The King is in the Building (potential derashah for Vayelech, 5774)

[This is my Toronto Torah article for this week; you can download the entire issue here.]

The mother of all Jewish conventions, the septennial hakhel gathering features an assembly of Jews of all ages. As Devarim 31:12 records Moshe's instruction, "Gather the nation: men, women, children, and the stranger at your gates." After every shemitah year, on the second night of Succot, all who call themselves by the name Israel must assemble and hear sections of the book of Devarim read aloud. Historically, this reading was done by the king, in an area of the Beit haMikdash.

The Torah's demand that children participate in the celebration is unique among our mitzvot; in no other communal mitzvah does the Torah explicitly require their participation. The Talmud (Chagigah 3a) is sensitive to this quirk, and it suggests that the reason to bring the children is "to provide reward for those who bring them." This seems circular, though; does the Talmud mean to say that G-d created a mitzvah solely for the sake of rewarding those who fulfill it?

One might explain the Talmud to mean that those who bring their children will be rewarded by the very act of bringing them. For example: Sefer haChinuch (612) contends that hakhel increases our love of Torah, through the glory of this gathering. Perhaps, then, having our children at hakhel rewards the bringers, by inculcating love of Torah into those children.

Alternatively, Ibn Ezra (Devarim 31:12) sees the benefit of hakhel as educational; those who attend will be inspired to ask questions, and thereby to learn more throughout the year. Having our curious children at hakhel will inspire them to inquire and learn.

However, a third benefit of bringing children may be linked to the practice of having the king conduct the public reading. Rambam does not list hakhel as a king's mitzvah, and indeed the Torah does not identify the reader explicitly. However, our sages (Sotah 41a) took for granted that this should be the king. [See also Yereim 233 and 266, Tosafot Yom Tov to Sotah 7:8, and Minchat Chinuch 612:2.] Certainly, there is added splendour an gravitas when the king leads a ritual, but why this ritual, in particular?

Every seven years, during the period of shemitah, the normal rules of society cease to function: the fences surrounding fields are broken, the tithes that support the kohanim and leviyim are neglected, the heirarchical relationship between employer and employee is severed, hardworking farmers become men of leisure, and loans are forgiven and forgotten. This can constitute a healthy break for society, and a community's rules can be strengthened by this sort of periodic vacation. [See Jeffrey Rubenstein, Purim, Liminality and Communitas.] However, with such a haitus we risk the possibility that the community falls in love with its lawless vacation, and forgets to return.

This may be part of the role of hakhel: To remind the Jewish nation that its existence is still governed by the rules and institutions of the Torah. Thus the nation reads key biblical passages: the fundamentals of our faith; the tithes given to the kohanim, the leviyim and the needy; the monarchy; and the national covenant into which we enter at the end of the book of Devarim. (Mishnah Sotah 7:8; Tosefta Sotah 7:17) We re-commit ourselves to these obligations, and to our national structure.

Within this context, having the king perform the reading is entirely logical; the king is the heart of the command structure we reiterate with hakhel. And bringing our children is its own reward, for even children who are too young to comprehend the reading will realize that the entire community has assembled as one to hear the instructions of its king, and this will create a lasting appreciation for the honour of our government and society's institutions.

In less than one week, we will perform a version of hakhel as we gather to mark Rosh haShanah. Among the central themes of this day is the coronation of G-d as King, and this, too, is a necessary reminder. From Yom Kippur to Rosh haShanah there is very little in our lives that declares to us, "HaShem hu ha'Elokim!" We can go through much of our year, even while observing mitzvot, without devoting significant thought to the meaning and implications of the Divine Throne. So it is that once each year we set aside time to gather with the explicit aim of coronating our King. May we be personally and communally impacted by this grand celebration – and may we ensure that our children participate in the moment, so that they will be impacted as well.

Daf: Sotah 38-41 - Torah Reading, Hakhel, Flattery and more

Lots of very interesting material in these pages of gemara; as always, please read with a gemara in front of you.

38b (in addition to the notes on 38b from the last Daf segment here)
The gemara mentions that financial need is considered an אונס situation, a condition which forces one into conduct that is not halachically ideal, but is acceptable due to duress.
For similar ideas, see the mishnah on Beitzah 35b, as well as Shitah Mekubetzet there on the difference between that case and the one on Shabbat 126b of clearing a storage area on Shabbat to make room for learning Torah. See also Berachot 30a on davening earlier than appropriate before a business trip, and Moed Katan 14a on searching for your own lost property rather than preparing for Yom Tov.

