Megillat Ta’anit TB Rosh Hashana 19

 Starting with yesterday’s daf and continuing for the first half of today’s daf TB Rosh Hashana 19, the Gemara discusses whether Megillat Ta’anit has been nullified are not. Megillat Ta’anit is “A chronicle which enumerates thirty-five eventful days on which the Jewish nation either performed glorious deeds or witnessed joyful events. These days were celebrated as feast-days. Public mourning was forbidden on fourteen of them, and public fasting on all. In most of the editions this chronicle consists of two parts, which are distinct in language and in form, namely: (1) the text or the Megillat Ta'anit proper, written in Aramaic and containing merely brief outlines in concise style; (2) scholia or commentaries on the text, written in Hebrew. The days are enumerated, not in the chronological order of the events they commemorate, but in the sequence of the calendar, the Megillat Ta'anit being divided into twelve chapters, corresponding to the months of the year. Each chapter contains the memorial days of a single month, the first chapter dealing with those of the first month, Nisan, and so on to the twelfth chapter, which treats of those of the twelfth month, Adar.

“Five Groups of Feasts.

The festal occasions which these days were intended to keep alive in the memory of the people belong to different epochs; and on this basis the days may be divided into five groups, namely: (1) pre-Maccabean; (2) Hasmonean; (3) ante-Sadducean; (4) ante-Roman; and (5) of the Diaspora, the last-named comprising memorial days admitted after the destruction of the Temple. There are also a few days which do not refer to any known historical event, and are, therefore, chronologically uncertain.” (https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10555-megillat-ta-anit, read the rest of the article for more information)

The sugiya begins with an amoraitic disagreement. “It was stated that the Sages disagreed about the following matter: Rav and Rabbi Ḥanina both say: Megillat Ta’anit, a listing of days on which fasting and eulogizing are forbidden, has been nullified, as in the present period of exile there is no reason to celebrate the joyous events that these days commemorate. Rabbi Yoḥanan and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi say: Megillat Ta’anit has not been nullified.” It concludes by saying this disagreement goes back to a tannaitic disagreement. “The Gemara answers: The question whether or not Megillat Ta’anit has been nullified is the subject of a dispute between tanna’im, as it is taught in a baraita: These days, which are written in Megillat Ta’anit, both when the Temple is standing and when the Temple is not standing, are days on which fasting is prohibited; this is the statement of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yosei says: When the Temple is standing, these days are prohibited for fasting because these days are a source of joy for Israel. But when the Temple is not standing, these days are permitted for fasting because these days are a source of mourning for them.” (Sefaria.org translation)

In the course of the discussion we learn that we are not only forbidden to fast on those dates mentioned in Megillat Ta’anit, but on some of those occasions forbidden also to eulogize and mourn. We are not only forbidden to fast on those days, but also the day before and the day after the date mentioned in the scroll. The two most famous holidays mentioned in Megillat Ta’anit of course would have to be Hanukkah and Purim.

We’re not surprised from our historical vantage point to learn the conclusion of the Gemara. “The Gemara concludes: And the halakha is that these days were nullified, and the halakha is that they were not nullified. The Gemara asks: This is difficult, as one halakha contradicts the other halakha. The Gemara answers: It is not difficult. Here, it is referring to Hanukkah and Purim. These Festival days were never nullified, and Hanukkah is listed among the Festivals of Megillat Ta’anit. There, the halakha is referring to the rest of the days listed in Megillat Ta’anit, all of which were nullified.” (Sefaria.org translation) This is codified in the Shulhkan Arukh, Orekh Hayyim 573 “The halakha is that Megillat Ta’anit is an annulled. One is permitted to fast on all the dates written in it and how much more so before and after them. Hanukkah and Purim are the exceptions for one is forbidden to fast on these days. Nevertheless, one is permitted to fast before and after these holidays. (My translation) ”