וימי פורים האלה לא יעברו מתוך היהודים וזכרם לא יסוף מזרעם
“And these days of Purim shall not be revoked from amidst the Jews, and their memory shall not cease from their seed.” (Esther 9:28)
On the aforementioned pasuk the Gaon is troubled by two points: 1) What is the difference between the phrase: וימי פורים האלה – “these days of Purim” and the phrase: וזכרם – “their memory”? 2) Additionally, why in the first part of the quote does the pasuk refer to: היהודים – “the Jews”, while the later part speaks of: מזרעם – “their seed”?
To reconcile these difficulties, he explains that, “these days of Purim” refers specifically to the Purim seudah, while “their memory” hints to the reading of the Megillah. Additionally, the phrase “the Jews” refers to adults, whereas “their seed” refers to children under the age of bar or bas mitzvah. Therefore, the pasuk is to be understood as follows: “And these days of Purim,” i.e., simchas Purim and seudas Purim, “shall not be revoked from amidst the” adult “Jews,” i.e., over the age of bar or bas mitzvah, “and their memory,” the Megillah reading, “shall not cease from their seed,” i.e., those who are minors.
We see from the Gaon a big chiddush, we see that there is a chiyuv even on ketanim [children] to hear Megillah. The question is, which ketanim is the Gaon referring to?
The truth is, there may be a mekor [source] for the Gaon from the Yerushalmi. The Yerushalmi (2:5) teaches: בר קפרא אומר צריך לקרותה לפני נשים ולפני קטנים שאף הן באותו ספק - “Bar Kapora said: One needs to read Megillah in front of women and young children, as they were also at risk of being wiped out”.
There are in fact those who hold that there is an obligation to bring children that haven’t yet reached the age of chinuch to shul to hear the Megillah reading (see Leket Yosher, Orach Chaim page 153, and Rokeach 236).
Proof to the above can be brought from the Shulchan Aruch. The Shulchan Aruch mentions the din of reading Megillah to children twice. Once in siman 689 where he writes: הכל חייבים בקריאתה אנשים ונשים וגרים ועבדים משוחררים ומחנכים את הקטנים לקרותה - “Everyone is obligated to read Megillah, men, women, converts, freed slaves, and we even educate children in the mitzvah.”
And again at the end of the siman the Shulchan Aruch writes: מנהג טוב להביא קטנים וקטנות לשמוע מקרא מגילה – “It’s a good custom, to bring young boys and girls to hear Megillah”.
The question is, why does the Shulchan Aruch mention the din that one should bring children to hear Megillah twice?
The Biur Halachah explains: The second din the Shulchan Aruch brings is referring to children who have reached the age of chinuch. However, this doesn’t answer the question, because at the beginning of the siman the Mechaber writes, that children are obligated, so why does he need to repeat it. The Biur Halachah suggests another peshat, that the second din is because of b’rov om hadras melech – that it is preferable to perform a mitzvah along with a large group.
However, if the Biur Halachah is correct, that the minhag to bring children is just to fulfil b’rov om hadras melech, it doesn’t fit well with the continuation of the Yerushalmi. The mekor that there is a chiyuv on children to hear Megillah is the Yerushalmi, and in the continuation of the Yerushalmi it says: ר׳ יהושע בן לוי עבד כן מכנש בנוי ובני בייתיה וקרי לה קומיהון -“R’ Yehoshua ben Levi did the above, and he gathered, his sons and his household and read in front of them the Megillah”. If pshat is like the Biur Halachah, that the reason is because of b’rov om hadras melech, then R’ Yehoshua ben Levi should have taken them to shul, a place where there is lots of people and not merely gather them together at home. We see from the Yerushalmi that bringing children isn’t because of b’rov om hadras melech, if so, what is the Shulchan Aruch adding when he says: מנהג טוב להביא קטנים וקטנות לשמוע מקרא מגילה – “It’s a good custom, to bring young boys and girls to hear Megillah”?
Some Rishonim learn (see Ravyah, Megillah 569) that even children that haven’t yet reached the age of chinuch, have a mitzvah to hear the Megillah.
It would seem that this is what the Gaon intends to say by saying: וזכרם לא יסוף מזרעם - “and their memory,” the Megillah reading, לא יסוף – “shall not cease from their seed,” even from children that haven’t yet reached the age of chinuch. The question is, what is this din? and what is the difference between Megillah reading and the mishteh v’simcha of Purim, that by Megillah there is a mitzvah to read in front of young children, whereas by mishteh v’simcha there is no such mitzvah? What is pshat in the Goan?
