Case Study: Mitzvos as Values
Putting Megillah and Meis Mitzvah Head to Head
This post is going to be a bit different. Rather than comparing two perspectives to a certain question, I want to present an example of what I described in the Lehrhaus article as a feature of the Centrist approach to learning Torah.
There, I wrote that the Rav, Rav Hirsch, and Rav Aharon Lichtenstein all describe learning as an exploration of Hashem’s value system, with the goal of applying and expressing those values in one’s own life.
In this case, the point will be made not through a deep dive into the approach of a specific rishon or acharon, nor through a clever chakirah; instead, the Gemara itself will demonstrate it.
Megillah vs…
Here is Megillah 3a, discussing the mitzvah of reading the Megillah going head-to-head with other mitzvos:
וְהַשְׁתָּא דְּאָמְרַתְּ ״מְדִינָה וּמְדִינָה וְעִיר וָעִיר״ — לִדְרָשָׁה, ״מִשְׁפָּחָה וּמִשְׁפָּחָה״ לְמַאי אֲתָא? אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹסֵי בַּר חֲנִינָא: לְהָבִיא מִשְׁפְּחוֹת כְּהוּנָּה וּלְוִיָּה, שֶׁמְּבַטְּלִין עֲבוֹדָתָן וּבָאִין לִשְׁמוֹעַ מִקְרָא מְגִילָּה. דְּאָמַר רַב יְהוּדָה אָמַר רַב: כֹּהֲנִים בַּעֲבוֹדָתָן וּלְוִיִּם בְּדוּכָנָן וְיִשְׂרָאֵל בְּמַעֲמָדָן — כּוּלָּן מְבַטְּלִין עֲבוֹדָתָן וּבָאִין לִשְׁמוֹעַ מִקְרָא מְגִילָּה. תַּנְיָא נָמֵי הָכִי: כֹּהֲנִים בַּעֲבוֹדָתָן, וּלְוִיִּם בְּדוּכָנָן, וְיִשְׂרָאֵל בְּמַעֲמָדָן — כּוּלָּן מְבַטְּלִין עֲבוֹדָתָן וּבָאִין לִשְׁמוֹעַ מִקְרָא מְגִילָּה
The repeated word “mishpachah” indicates to Rabbi Yosi bar Chanina that Kohanim and Leviim are meant to “cancel” their service in the Beis Hamikdash — mevatlin avodasan — in order to come hear the Megillah read.
This seems surprising — service in the Beis Hamikdash is a Biblical obligation; reading the Megillah is a much later innovation. The fact that the former is canceled on behalf of the latter is, at the very least, not obvious.
Tosafos adds that this is even more surprising, as the Kohanim and Leviim could have done their service and then made their own minyan for Megillah, rather than putting the avodah on hold to join the local minyan! Thus, this Gemara is really saying that not only reading the Megillah, but even simply making a larger group for reading the Megillah is able to put the avodas Hamikdash on hold.
The Gemara continues with a derivation that extends this rule:
מִכָּאן סָמְכוּ שֶׁל בֵּית רַבִּי שֶׁמְּבַטְּלִין תַּלְמוּד תּוֹרָה וּבָאִין לִשְׁמוֹעַ מִקְרָא מְגִילָּה, קַל וָחוֹמֶר מֵעֲבוֹדָה: וּמָה עֲבוֹדָה שֶׁהִיא חֲמוּרָה — מְבַטְּלִינַן, תַּלְמוּד תּוֹרָה לֹא כׇּל שֶׁכֵּן.
The chachamim of Beis Rebbi extrapolated that just as the Kohanim and Leviim “canceled” their service in the Mikdash to come hear Megillah, they should stop learning Torah in order to come hear Megillah. This generates a discussion as to which of these two mitzvos is really more significant, avodah or talmud Torah.
Meis Mitzvah vs…
Rava summarizes what we know so far, and then introduces a parallel question:
אָמַר רָבָא, פְּשִׁיטָא לִי: עֲבוֹדָה וּמִקְרָא מְגִילָּה — מִקְרָא מְגִילָּה עֲדִיף, מִדְּרַבִּי יוֹסֵי בַּר חֲנִינָא. תַּלְמוּד תּוֹרָה וּמִקְרָא מְגִילָּה — מִקְרָא מְגִילָּה עֲדִיף, מִדְּסָמְכוּ שֶׁל בֵּית רַבִּי. תַּלְמוּד תּוֹרָה וּמֵת מִצְוָה — מֵת מִצְוָה עֲדִיף, מִדְּתַנְיָא: מְבַטְּלִין תַּלְמוּד תּוֹרָה לְהוֹצָאַת מֵת, וּלְהַכְנָסַת כַּלָּה. עֲבוֹדָה וּמֵת מִצְוָה — מֵת מִצְוָה עֲדִיף, מִ״וּלְאַחוֹתוֹ״.
