DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 740 KB)
Handling a Megila on Shabbat

Under what circumstance is an object considered Mukse in one area, but entirely permissible for handling in other locations?

Such a situation, interestingly enough, arises when Purim – the fourteenth of Adar – occurs on Friday.

Generally speaking, it is entirely permissible to handle a Megila on Shabbat, just as Halacha permits handling Torah scrolls, Haftara scrolls and ordinary books on Shabbat. Since these articles are used for reading and studying, Halacha permits handling and using them on Shabbat.

The one exception to this rule is when the fifteenth of Adar falls on Shabbat. Normally, Jews in Jerusalem observe Purim on this date – the fifteenth of Adar (as opposed to other locales, where Purim is celebrated on the fourteenth). When the fifteenth falls on Shabbat, however, the Sages forbade reading the Megila, out of concern that somebody might mistakenly carry the Megila through a public domain, in violation of Shabbat. The Peri Hadash (commentary to the Shulhan Aruch by Rav Hizkiya Da Silva, 1659-1698) ruled that once the Sages forbade reading the Megila on Shabbat in such a case, the Megila becomes Mukse. Thus, in this particular instance, when the fifteenth of Adar falls on Shabbat, it is forbidden for the Jews in Jerusalem to handle the Megila. Elsewhere, however, one may handle the Megila, since they do not observe Purim on that day and there is thus no Rabbinic enactment forbidding Megila reading.

Summary: It is permissible to read, study from or move a Megilat Ester scroll on Shabbat, except when the fifteenth of Adar falls on Shabbat, in which case people in Jerusalem may not handle a Megila on this day.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Eating and Drinking After Mayim Aharonim, or After Expressing One’s Intention to Recite Birkat Ha’mazon
Is It Required To Say Shehakol If Birkat HaGefen Is Heard?
Reciting a Beracha Over Medications
If a Group of Ten or More Men Forgot to Recite “Elokenu” in the Zimun
Does One Answer Amen to a Beracha Which is Unwarranted According to His Custom?
Is There a Beracha That One Recites During an Earthquake?
The Berachot Recited Over Thunder and Lightning
Does Halacha Treat Ice Cream as a Food or a Beverage?
The Proper Sequence of Berachot When Eating an Apple and a Banana
Must One Recite the Beracha of Mezonot Over Dessert?
Reciting Birkat Ha’gomel After Being Released From Prison
Reciting Birkat Ha’gomel After a Trip That Violated Halacha
Using a Small Amount of Water for Mayim Aharonim
Asher Yasar – The Importance and Basic Interpretation of the Beracha
Should One Interrupt His Beracha Me’en Shalosh to Answer to Kaddish or Kedusha?
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found