Taking Out the Torah Scroll - Rabbi Eyal Peled shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You are listening to “Lemaan Yishme’u,” a podcast from Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:09 Speaker 2 Greetings to all our dear viewers at Machon Halacha. In today’s class, we’ll discuss the laws of the Torah reading. These are important laws with many details, situations, and cases. We’ll try to cover as much as we can. Let’s start with some of the preparations for the reading itself. In the course of davening, we finish Shemoneh Esrei, say Tachanun, and prepare for the Torah reading. Before the reading, there are several things we do: opening the ark, saying Berich Shmei, taking out the Torah scroll, and so on, as well as rolling the scroll. Some roll the Torah scroll before the reading and do hagbah before the reading. In any case, first we take the Torah scroll out of the ark and say Berich Shmei. So perhaps we’ll begin with Berich Shmei. The Zohar says that this is a particularly auspicious time, and that is why we make the requests found in the text of Berich Shmei. There’s a detail about its wording that may not be so well known. In most siddurim, or at least in most versions, the words appear as one continuous sentence: “At all times, I bow before Him and before the honor of His Torah at all times.” Then comes a period, followed by, “I place no trust in man; I rely on no angel,” and so on. “Angel” here refers to the angels—the point being that we do not pray to angels,

02:43 Speaker 2 and so on. But that punctuation does not follow the Alter Rebbe’s version. I’ve seen Berich Shmei posted on the ark in many places with wording that is not accurate according to our practice. According to the Alter Rebbe, the period should come after “I place no trust in man, and I rely on no angel.” No, sorry—after “I bow before Him and before the honor of His Torah.” Period. Then we say, “At all times, I rely on no angel; I place no trust in man; I rely on an angel.” “At all times” belongs with what follows: “I place no trust in man, and I rely on no angel.” It’s important to notice this detail; that is indeed the Alter Rebbe’s version. I think the Chabad siddurim punctuate it correctly, and it’s worth paying attention to. In any case, although we say Berich Shmei when the ark is opened, that is not the only time it can be said. If someone did not manage to say it then, they can still say it afterward, as long as the Torah scroll has not been opened for the reading. So it can be said after the scroll is taken out, up until it is opened for the Torah reading. And even after that—if someone still hasn’t managed to say it—the poskim write, as also appears in Pischei Shearim, that it can be said during hagbah.

04:41 Speaker 2 If I begin saying it during hagbah, the Shulchan Aruch says that, on the contrary, that is the main time to say it. I can begin Berich Shmei as the Torah scroll is lifted and continue and finish it afterward. That covers the saying of Berich Shmei. There is something else we do after the Torah reading: rolling the scroll. But first, during hagbah itself, there is another passage we say. When the scroll is lifted, we say the verse, “And this is the Torah that Moshe placed,” and so on. The Mishnah Berurah writes that you should say this when you see the writing in the Torah scroll. Many people make the mistake of starting “And this is the Torah” as soon as the person doing hagbah lifts the scroll. That isn’t right; it’s even a kind of falsehood, so to speak. How can you say “And this is the Torah” when you cannot see the writing at all? You should therefore wait until you see the writing in the scroll and only then begin saying the verse. Women watching from the women’s section, during their flow—again, while they are seeing blood—should not even look at the Torah scroll. That is what the Rema writes. Again, he means during their flow, not during their clean days. The Rema writes that they should not look at the Torah scroll when it is opened and hagbah is done. As for rolling the scroll, in principle it does not have to be rolled specifically to the place being read. It can be rolled to another place. As the Shaarei Ephraim writes, this can make a practical difference if a Torah scroll

06:38 Speaker 2 is very heavy. Say we are near the end of the scroll, so all the weight rests on the left arm, which is usually very difficult. Halachically, it can be rolled somewhere else—toward the middle—so that anyone can lift it for hagbah without it being too heavy. That is what the Shaarei Ephraim writes. Still, there is value in leaving it rolled to the place being read, as the Shulchan Hatahor writes. In other words, when necessary it may be rolled elsewhere, but ideally it should be at the place being read. Now, when we speak about the Torah reading, we’re speaking about the order we began with: davening, then Tachanun, then opening the ark, the Torah reading, and so on, followed by Musaf. The Midrash indicates that this order has a basis. The Midrash Shocher Tov derives it from the verse, “Hear justice, Hashem; give ear to my prayer; listen to my song,” and so on. It explains the order of davening as follows: “Hear justice, Hashem” refers to the recitation of Shema. “Give ear to my prayer” refers to Shemoneh Esrei. “Listen to my song” refers to the song of Torah—that is, the Torah reading. We learn from this that it matters not only that we hear the Torah reading, but that we hear it in the proper order. Ideally, it should be Shema, then Shemoneh Esrei, then the Torah reading. It isn’t good to skip around—to hear the Torah reading first and daven afterward, or to daven and then interrupt, and hear the Torah reading later. That is not

