Rav Yosef: Two Days of Purim to Be Kept in Lod

Chacham Ovadiah Yosef ruled once again this year that the residents of the city of Lod should keep two days of Purim. Rav Yosef stated that they should read the megillah on the 14^th of Adar with a bracha and again on the 15^th of Adar, Shushan Purim, without a bracha. The p’sak is based on a safeik whether Lod is considered a walled city from the time of Yehoshua bin Nun or not.

Rav Yosef ruled that all the mitzvos hayom – mishloach manos, matanos lka’evyonim, and krias haTorah – as well as the recital of Al Hanissim, are to be performed on both days.

Rav Yosef said that doing so is not simply a middas chassidus, but the halachic requirement.

The ruling of Rav Yosef has been publicized for over 20 years. According to Ladaat.net, the initial ruling was rendered twenty three years ago when, upon preparing a road into Lod, construction workers uncovered graves that were determined by experts to date back to the times of the Mishnah and that the contemporary city is the very same one as the ancient city of Lod.

In his sefer Yabiah Omer (Chelek Zayin, Orach Chaim, Siman 60), Rav Yosef indeed rules that Lod’s residents should read the megillah on the 14^th of Adar with a bracha and again on the 15^th of Adar, Shushan Purim, without a bracha.

 {Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel}