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...
The Minimum Age Requirement for a Judge
Must One Immerse in a Mikveh Before Praying or Learning After Becoming Tameh?
Living in Eretz Yisrael
Giving Charity "Intelligently"
May One Recite Birkat Ha’ilanot During the Month of Adar?
Avoiding Contact With Members of the Opposite Gender
Verifying a Couple’s Status as Husband and Wife Based on a “Hazaka”
If a Woman is Widowed or Divorced While Pregnant or While Nursing an Infant
Remarrying in a Different County After Divorce or a Wife’s Death
Does the Prohibition Against Marrying an Egyptian, Edomite, Amonite or Moabite Apply Nowadays?
The History of the Prohibition Against Bigamy
If One’s Parents Disapprove of His or Her Choice of a Marriage Partner
How Many Times a Day Must a Person Stand in His Parents’ Honor?
Calling a Sinner for an Aliya to the Torah
The Daily Reading of a Verse Corresponding to One's Name
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found