08:42 Speaker 2 Proper from the outset. It needs to be heard in the proper order. So much so that the poskim write—and perhaps we’ll see this later—that if there are six people who haven’t heard the Torah reading, and they want to get together to hear it, but when we reach the Torah reading in a new minyan, we discover that we don’t actually have ten who haven’t heard it, or even six: some of the six haven’t heard the Torah reading at all, while one or two may have heard it before davening. The poskim write that those people can be counted, because we can assume that a person wants to fulfill the obligation of hearing the Torah reading as it should be done from the outset according to halachah. Since he heard it before davening, which is out of order, presumably he did not intend to fulfill his obligation that way if he knew he could hear it in the proper order. So someone who heard the Torah reading before davening can join the six who haven’t heard it, and the Torah can be read with those people included. That’s why it’s important to be particular about the order of the reading. As for the time of the Torah reading, first, as we said, it should be done after davening. But as far as the time itself is concerned, the entire day is valid for the Torah reading. If it wasn’t possible during Shacharis, it can be done in the afternoon, up until sunset. What’s more, the poskim write about a minyan that gets up early. A situation may arise where the people davening are workers who have to rush to work and can’t fit the Torah reading

10:51 Speaker 2 into the short time they have. So they want to read the Torah before dawn, before daybreak, so they’ll somehow have time to daven afterward without waiting for the Torah reading. The poskim write that in a case of great need, the Torah reading can even be done before daybreak. That’s what the responsa of the Maharsham says, and he explains that “its time is all day” includes the time before dawn as well. So if such a situation arises in a case of great need, the Torah reading can be done before dawn. Shalom u’vrachah. We’ll now discuss the need for a minyan for the Torah reading. Of course, like any matter of sanctity, the Torah reading specifically requires ten people, so we need to make sure there are ten when we want to read from the Torah. But if some of those ten have already heard the Torah reading, we can still take out a Torah scroll and read. What is required? As with davening and the like, there must be six who haven’t heard it. Once there are six who haven’t heard the Torah reading, a Torah scroll can be taken out and read from. Some say that even if only three haven’t heard it, a Torah scroll can be taken out and read from. But perhaps that ruling is only for exceptional individuals, people who are very meticulous about mitzvos and observe minor ones as carefully as major ones, and so on. They may be able to rely on that, but without six who haven’t heard it, a Torah scroll cannot be taken out. There must be six who haven’t heard the Torah reading. We spoke about including among those six someone who has heard the Torah reading, but heard it before davening or the like. So there is

13:01 Speaker 2 a basis for assuming that he wants to fulfill the obligation in the proper way from the outset. And we said that the proper order is first Shema, then davening, then the Torah reading, and then Musaf. So we can include him in the minyan too. If he genuinely wants to hear the Torah reading now, we can count him among the six who haven’t heard it, take out a Torah scroll, and read. There’s a very important detail that the Mishnah Berurah discusses and points out. As we said earlier, the Torah reading is an obligation of the congregation. Despite the leniencies that follow from that, there is also a stringency: if it’s an obligation of the congregation, then, simply put, I need a congregation in order to read from the Torah. A congregation means ten people, no fewer. So even if I have six who haven’t heard the Torah reading, that isn’t enough. I need a group of ten. This is called “ten who are listening.” I need ten people listening to the Torah reading; otherwise, there is no congregation here and the obligation doesn’t apply. This is a very important detail, and I haven’t seen anyone disagree with it. It’s also logical and reasonable. It’s like the chazzan’s repetition, which requires people to listen and respond. The same principle applies here. Since the Torah reading was instituted for a congregation, we need ten who are listening. All ten must pay attention to the reading. Now, this comes up very often when many Torah readings are arranged around Yud Shvat and the like, and people look for six who haven’t heard it. You need to know that this isn’t enough. If you take six who haven’t heard it and another four who are busy with something else—they’re in the middle of learning Chassidus, for example—you

