What Should We Lain When We Get Back To Shul? Shabbos HaGadol Drasha By Rabbi Asher Schechter Congregation Ohr Moshe of Hillcrest I would like to encourage you to print out this Drasha with its attachments and learn it with your Mishpacha over Shabbos HaGadol. Please feel to share this email with all your friends and contacts. Introduction We all are missing our Shul experiences very much these days. Fascinating how true “absence makes the heart grow fonder” really is and how so many people (some of whom I might not have guessed) have been expressing to me their great yearning to get back to Shul. So what will we do when we get back to Shul? First and foremost, we will (if the Medical Authorities allow) kiss the Mezuzas, Aron Kodesh, Sifrei Torah, etc. with tears of joy and great emotion. We will Daven with such Kavanah and of course be extremely careful with proper decorum and respect for our Mikdash Mi'at... This year I want to discuss a related question. What will we Lain the first Shabbos that we return to our beloved Shul? In our Shul we missed Laining starting from Vayakhel-Pikudei- HaChodesh. Other Shuls may have missed a bit more or a bit less. Is there any way to “make-up” the missing Laining? Should we? Are we required to? Are we allowed to? In anticipation of this Shayla being LiMaase very soon, IY”H, I would like to delve into this Inyan. The Takanah of Laining Every Shabbos The Talmud Yerushalmi in Meseches Megilla (quoted by both the Rif and the Rosh in the 3rd Perek of Megilla) teaches us that the Takanah of Laining from the Torah on Shabbos morning was established by Moshe Rabbenu. According to most Rishonim, it has the Din of a Takanas Chachamim (hence it is Midrabonon), but it dates back to the very beginning of Jewish History. In the early days, there were divergent customs as to what exactly to read on each Shabbos. All customs were to go in order – starting from the beginning of the Torah and each Shabbos doing the next portion, etc. However, how long should it take to complete the cycle? There once was a custom to complete the Laining of the Torah once every three years! This custom was mentioned in the Gemara as a viable and acceptable custom. Their Laining each Shabbos morning was approximately 1/3 of ours! However, the Rambam, and virtually all the Poskim afterward, note that that custom has died out and that today only the one-year cycle is acceptable. It would seem that the Takanah of Moshe Rabbenu was to Lain the Torah in its proper order in order to make sure that we Lain each and every single word of the Torah during each cycle. In fact, when a Shabbos cannot have its regularly scheduled Laining – Yom Tov, Rosh HaShana, Yom Kippur, etc. the regularly scheduled Laining for that Shabbos is pushed off to the next available Shabbos. It is not skipped. This may require the doubling-up of future Parshios, but that is preferred over skipping any part of the Torah. The Shabbos They Didn't Lain In Cologne The Ohr Zarua (Rav Yitzchok ben Moshe of Vienna lived in the 1200s - a Talmid of Rav Yehuda HaChasid, a Rebbe of the Maharam MiRottenberg) in a Teshuva (Hilchos Shabbos 45 – see attached) tells the story that happened in the city of Cologne as follows. In those days there was a Minhag that if someone had a problem with a fellow congregant, he was allowed to air his complaints and try to get them resolved before Kriyas HaTorah. (This practice was established by Rabbenu Gershom Meor Hagolah and it is mentioned in the Teshuvos of Maharam MiRottenberg # 153 & # 1,022). On Shabbos Parshas Emor, a congregant delayed the Kriyas HaTorah with his complaints against a fellow congregant for such a long time that the Tzibbur did not get to Lain Parshas Emor at all! The question was asked of Rav Eliezer ben Shimon (one the great Poskim of that generation) what to do in that Shul the next Shabbos. He Paskened that they should read both Parshas Emor and Parshas Behar (the regularly scheduled Parsha for that week). Quoting the Yerushalmi mentioned above, he says, Moshe Rabbenu established a practice of reading the entire Torah from the beginning till the end - “you cannot skip Parsha Achas – one Parsha”. He adds that really the exact breakdown of the Parshios and their allocation to the various Shabbosos is somewhat flexible. What is important is the fact that the entire Torah is Lained during each cycle. So if one Shabbos gets more and another gets less it is fine as long as the entire Torah is ultimately