KOLMUS Shavuot coverpp.qxd 25/05/2009 10:04 Page 1 TAKING A STAND ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS Do we stand or sit in shul for the Ten Commandments? “IN THE DAYS WHEN THE JUDGES JUDGED” When did the story of Boaz and Ruth take place? THE HISTORY OF LASHON HAKODESH The origins of the language and what makes it holy THE TAKANOS OF SHUM Speyer, Worms, and Mainz SHAVUOS 5769 Famous for the takanos they wrote TO STAND OR NOT TO STAND? THAT IS THE QUESTION THE PILLAR AROUND WHICH THE FAITH REVOLVES Eliyahu Paley 4 "... And thus, too, the remembrance of the Revelation at Mount Sinai. For the Holy One, Blessed be A battle against minim brought Chazal to abolish the daily recitation of the Ten Command- ments. What is the connection between that and between standing during the reading of He, commanded us to remember constantly, and also warned us not to forget, and commanded us to the Ten Commandments? teach it to our children so that they will grow up with knowledge of it. This is what it says (Devarim 4:9–10): 'Only remember for yourself and greatly beware for your soul, lest you forget the things that your eyes have beheld, and lest you remove them from your heart, all the days of your life. And make WHEN THE JUDGES JUDGED them known to your children, and to your children's children — the day that you stood before Hashem, Rabbi Yechiel Moses 12 your G-d, at Choreiv ... ' Everyone is familiar with the midrashim about Boaz and Ruth. Are the midrashim in "And it is fitting for you, our brothers, that you raise up your children on this great event, and agreement with one another and with Chazal? that you tell over, among the congregation and the community, its greatness and its glory. Be- cause this is the pillar around which the Faith revolves, and the proposition that proves its truth. And the greatness of this event is beyond all greatness, as the Holy One, Blessed Be He, extolled THE TAKANOS OF SHUM it, saying (Devarim 4:32–36): Rabbi Raphael Hirschman 16 " ' For ask now of the days past, which were before you, since the day that G-d created man upon Almost wiped out in the First Crusade, the communities of Speyer, Worms, and Mainz the earth, and from one end of Heaven to the other: Has there ever been anything like this great thing, were famous for enacting takanos. Who signed them, and by what authority? And what or has its like been heard? Did a People hear the Voice of G-d speaking out of the midst of the fire, as remains of them today? you have heard, and live? … From heaven, He caused you to hear His Voice, in order to teach you. And on earth, He caused you to see His great fire. And you heard His words from the midst of the fire ... ' And know, our brothers in this Covenant and in this presumption, that this great thing that was seen in IN KEEPING WITH CUSTOM reality, is attested to by the best of evidence. For there has been nothing like it before and there will be Rabbi Yitzchak Yehudah Rosen 24 nothing like it after: that one People should hear, collectively, the Word of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, When the Ten Commandments are read from the Torah on Shavuos, some people stand, and should behold His Glory, eye to Eye. And this matter was so that the Faith be strengthened with and some don’t. What’s behind the various customs? such a strength that it not be changed in any way, that we attain such certainty that we can withstand times such as these, that no wrath or destruction come anew upon the Jews, Heaven forbid, when the hand of force has been empowered. For so it is written (Shemos 20:17): ' ... For in order to test you has LASHON HAKODESH G-d come, and in order that the fear of Him shall be on your faces, so that you shall not sin.' Rabbi Dovid Rosman 28 "That is to say, this Revelation was to give you strength to withstand every test that you encounter The language that a person speaks reflective of the kedushah which lies within. There- at the end of days, that your hearts not budge and that you not sin." fore, the Jewish Nation, which is kadosh, is the one that speaks this holy language. — Rabbeinu Moshe ben Maimon, Epistle to Yemen Cover Photo: Meir Haltovsky Meir Photo: Cover Chassidic shul in Satmar Publisher: Eliyahu Paley Managing Editor: Rabbi Moshe Grylak Editor: Dov Ben Nun Production: Faigy Karnovsky, Hila Paley Graphics: Nomi Kruskal, Sara Hoch, Leah Lapidot, Chaya Cohen NOTE: THIS MAGAZINE REQUIRES GENIZAH. E-mail: [email protected] 3 Photo: Ofer Yom Tov, courtesy of C. Brosh Tov, Yom Photo: Ofer ASERES HADIBROS — To Stand or Not to Stand? community, who corrected and changed a influence of those minim’s opinions. number of the customs that they’d been used The congregants also raised another con- to, that hadn’t been in accordance with cern: The Karaites, in their time, had been The result was halachah. accustomed to standing during the Torah Among other changes, he instructed reading. Would standing now during the that part of the them not to stand during the reading of the reading of the Aseres HaDibros be interpret- congregation began Aseres HaDibros, and instructed them that ed as support for Karaitic customs? they should rebuke anyone who wanted to The new leaders argued, on their part, to stand. This stand — because this custom is among the that it was appropriate to stand, for that is opened a debate ways of the minim, the heretics, who believe what it says at Matan Torah (Shemos 19:17): that the Aseres HaDibros have a higher “And they stood at the bottom of the moun- between the scholar standing than the restOld ofMikveh the Torah. in Speyer As be- tain.” From here, we see that at the time of comes apparent from the continuation of the receiving the Torah, all the people were and the congregants, story, the intention was regarding Chazal’s standing. and they turned to takanah, their ordinance, which abolished The scholar also brought support for his the recital of the Aseres HaDibros, in the face words from the custom of the highly re- the Rambam for of “the insinuations of the minim.” spected Baghdad community, whose mem- counsel The members of the community ac- bers also were accustomed to stand. The cepted his decision, changed their custom, congregants’ response to this last argument and stopped standing during the reading of was that, in their opinion, the reason that the the Aseres HaDibros. And so they conduct- Baghdad community stood during the read- ed themselves for many years, even after ing of the Aseres HaDibros was in order to that scholar’s passing. The problem arose honor the community heads given an aliyah, A battle against minim, By Eliyahu Paley communities in the time of the Rambam, we when a new scholar came to lead the com- and not because of the reading of the Aseres heretics, brought Chazal to learn of the struggle that existed in his time, munity, from another country, where the HaDibros. From their response, we learn t is a custom of the Jewish People, in for and against standing during the reading custom was to stand during this reading — that the custom in their time was to give ali- abolish the daily recitation most shuls, to stand up during the read- of the Aseres HaDibros. in opposition to local custom. The result yos to the most respected and prominent ing of the Aseres HaDibros, the Ten Ut- The story of the vicissitudes that the was that part of the congregation began to members of the community for the reading of the Ten Commandments. I terances (or Ten Commandments, as they are members of one of the communities went stand. This opened a debate between the of the Aseres HaDibros. What is the connection generally called in English), during the To- through — apparently, the Yemenites — in scholar and the congregants, and they The questions that needed to be ad- rah reading on Shavuos morning. Every connection with the custom of standing or turned to the Rambam for counsel. The dressed are delineated in the letter in a clear between that and standing year, in certain places, some voices are raised sitting during the reading of the Aseres HaD- congregants were opposed to standing; they fashion: in protest against this generally accepted ibros is clearly reflected in the question with argued that this was now a custom of their “... And what are the ‘insinuations’ that during the reading of the custom, arguing that actually everyone ought which they turned to the Rambam. In the fathers, begun in the light of the takanos our Teachers were concerned about? And are Ten Commandments? Do to be seated during the reading of the Aseres light of their question, the Rambam wrote that many communities had followed for the minim Karaites or Cuthim — for a few of HaDibros. Which of these groups is right? Is his responsum (#263) on the subject. generations, and that this should not be them hold to the outer parts of Scripture in its we still need to be sensitive there a source for this debate? Or perhaps The main points of the story, as reflected changed — especially when this particular entirety and a few of them hold to it in part.