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The holiday of Purim is unique in that some locations celebrate it on different days. The rule is: if the city was walled at the time of Joshua's conquest of the Land of Israel then they celebrate on the 15th of Adar, while everyone else celebrates on the 14th of Adar.

Are there any cities nowadays that celebrate Purim only on the 15th of Adar aside from Jerusalem?

[Things to consider include (but are not limited to) the lists of cities from the book of Joshua (eg Chapter 12), and the city Shushan itself. Do we know where these are? Do any Jews live there?]

EDIT: To clarify, I am looking for cities that celebrate (as I said above) only on the 15th like Jerusalem does, not cities that have some doubt and celebrate both days.

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  • net-sah.org/faq/26636
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Feb 4, 2019 at 17:03
  • ph.yhb.org.il/05-17-01 רק לגבי עיר אחת בלבד נותרה מסורת ברורה שהיא מוקפת חומה מימות יהושע בן נון, הלא היא ירושלים עיר קדשנו ותפארתנו, ורק בה עושים בזמן הזה את הפורים ביום ט"ו.
    – Joel K
    Commented Feb 27, 2021 at 20:02
  • @JoelK Nonsense... (His dad is the Rav in beit el and ruled long ago against shushan purim and now he's stuck defending that position with all its difficulties. He has such a big pulpit though that soon people will believe it)
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Feb 27, 2021 at 23:58
  • It reads to me like he's being descriptive here, rather than prescriptive, but maybe you're correct and there's an agenda behind it
    – Joel K
    Commented Feb 28, 2021 at 10:31
  • @Joel theres too much to say for a comment, but there are lots of places in Israel with varying degrees of proof from incontrovertable to plausible. Some rabbis, often of a hashkafic persuasion that doesnt approve of looking outside at the metzius instead of just reading achronim, work hard to combine many achronish questions to put any tiny bit of doubt in each case. Others look outside their windows and study the history. From 48 to 67 all the former group forgot their chumras and had West Jerusalem celebrate just the 15th. Go figure. B"H with time more and more are noting the reality outsde
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Feb 28, 2021 at 15:05

4 Answers 4

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Hebron is know to be Ir Miklat - so it had a wall with many gates. Hence, there is dispute if its wall indeed makes it a walled city or not. Therefore, in Hebron and Kiryat Arba purim is holidayed on both days.

Here is a source in Hebrew that lists more places that are sofek mukafin.

הערים שיש לגביהן ספק הן: טבריה, חברון, שכם, יפו, לוד, עזה, צפת, עכו, חיפה. ויש שהוסיפו שיש ספק לגבי: בית שאן, יריחו, באר שבע, רמלה. ובחוץ לארץ: צור, צידון, דמשק, איזמיר ובגדאד.‏

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    I specifically asked in the question about cities that celebrate only on the 15th. If you know of any who treat chevron that way, please edit it in. Otherwise, no vote from me.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Mar 5, 2012 at 14:05
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There are many debates and many customs, but Jeruselem is the only city where everybody treats it as a walled city only.

Some people keep purim in Tzvat on the 15th, some people in Acco do the same. But its' not universally agreed upon, the way it is in Jeruselem.

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  • o you have any information about the people who you say keep just the 15th in tzfat and acko? Who's psak are they following? How many of them are there?
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Mar 5, 2012 at 14:07
  • @DoubleAA Re: Acco and Tzfat, I imagine it's urban legend, passed on, as "I once was with a person who", as I've seen statements on the internet, but have never met a person who actually behaved that way. And my friend who lives in Acco dismisses those who celebrate on the 15th as being incorrect, so he's never met them either.
    – avi
    Commented Mar 5, 2012 at 15:44
  • There is a definite custom in Akko. Not everyone follows it.
    – Epicentre
    Commented Apr 7, 2013 at 8:28
  • How can there be a custom for a location, if not everyone in that location follows it?
    – avi
    Commented Apr 12, 2013 at 15:06
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I heard that the city of Prague also had a wall around it in the days of Yehoshua

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    Hi Chana. This seems rather unlikely. Where did you hear this?
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Mar 9, 2017 at 21:13
  • AFAIK Prague read on the 15th out of doubt, but the question was only asking about cities that definitely read on the 15th.
    – mevaqesh
    Commented Mar 9, 2017 at 21:19
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    Welcome to Mi Yodeya Chana!
    – mevaqesh
    Commented Mar 9, 2017 at 21:19
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    @donielf it does provide an answer.it's just wrong
    – mevaqesh
    Commented Mar 13, 2017 at 15:42
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    @mevaqesh is right. VLQ queue deletion is for things posted in the answer box that literally make no attempt whatsoever to answer the the question, things like "I am also wondering about this too" or "Hi mom!". If you feel that the answer is wrong, poorly sourced, and/or unclear, the correct way to respond is to downvote it.
    – Robert Columbia
    Commented Mar 14, 2017 at 0:47
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The gemarah megillah (5b, Yerushalmi 1:1) cites a question as to whether or not Tiverya was considered a walled city from the times of Yehoshua. The question seems to be about the nature of the wall but it seems clear that they should celebrate on the 15th

There is a question as to which city in Iran is Shushan (Susa or Hamadan) - with poskim indicating that whichever it is, Jews in that city should celebrate on the 15th.

I know you didn't ask about cities which are in doubt and that some of these were covered by another answer but for the sake of completeness I am including them here as well. There seems to be a doubt about the city of Baghdad. The city of Tyre is also in question in this regard as is Provence, Saloniki

All sources come from my extrapolations of this essay by Rabbi Jonathan Cohen

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  • I agree it's clear the original custom and the implied position of all the rishonim is that teveria reads only on the 15th (since we should and they did rule like Rebbe). Do you know anyone who practices this way?
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Feb 19, 2020 at 17:15
  • (To be fair most articles and most people's knowledge on this esoteric topic are really underwhelming.)
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Feb 19, 2020 at 17:27

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