Purim Rejoicing

b. Ta‘anit 29a|b. Megillah 7b

220–600

b. Ta‘anit 29a

R. Judah ben R. Samuel bar Sheilat said in the name of Rav: Just as when Av begins one decreases rejoicing, so too when [the month of] Adar begins, one increases rejoicing.

b. Megillah 7b

Rava said: A person is obligated to become intoxicated on Purim until he [is so intoxicated] that he does not know [how to distinguish] between cursed is Haman and blessed is Mordecai.

Translation adapted from the Noé Edition of the Koren Talmud Bavli.

Notes

Words in brackets appear in the original translation.

Credits

From Koren Talmud Bavli, Noé Edition, trans. Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz (Jerusalem: Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019). Accessed via the William Davidson digital edition, sefaria.org. Adapted with permission of Koren Publishers Ltd.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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2nd Century BCE–6th Century CE
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Ancient Jewish Festivals

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The Israelite annual festivals originated as agricultural celebrations marking seasonal cycles. Over time, these observances were mythologized into a nation-forming narrative centered on the Exodus from Egypt and the revelation of the Torah at Mount Sinai.

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1st Century BCE–6th Century CE

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