15:09 Speaker 2 can’t conduct a Torah reading that way. All ten must listen to the Torah reading. Okay, that’s one point. On the other hand, what happens if the Torah reading began with ten people and some of them went outside, so now there are fewer than ten? The halachah says that once we began with ten—this is mainly according to the Chazon Ish’s view for Ashkenazim—we finish the entire reading. What counts as beginning? The Mishnah Berurah says that saying “Borchu” does not count. If someone was called up to the Torah and said “Borchu,” and then some of the ten people present left, the reading cannot continue. But if he already said “Boruch Atah Hashem”—he has begun the blessing over the Torah—that counts as a beginning. In that case, the entire reading is completed, even without ten, provided that a majority of the minyan remains—six people. The reading is completed with the blessings and the Kaddish afterward; it all counts as one unit. We began it, so we finish it even though there are no longer ten. What we cannot do, though, is maftir. Maftir is a new matter. If it’s Shabbos or the like, we cannot do maftir. And the same principle applies to the haftarah: if we began it with ten, we finish it, including the blessings at the end of the haftarah. But maftir is a separate matter; the Torah reading is a separate matter. We can also derive a certain leniency from this: when we said that ten people need to be listening, that is the requirement from the outset. At least at the beginning of the reading, there must be ten listening. But seemingly, if after the first blessing some of those ten turn to another matter, that would be no more

17:37 Speaker 2 Worse than if they had left the shul altogether. So if we say that when some of the ten have left the shul, you can continue and complete the reading, then even if they are still here but are not listening to the reading, you can continue as well. Of course, ideally they should at least listen to the Torah reading at the beginning. More than that, they should hear the entire reading. That is the halachah; that is the mitzvah as it should be fulfilled—that everyone hear the entire reading, including those who leave in the middle. Leaving in the middle is not proper; it’s just that it does not prevent the reading from continuing. But of course, people should make an effort not to leave and to listen to the reading. Ideally, that is the mitzvah of the Torah reading. Sometimes, particularly for shluchim and the like, a situation can arise where there are not ten people—there is no minyan. What do you do then? Do you take out a Sefer Torah and read, or not? The halachah says that when you do not have ten, you take out a Sefer Torah and read without the blessings. You do not need to call up seven people. The Torah reader simply reads the entire parsha straight through, and that’s it. That is how you fulfill this obligation of reading the Torah. Continuing with the important halachos of the Torah reading, today we’ll discuss moving a Sefer Torah. Can you move a Sefer Torah from the shul to other places? From one shul to another? When is it permitted, and when is it not? We need to know that there are two approaches to moving a Sefer Torah. There is the approach based on the revealed dimension of Torah—on the plain meaning and the Gemara—and there is the approach based on the Zohar, on Kabbalah. According to the revealed dimension of Torah, there are circumstances in which moving a Sefer Torah is permitted. The issue begins with the Gemara in Yoma. The Gemara raises the question—

19:57 Speaker 2 The question is also raised in the Yerushalmi. We know that a Sefer Torah is brought to the Kohen Gadol so that he can read from it on Yom Kippur. The Gemara asks: Everywhere else, we say that people should go to the Sefer Torah, yet here you say that we bring the Sefer Torah to him? In other words, the proper practice is for people to go to the Sefer Torah, not for you to bring the Sefer Torah to people. This is also behind a halachah that is less well known: when someone carries the Sefer Torah after it has been taken out of the ark, it is not right to take it around to people so they can kiss it. Many people bring it over for others to kiss, and so on, but that is forbidden. We need to approach the Sefer Torah, not carry the Sefer Torah over to people. So we can already understand that you cannot move a Sefer Torah just because you want to read from it and it is inconvenient for you to come to shul, so you decide to bring the Sefer Torah to yourself and read. That is not proper; it is not acceptable according to halachah. On the other hand, the poskim discuss situations in which they say a Sefer Torah may be moved. First, they discuss people who are unable to come—people in prison, people who are ill, who cannot move, who are bedridden, and so on. In such a case, the leading poskim hold that if you have ten people who cannot come, and they need to hear the Torah reading but cannot get to shul, you may bring the Sefer Torah to them. That is one allowance for taking a Sefer Torah out of the shul and moving it. Another allowance is for a distinguished person, and this too is learned from the Kohen Gadol. It is, in fact, the answer to the question of how we can bring the Sefer Torah to the Kohen. The Gemara says that specifically through—