There is one other mitzvah, where we find that there is a mitzvah to perform it in front of young children - the mitzvah of Hakhel. The pasuk says: הקהל את העם האנשים והנשים והטף - “Gather together the people – men, women and children” (Devorim 31:12).
The Gemara in Chagigah darshens: טף למה הם באים כדי ליתן שכר למביאיהן - “The children for what reason do they come? To give reward to those who bring them”. We see from here, that by the mitzvah of Hakhel there was a mitzvah to bring even children that hadn’t yet reached the age of chinuch”.
The Rambam in Hilchos Chagigah (3:1) explains the yesod behind the mitzvah of Hakhel. From the Rambam we can see why there is a chiyuv to bring children, and from there we will be able to understand why there would be a mitzvah to bring young children to hear the Megillah reading.
The Rambam writes: מצות עשה להקהיל כל ישראל אנשים ונשים וטף בכל מוצאי שמטה בעלותם לרגל ולקרות באזניהם מן התורה פרשיות שהן מזרזות אותן במצות ומחזקות ידיהם בדת האמת - “It is a mitzvas aseh to assemble all Yisroel, men, women, and children, after the close of every shemittah year, when they go up to make the pilgrimage, and recite to them sections from the Torah which will urge them to perform the precepts and encourage them to cling to the true religion.”
In Halachah 6, The Rambam adds the following: גרים שאינן מכירין חייבין להכין לבם ולהקשיב אזנם לשמע באימה ויראה וגילה ברעדה כיום שנתנה בו בסיני אפלו חכמים גדולים שיודעים כל התורה כלה חיבין לשמע בכונה גדולה יתרה ומי שאינו יכול לשמע מכון לבו לקריאה זו שלא קבעה הכתוב אלא לחזק דת האמת ויראה עצמו כאלו עתה נצטוה בה ומפי הגבורה שומעה שהמלך שליח הוא להשמיע דברי הא-ל – “Converts who did not know Hebrew were required to direct their hearts and listen with utmost awe and reverence, as on the day the Torah was given at Har Sinai. Even great talmiday chachomim who knew the entire Torah were required to listen with utmost attention. If there was a person who could not hear, he had to direct his heart to this reading, which Scripture has instituted only for the purpose of strengthening the true faith. Each had to regard himself as if he had been charged with the Torah now for the first time, and as though he had heard it from the mouth of Hashem, for the king was an ambassador proclaiming the words of Hashem.”
The mitzvah of Hakhel needed to be done in the same way it was done at Har Sinai and one had to picture as if he was standing at Har Sinai.
The Rambam is teaching us, that the mitzvah of Hakhel was like a re-enactment of Maton Torah, like we find the Torah says many times in Devorim that the Torah was given ביום הקהל , i.e. ויתן ה׳ אלי את שני לוחות האבנים וכו׳ ככל אשר דבר ה׳ עמכם בהר מתוך האש ביום קהל (9:10).
יום קהל in the pasuk refers to the day that Klal Yisroel – men, women and children were all gathered around Har Sinai. Just like on the, יום קהל, everyone was there, so too by Hakhel everyone needed to be there. Hakhel which was a re-enactment of Matan Torah needed to be similar to Matan Torah, therefore, the men, women and children all needed to be there.
Perhaps we can compare the mitzvah of Megillah reading to Hakhel, and say, just like by Hakhel there was a mitzvah for everyone to be there, men, women and children, so too by Megillah there is a mitzvah for everyone to be there - even young children who haven’t yet reached the age of chinuch.
However, what should be the connection between the mitzvah of Hakhel and Megillah?
In regards to the mitzvah of Purim it says in the Megillah: קימו וקיבלו היהודים עליהם ועל זרעם – “The Jews accepted upon themselves and on their children” (9:27). The Gemara in Shabbos (88a) darshens, that Klal Yisroel reaccepted upon themselves the Torah with great love. We see that during the time of the Purim story Klal Yisroel reaccepted the Torah.
Just like at the time of the miracles of the Purim story Klal Yisroel reaccepted upon themselves the Torah with renewed love, so too every year on Purim we accept the Torah again with great love. Every year when we read the Megillah and want to fulfil the pasuk of, קימו וקיבלו היהודים, we undergo another Mamad Har Sinai. Since we are re-enacting Mamad Har Sinai, we need to do it the way it was done the first time, and the way that the mitzvah of Hakhel is done, therefore, we need to bring gather together the men, women and children. (R’ Naftoli Kopshitz)