Lained. (I would like to encourage you to see the Ohr Zarua inside – see attached. The story begins on the bottom of the first page and continues to the second page. It is written in fairly easy Hebrew. There is going to be a debate among the later Poskim (see below) as to how exactly to understand the Ohr Zarua, seeing it inside will give you better insight). The Rama (Shulchan Oruch Orach Chaim 135,2) quotes this Ohr Zarua as the Practical Halacha. He says, “If the Torah was not read in public during one Shabbos, the next Shabbos, both the missed Parsha and the current Parsha should be read” (see source attached). To the best of my knowledge, there are no Poskim who disagree with the Ohr Zarua and Rama on this issue. So, the partial answer to our question is that for sure we can and should “make-up” the most recent Parsha that wasn't Lained and Lain it along with the current Parsha on the first Shabbos that we return (unless an exception applies – see below). But what about all the other missed Parshios? Can we and should we Lain them too? History Repeats Itself in Worms A very similar story takes place about 200 years later. The Maharam Mintz (Rav Moshe ben Yizchok HaLevi of Mainz, Germany, lived in the 1400s. He was a Talmid of Mahari Weil and a colleague of the Terumas HaDeshen). In his Teshuvos (# 85), he tells over a similar story as follows. In Worms, Germany on Shabbos Vayakhel-Pikudei which also was Parshas HaChodesh that year, a fight broke out after Shishi was completed. The Gabbai called up one individual for Shvii (Chazak) and another individual became very upset because he thought that he deserved that special Aliyah. The fight ensued so fiercely that it lasted about 2 hours! Most of the Tzibbur was frustrated by the fighting, so they eventually (after the 2 hours of frustration) took another Sefer Torah and went to another room outside of the Sanctuary (called the Youth Shul) and Lained Shvii and Parshas HaChodesh and completed the Davening. Only 4 or 5 individuals remained in the Sanctuary after that (to continue the fight) and eventually they realized that without a Minyan no one could have the coveted Chazak Aliyah! So the small group disbanded. The Shayla asked of the Maharam Mintz was whether or not the Shul needs to read Vayakhel-Pikudei (along with Vayikra) again the next week. If there is a Hefsek between Shishi and Shvii of approximately 2 hours (for the majority of the Tzibbur who went to the Youth Shul) were they Yotze? If not, maybe they have to Lain it again the next week. The Maharam Mintz Paskened that there is no problem of Hefsek (B'Dieved – although it is not the preferred situation) and since the Tzibbur was Yotze the Kriyas HaTorah (albeit in another place) there is no need to Lain Vayakhle-Pikudei again the next Shabbos. Then the Maharam Mintz continues as follows. Even if the Tzibbur would not have finished the Laining in the Youth Shul and everyone in the Kehilla did not hear the complete Laining that Shabbos, still it would not be appropriate to Lain Vayakhel- Pikudei-Vayikra the next Shabbos. His argument is that in the words of the Ohr Zarua (quoted above) he only mentions “one Shabbos”. Why not mention three or four Shabbosos or more? The Ohr Zarua only mentions the remedy of a make-up of one Parshah being added to the current week's Parsha. Not two or more being added on. The Maharam Mintz says that if we would allow two or more to be added on then “Ain L'Davar Sof” - there would be no end to this... He emphatically states that we never Lain three or more Parshios on one Shabbos – hence only one Parsha can be added as a make-up - not more. Now, in the case presented to the Maharam Mintz both Vayakhel and Pikudei would have to be added to Vayikra, which he deems inappropriate. Breaking up Vayakhel and Pikudei and Laining just Pekudai and Vayikra wouldn't accomplish anything. Either the entire Laining of the previous week is added as make- up or none at all. Half a “make-up” doesn't accomplish anything... In addition, he continues, there is another reason why they can't make-up Parshios Vayakhel & Pikudei by Laining them together with Parshas Vayikra. Our custom is that whenever we Lain two Parshois together, we combine them by having one Aliyah span the end of the first Parsha and the beginning of the second Parsha. This demonstrates that for this Shabbos they are considered as one big Laining – not two disparate Lainings. That would not be possible in this case.