Joyful meal on Purim Katan

Question

Is there an obligation to hold a small joyful meal on Purim Katan (that is, on the fourteenth of the First Adar on a leap year, when Purim is in the month of the Second Adar).  

Answer

According to the Tosaphot commentary on the Talmud (Megillah 6b) there is no need to hold a celebratory meal on Purim Katan. And this is also the opinion of the Shulchan Oruch (section Orach Chaim, chapter 697). And this is the custom of the Sephardic Jews — they don’t hold any special meals on that day. However, the opinion of Rabbeinu Nissim is that it’s fitting to have a larger-than-usual meal on the fourteenth of the First Adar. And the Remo (commentary to the Shulchan Oruch, ibid.) rules that one should have a larger meal on that day so as to fulfill the opinion of those who are stringent.

In the book Leket Yosher the author writes that his teacher, the author of Trumas HaDeshen had the custom of adding an extra dish to his usual menu. And it seems fitting to eat meat and to drink a little wine on that day.

In the Shaarei Teshuvah commentary to the Shulchan Oruch (ibid.) it states that if songs and praises to the Creator of the World are recited at the meal, that surely turns it into a commandment. Halachic deciders (Turei Zahav, ibid., §2 and Mishnah Berurah, ibid., §5) bring the words of the Hagahot Tashbetz Katan (§178) who writes that Rabbeinu Yechiel used to have a larger meal and to invite guests. But the prevailing custom is only to have a slightly larger meal.

   

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