TTfT 0713

Our starting statement is found at the bottom of Talmud Megilah 5a: “Rebbi planted a sapling on Purim.”

The Talmud wonders how he could have done that, if Purim is described in Megilas Esther 9:19 as a day of Happiness (no eulogies), Feasting (no fasting), and as a Yom Tov (Holiday) which would indicate a prohibition on certain types of work.

The Talmud responds that Rebbi knew definitively which day was his Purim (14th or 15th of Adar), and the statement that he planted something on Purim refers to what he did on the day of Purim that was not his Purim. So for example, if he was observing the 14th of Adar as his Purim based on the city he was in, then this planting activity was describing something he did on the 15th of Adar (Shushan Purim).

The Talmud considers the understanding that a person is prohibited to do work on both days of Purim, just as eulogies and fasting are prohibited on both days of Purim, regardless of which one the individual observes. But the Talmud clarifies that eulogies and fasting are indeed prohibited on both days (and that is how it is codified in Shulchan Aruch 696:3), but work follows a different approach, and is only prohibited on the day of the Purim observance.

 

“Rav saw a person planting on Purim, and he cursed, and the plants didn’t grow.”

The Talmud explains that this is an example of the prohibition to do work on the day of Purim observance.

 

Alternatively, the Talmud suggests that the Jews never accepted the prohibition of work on Purim (see text of Megilas Esther 9:22), and the law about work on Purim was left to local custom. Rav cursed the produce because he lived in a place where they had the custom to prohibit work on Purim, whereas Rebbi lived in a place where it was permitted to work on Purim. This is in fact the way we rule in Shulchan Aruch 696:3. Working on Purim depends on custom, not original law from the time of the Megilah, but the prevalent custom is to prohibit work on Purim. What remains for discussion is what exactly is considered “work” as it is clear that it is not the same definition as by Shabbos. (Driving a car, for example, is prohibited on Shabbos, but is allowed on Purim.)