When Should The Megillah Be Read In Ramat Beit Shemesh And Ashdod?

BEIT SHEMESH (VINnews) — As is common knowledge, the Megillah is read worldwide on the 14th of Adar, while in Jerusalem and other cities which were walled at the time of Yehoshua the Megillah is read on the 15th of Adar. Since we do not know where the cities existed at the time, there are only a few places where the Megillah is read on the 15th of Adar as well, such as in Tiveria and Yaffo which may have been walled at the time of Yehoshua. Recently residents of Bnei Brak, which is connected to Yaffo via contiguous urban development, have also started reading on the 15th of Adar and Jerusalem residents even come to read the Megillah with a Bracha (since they are obligated if they were there at dawn) at the home of Rabbi Chaim Kanievski.

In the last few years, new residential areas have cropped up near ancient cities, raising the issue of when to read the Megillah in a number of other places. Thus the question of when to read the Megillah in Beit Shemesh, and specifically in the new neighborhoods of Ramat Beit Shemesh Aleph and Gimmel, has suddenly become a controversial issue because of their proximity to the ancient biblical city of Yarmut. The king of the city, Pir’am, is mentioned as one of the five kings who were defeated by Yehoshua near Givon, when he famously stopped the sun from setting in order to vanquish his enemies. The city was then transferred to the Levites as a city of refuge.

In a recent book published by Rabbi Yosef Chaim Cohen, he contends that Beit Shemesh should read on the 15th of Adar as well as the 14th, although others dispute this and say that the new neighborhoods are not close enough to be considered adjacent to Yarmut.

The same problem has arisen in Ashdod after new neighborhoods were built close to the ancient ruins of the Philistine city by that name situated on Tel Ashdod south of the modern city. Rabbi Mordechai Gross, a prominent posek, was asked this year whether Ashdod residents should now read on the 15th of Adar as well due to their proximity to the ancient city. He replied that they should definitely read on the 15th without a Bracha, since the new neighborhoods are not just adjacent to the ancient town but may even be inside it and therefore all the other neighborhoods near them must read on the 15th without a Bracha.