Study Megillah folio 3B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
This teaches that he spent the night in the depths [be’umeka] of halakha, i.e., that he spent the night studying Torah with the Jewish people. And Rav Shmuel bar Unya said: Torah study is greater than sacrificing the daily offerings, as it is stated: “I have come now” (Joshua 5:14), indicating that
The Talmud explains that it is not difficult. This statement, with regard to the story of Joshua, is referring to Torah study by the masses, which is greater than the Temple service. That statement of the rabbis of the house of R' Yehuda HaNasi is referring to Torah study by an individual, which i
The Talmud asks: Is the Torah study of an individual a light matter? Didn’t we learn in a Mishnah: On the intermediate days of a Festival, women may lament the demise of the deceased in unison, but they may not clap their hands in mourning? R' Yishmael says: Those that are close to the bier may clap
And Rabba bar Huna said: All these regulations were said with regard to an ordinary person, but there are no restrictions on expressions of mourning on the intermediate days of a Festival in the presence of a deceased Torah scholar. If a Torah scholar dies on the intermediate days of a Festival, t
The Talmud rejects this argument: You speak of the honor that must be shown to the Torah, and indeed, the honor that must be shown to the Torah in the case of an individual Torah scholar is important; but the Torah study of an individual in itself is light and is less significant than the Temple s