We know that Megillah beats both avodah and talmud Torah. Rava points out that there’s another “juggernaut” mitzvah that beats both avodah and talmud Torah: the obligation to bury a meis mitzvah, a dead body with no one to take care of its burial. He proves this from two beraisos.
Do you see where this is heading?
Megillah beats avodah b’Mikdash and talmud Torah. Meis mitzvah beats avodah b’Mikdash and talmud Torah.
Here’s the question:
Megillah vs Meis Mitzvah
בָּעֵי רָבָא: מִקְרָא מְגִילָּה וּמֵת מִצְוָה הֵי מִינַּיְיהוּ עֲדִיף?
Rava wants to know what happens if Megillah and meis mitzvah go head to head. Imagine the following macabre scene: It’s late on Purim day. You spent the entire day delivering shalach manos, matanos l’evyonim, and enjoying your seudah, and somehow forgot to hear Megillah. You realize your mistake, jump up, and run to your nearest Chabad for the last reading of the day. And somehow (I don’t even want to know where you live) you come across a dead body. If you take care of the burial, you miss the last Megillah reading.
What do you do?
How would you expect the Gemara to resolve a question like this? Normally, I’d expect recourse to pesukim, or a beraisah that addresses the question, or even reasoning by analogy from a similar case. But that’s not what the Gemara does here:
Translating Into Values
מִקְרָא מְגִילָּה עֲדִיף מִשּׁוּם פַּרְסוֹמֵי נִיסָּא, אוֹ דִּלְמָא מֵת מִצְוָה עֲדִיף מִשּׁוּם כְּבוֹד הַבְּרִיּוֹת?
The Gemara identifies which values lay behind each of these two mitzvos. Behind the practical mitzvah of mikra Megillah is the value of pirsumei nissa, publicizing the miracle that Hashem engineered to save the Jewish People from Haman’s planned genocide. Behind the practical mitzvah of meis mitzvah is the value of kavod ha’briyos, preserving human dignity.
This is a new perspective on the question at hand. The issue is not only which mitzvah takes precedence, the Gemara points out, but which value should be given prominence. (This actually explains Tosafos above, as well: because the essence of mikra Megillah is about pirsumei nissa, the more people present for the reading, the greater the pirsum. Therefore, Kohanim and Leviim should put the avodah on hold to join the “main” minyan, rather than do the avodah and then make a breakaway minyan afterward.)
Once the question was formulated this way, Rava actually realized that he had the answer:
בָּתַר דְּבַעְיָא הֲדַר פַּשְׁטַהּ: מֵת מִצְוָה עֲדִיף, דְּאָמַר מָר: גָּדוֹל כְּבוֹד הַבְּרִיּוֹת שֶׁדּוֹחֶה אֶת לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה שֶׁבַּתּוֹרָה
Meis mitzvah takes precedence, based on the teaching that kavod ha’briyos displaces even a negative Biblical commandment.
Of course, while this is the end of the Gemara’s discussion, this is not at all the last word of the sugya. Rishonim and Achronim weigh in with additional considerations, wondering, for example, if this whole discussion is only meant to allow for delaying Megillah for the sake of meis mitzvah, but not for canceling it. After all, Megillah can only be read on Purim, while meis mitzvah can be taken care of following Purim. Similarly, when the Gemara said that Megillah beats out avodah and talmud Torah, was that only when the avodah would eventually get done, and the question was merely one of precedence, or does it mean that one should prioritize Megillah — the Rabbinic obligation — even if that meant that the avodah would not get done at all?
Two Takeaways
Stopping here, though, there are two fascinating points to highlight, one about form and the other about content:
Regarding form, as we stressed above, the Gemara explicitly recasts two mitzvos as two values, and uses that formulation to determine proper practice. Becuase meis mitzvah is an expression of kavod ha’briyos, it overwhelms mikra Megillah’s demonstration of pirsumei nissa. That frame itself gives a different perspective to each mitzvah, and can theoretically be extended to all mitzvos: what are the values being expressed by kibbud av v’eim, Shabbos, tzedakah, kashrus, etc., etc.?
Regarding content, so many steps of this Gemara are less than intuitive. I would have thought that both avodah and talmud Torah should beat mikra Megillah; I was wrong. If I was God and had to decide whether pirsumei nissa, publicizing My protection and beneficence towards My people, should override kavod ha’briyos, sensitivity towards human dignity, I probably would have voted for pirsumei nissa. Again, I would have been wrong. Rather than looking for ways around these contrasts between my default values and the values expressed by Halachah, these are great opportunities to internalize and reinforce Hashem’s values, as He expressed them in the halachic system.
(If you found this intriguing and want to see a fuller exploration of this approach to learning Torah, or more examples of this approach, that’s why I wrote Halachic Worldviews.)