Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi did what?! TB Megillah 5

Today’s daf TB Megillah 5 records that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi did three things that are quite astonishing and needs explanation. “Rabbi Elazar said that Rabbi Ḥanina said: Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi did several unusual things: He planted a sapling on Purim, and was not concerned about performing labor and thereby possibly denigrating the day. And he bathed at the time when the wagons [kerona] were traveling through Tzippori, i.e., on the market day, when the public would know about it, on the seventeenth of Tammuz, to show that bathing is permitted on that day. And he sought to abolish the fast of the Ninth of Av. And with respect to the Ninth of Av, the Sages did not agree with him.” (Sefaria.org translation)

The Gemara explains how Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi wasn’t interested outright abolishing Tisha B’Av. The case under discussion was when Tisha B’Av fell on Shabbat and Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi proposed “Since it has already been deferred from its usual time, let it be altogether deferred this year.” (Sefaria.org translation) Tosefot ד"ה וּבִקֵּשׁ provides two other possibilities. The first possibility is that Rabbi Yehuda Nasi only wanted to downgrade the deferred Tisha B’Av stringencies and treated like all the other minor fasts. The second possibility is that he always wanted to observe Tisha B’Av on the 10^th of Av according to Rabbi Yoḥanan who said, “Had I been alive in that generation, I would have established the fast only on the tenth of Av because most of the Sanctuary was burned on that day.” TB Taanit 29a, Sefaria.org translation)

Is work really prohibited on Purim just like all the other holidays? “The Gemara asks: And how could Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi plant a sapling on Purim? Didn’t Rav Yosef teach with regard to the verse: “Therefore the Jews of the villages, who dwell in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day [yom tov]” (Esther 9:19), that the term “gladness” teaches that it is prohibited to eulogize on Purim; “feasting” teaches that it is prohibited to fast; and the term “good day” [yom tov] teaches that it is prohibited to perform labor, just as on a Festival, which is also referred to as a yom tov?” (Sefaria.org translation) According to the rabbinic explanation of this verse, Mordechai wanted us to treat Purim as a Festival and refrain from working.

With the close reading of Megillat Esther, we can see that the Jews rejected the notion to treat Purim like a Festival. “This is because the Jewish people accepted upon themselves the prohibitions against eulogizing and fasting on Purim, but they did not accept upon themselves the prohibition against performing labor.

“This can be proven from the fact that initially, when Mordecai and Esther proposed the celebration of Purim, it is written: “A day of gladness and feasting and a good day [yom tov]” (Esther 9:19), and at the end, when it the celebration of Purim was accepted by the Jewish people, it is written: “That they should make them days of feasting and gladness” (Esther 9:22), whereas the term good day [yom tov], which alludes to a day when it is prohibited to perform labor, is not written. The people never accepted upon themselves the prohibition against performing labor on Purim as if it were a Festival, and therefore the prohibition never took effect.” (Sefaria.org translation)

The Shulkhan Aruk poskins that people should follow the custom of their location. If the custom is to refrain from working on Purim, people should refrain from working. If the custom is to permit working on Purim, people may go to work. Of course, there are some authorities who say that we should always be more stringent and not work on Purim. Nevertheless, most communities do not follow the stringent custom of not working on Purim. (Orekh Hayim, 696:2)