Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Carl Perkins looks at Masechet Megillah Daf 20.

On this page we examine the question: When does day begin? Is it sunrise, or is it when light first appears in the eastern sky? There are arguments for both opinions. The halachic (Jewish legal) issue is: when can we begin reciting the Megillah on the morning of Purim? The answer (which one could say has it both ways) is that a priori we should wait until sunrise, but if we begin to recite the Megillah after light has appeared in the sky (i.e., after alot hashachar, the “rising of the dawn”), then our reading is kosher, even if this is prior to sunrise. I suggest that the reason for permitting the reading of the Megillah during this time has to do with the association between Queen Esther and Venus (the morning star, which is visible in the eastern sky during that time). Like the sky during that time, the redemption of the Jewish people is said to be a time of gradually increasing light. Hence, it is an appropriate time to read of the redemption of the Jewish people during the days of Esther and Mordecai.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

This podcast is a collaboration with The Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem.