We Pray?

Rabbi Jay Kelman

One of the most central requirements of Jewish life—both in time and importance—is that of daily prayer. Yet most fascinatingly, the source of the obligation to pray—or whether such an obligation even exists—is a matter of…
Article
Aug 3, 2014

Megillah 14: The Songs of Israel

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Pesach is the foundational holiday of the Jewish people, and the Exodus is the defining moment of Jewish history. A group of slaves formed a nation that, a mere seven weeks, later stood at Sinai so they could become a nation of priests and a…
Article
Aug 2, 2014

Megillah 14: Whipped Into Shape

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Often it takes our enemies to whip us into shape. “Rav Abba the son of Kahana said: Greater was the removal of the ring [of Achashverosh] than the 48 prophets and 7 prophetesses[1] who prophesied for Israel, for all of them did not return them…
Article
Jul 30, 2014

Megillah 6: Try Harder

Rabbi Jay Kelman

When one makes a siyum to mark the completion of a tractate of Talmud, we recite the beautiful words of the hadran[1], that "we toil and they toil; we toil and receive a reward, and they toil and do not receive a reward". Whereas, in the…
Article
Jul 25, 2014

Megillah 4: Active Defence

Rabbi Jay Kelman

"Rav Yehoshua ben Levi said, women are obligated in the reading of the Megillah she'af hen, because they, too, were included in the miracle" (Megillah 4a). If not for this teaching, one would have assumed that women would be…
Article
Jul 19, 2014