The gemara says that we aren’t concerned about tall people constituting a physical interruption when standing between shorter people and the kohanim. Rashi (end of the page) explains that this is because it would be impractical to worry about this (אין לדבר סוף). It is odd to see impracticality as a halachic consideration; we do invoke אין לדבר סוף in the beginning of Yoma, but as a practical consideration, not a halachic consideration!


39a
See the Maharitz Chayes on how the gemara knows that the kohanim have a mitzvah to bless the nation with love, specifically.

The verb אדבריה is usually associated with setting up a student as a speaker before a sage. See Maharitz Chayes on this.


39b
The classic long “Amen” sung by the baal keriah before beginning an aliyah has a liturgical purpose: It warns everyone to stop talking before the reading begins, per our gemara here. See Mishneh Berurah 141:17.

The gemara here does not explain why the person who reads the Haftorah must also read from the Torah. Ulla, in Megilah 23a, explains that it’s for the sake of the honor of the Torah.

The gemara talks about waiting to start the Haftorah until the Torah is all wrapped up. The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 147:7) explains that this is in order to allow the גולל (wrapper of the Torah) to complete his task and listen to the Haftorah. However, the Mishneh Berurah (147:22) notes that no such concern applies regarding the יהי רצון recited on Mondays and Thursdays.


40a
Tosafot כל seems to believe that dreams have real power, such that one is in real danger if he has a bad dream. This seems to run counter to Berachot 55-57, where the great majority of sages weigh in saying that dreams are largely a function of psychology! Perhaps Tosafot is referring to psychological danger - but note that Ibn Ezra to Bereishit 40:8 says we rule, as a matter of law, with the view that dreams are considered potent.

The Maharsha explains that R’ Abba’s humility is greater than that of R’ Avahu because R’ Avahu endures public embarrassment rather than private.

On people’s preference for aggada: Shabbat 115a and 116b says one should not read Tanach on Shabbat, because it draws the heart away from the Beit Medrash. The same draw is noted for non-law-oriented aggada passages of learning in our gemara, and in Rashi Shmot 13:5.

Rav Pappa here merges existent versions of liturgy to create one text for all to read; he does similar things with the berachah for seeing a rainbow (Berachot 59a) and the berachah at the end of megilah reading on Purim (Megilah 21b). (R’ Akiva Eiger notes some further places on the page, but I didn’t look them up to see whether those are Rav Pappa or not, and I don’t remember off-hand.)


40b
See Tosafot וכל כך and ומנין.

Rashi קומו וברכו’s explanation of the inclusion of מן העולם ועד העולם in berachot is odd; see Rashi on Berachot 54a and Rashash there on which berachot contained that text.


41a
Rashi here justifies bringing Sifrei Torah to the Beis haMikdash on Yom Kippur by (1) taking the view that one may transport items on Yom Kippur, or that (2) Yerushalayim was considered encloseable by an Eruv. The latter view is problematic, in light of the gemara (Pesachim 66a) about the debate on how the Jws could get Korban Pesach knives to the Beis haMikdash when erev Pesach was Shabbat. (unless they were coming from outside Yerushalayim?)

Note that although we always say the King leads Hakhel, and our mishnah says it here, this isn’t necessarily so. The Torah does not specify a King, and they didn’t have an halachic king until Shaul.

Regarding the “You are our brother” line addressed to King Agrippas, see Rashi here, Rashi on 41b and Tosafot on 41b אותו היום.

Rashi on the mishnah ושמע seems to have an order of the Hakhel reading that varies from that of our mishnah?

The tithes were considered important enough to be included in the reading for Hakhel. Similarly, see Yevamot 47a that this is one of the issues of which we must inform a potential convert, apparently because the consequences of failure to tithe properly are dire for the nation as a whole.


41b
The gemara here goes on at length regarding the evils of flattery. There are two kinds of flattery: False praise, and Praise of wicked behavior. Here we are talking about the latter variety, which is particularly pernicious as it undermines society. See mishnah Shviit 4:3 and Gittin 62a, and Magen Avraham 347:4, among other sources on praising and flattering people who are acting improperly. As Tosafot says here: Better to keep your mouth closed.
On the other hand, the former is an issue of lying in general; see Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel’s famous debate about how to praise a bride, in Ketuvot 16b-17a.

Rashi here מאתחלתא דמועד has one view on why Hakhel could not be on the first day of Yom Tov; see, though, the opposition of Tosafot כתב, printed on 41a.