There is a famous Gemara in Megillah (3a) which teaches:שמבטלין תלמוד תורה ובאין לשמוע מקרא מגילה – “We interrupt Torah learning to go and hear the Megillah reading”. The Gemara is teaching us that due to the importance of the mitzvah of hearing the reading of the Megillah, even if one were engaged in the greatest of all mitzvos – the learning of Torah – one would be required to stop learning and go to listen to the Megillah reading.
The wording of the Gemara is very interesting. The Gemara says מבטלין, a reference to the transgression we refer to as בטול תורה. The Gemara seems to reckon the act of stopping one’s learning to go to hear the Megillah as a sin of בטול תורה.
The obvious question is, Megillas Esther is one of the twenty-four books of Tanach that every talmid chocham must learn and which he must be proficient. The Megillah is part of Torah like any other. So why would the Gemara refer to the fulfilment of one of the most beloved mitzvos as מבטלין תלמוד תורה ?
Many, many answers have been given to this question, and below we will bring just some of these answers. Hopefully these answers will serve as a suitable introduction before we start learning Megillah Esther.
The Approach of the Aruch HaShulchan
The Aruch HaShulchan (Orach Chaim 687:5) explains that certainly the reading of the Megillah constitutes Torah study. However, it takes time until everyone reaches the beis haknesses, and until all are gathered there. All that downtime is considered bitul Torah.
Therefore, Chazal must legislate a special dispensation to allow for this bitul Torah for the sake of mikra Megillah. Although one may have overlooked that stretch of time and considered it inconsequential, we learn from the Aruch HaShulchan the significance of even a brief period of time. Allowing even a few moments to slip away is considered bitul Torah.
The Approach of Rav Shlomah Kluger
Rav Shlomah Kluger addresses this question in a number of his seforim. In the Sefer HaChaim (Orach Chaim 687), he offers what he considers an obvious and simple answer. Rav Kluger agrees that reading the Megillah is considered Torah, but there are different levels of learning Torah. The ideal form of Torah study is through rigorous analysis and probing scrutiny. The optimal limud haTorah requires ameilus and yegiah, toil and mental exertion. Thus, relative to the study of Torah in the preferred manner, merely “reading” the Megillah is comparatively bitul Torah.
This is the basis for the adage in the yeshivah world, “There is bitul Torah בכמות, in quantity, and there is bitul Torah באיכות, in quality.” Reading the Megillah instead of engaging in in-depth Torah study is considered qualitive bitul Torah.
This notion is one that poses a challenge to every individual, as we can never allow our study of Torah to be more superficial than we are capable of, as that would place our learning in the undesirable category of bitul Torah.
An Alternative Approach of Rav Shlomah Kluger
In Chochmas Shlomah (Orach Chaim 687:2), Rav Kluger advances an extremely original chiddush. Certainly, reading the Megillah is a fulfilment of Talmud Torah. However, one is not halachically able to fulfil two distinct mitzvos simultaneously. That is, if one intends to fulfil the mitzvah of Talmud Torah by reading the Megillah, while one would be accredited with that mitzvah, one would not be fulfilling the mitzvah of Mikra Megillah. Conversely, if one is intent on fulfilling the mitzvah of Mikra Megillah, he would not be accredited with the mitzvah of Talmud Torah.
While ordinarily reading the Megillah is considered learning, under the circumstances in which one would be attempting to fulfil the mitzvah of reading the Megillah, one would not be accredited with the mitzvah of Talmud Torah and it would be correctly deemed by the Gemara to be bitul Torah.
The Approach of Rav Efraim Zalman Margolis
Rav Efraim Zalman Margolis develops an innovative approach to answer this question. The Gemara in Megillah (7a) records that Esther petitioned the Chachomim, כתבוני לדורות; that is, allow my book to be reckoned as part of the corpus of the written documents of the Jewish people.
The Chachomim were hesitant to accede to Esther’s request, as they thought that the subject of combating Amalek was already sufficiently addressed in Tanach, and the requisite mentions of the subject had already been met. It is not clear and it remains a subject of debate among the Amoraim if the Chachomim ultimately allowed Megillas Esther to be canonized.