22:07 Speaker 2 Great people, the Torah is elevated. Bringing it to distinguished, great people is itself an honor for the Sefer Torah. There is also the question of who is considered a distinguished person. Certainly, a great Torah scholar and a great tzaddik are considered distinguished people. A Sefer Torah may be brought to such a person even if he is able to come himself; according to the basic halachah, it may be brought to him. At least according to some opinions, he does not have to be unable to come. But some say that a very wealthy, respected person is also considered a distinguished person. That is also somewhat implied by the Gemara’s discussion of the Reish Galusa, to whom they would bring a Sefer Torah. Although the Reish Galusa was not necessarily a great Torah scholar, he was a distinguished person. So some permit it for distinguished public figures of this kind as well, and so on. That is an allowance under halachah. Nevertheless, we need to take into account the Zohar’s view. The Zohar says very severe things about moving a Sefer Torah. According to the Zohar, there is a problem with moving a Sefer Torah like that, even when there is a need—even for a distinguished person and the like, or for people who cannot come. Nevertheless, the Zohar implies that this is considered an exile for the Sefer Torah: it is exiled from its place, and so on. This is very undesirable, so we should try to avoid it. Only in certain circumstances can we be lenient. Where people are completely unable to come, and a place has been prepared, we can be lenient even according to the Zohar. We’ll now see what it means to prepare a place. So, in all the cases we discussed, according to halachah—to the revealed halachah—it is permissible to bring a Sefer Torah there even without preparing a place. Nevertheless, the poskim require that a place be prepared.

24:35 Speaker 2 That makes it easier to permit. In other words, when a place has been prepared, it is easier to permit. So when we bring a Sefer Torah to people who cannot come, or to a distinguished person, we also need to make sure a place has been prepared. Preparing a place makes it more permissible, because ultimately, even these allowances are not entirely straightforward. That is why we are required to have what is called a prepared place. What does that mean? In simple terms, it means bringing the Sefer Torah a day or two in advance. Ideally, two days is preferable, but after the fact, even one day beforehand is acceptable. Alternatively, we leave it there after davening for a day or two. In any case, we do not bring it immediately before davening. We bring it some time before and leave it there for a day or two. Or, as we said, we bring it a day or two beforehand, and after davening we also do not return it immediately; we leave it there for a while and then return it to the shul. Again, after reading from it, we do not return it to the shul immediately after the reading. We leave it there for a while and then return it. It is related that on one occasion after the Rebbetzin’s passing, the Rebbe asked for the minyanim to be arranged in such a way that the Sefer Torah would be needed at 770: a minyan would arrive just in time for the Torah reading and need the Sefer Torah, and then they would bring it from the house of mourning to the shul. It is not entirely clear, but apparently this also helped, because once the Sefer Torah is already here, and we have brought it in a way that establishes it here, there is apparently also a problem with returning it. That, too, is a form of moving it. Why

26:48 Speaker 2 Yourself? If it is just there temporarily, by chance, then you have no permission to do that. Rather, why are you bringing it to the house of mourning? Because you are preparing a place for it. So that is already a kind of fixed arrangement. And therefore, if you want to return it, you also need some reason. So now, when we arrange a minyan that needs the Torah scroll, a need arises and we bring it back. That is probably the reasoning, it seems to me, behind why the Rebbe required this. In any case, preparing a place does not just mean bringing the Torah scroll a day or two beforehand, or leaving it there for a day or two afterward. We have to prepare a place for it. In simple terms, that means finding a clean cabinet. It does not have to be an aron kodesh; even a wardrobe will do, but it should be emptied, and the Torah scroll placed inside it for that day or two. It is not enough to put it on a table and cover it with a tallis; that is not considered a fixed place. It has to be put in a cabinet. Once you prepare a place, it becomes easier. So in cases like these, it is possible to bring it even, some say, for an individual who cannot come, or for a person of importance even if he is not prevented from coming. The category of a person of importance can actually be extended. We also include a congregation in that category; a congregation has importance too. If a congregation needs a Torah scroll, even if they are not prevented from going to one, they fall under the category of a person of importance. Say a congregation is davening in a shul and they discover that its Torah scroll is invalid. Now they need another Torah scroll. As a congregation, they are considered a person of importance, and it would be possible to bring them

28:47 Speaker 2 the Torah scroll. But as we said, they should do it as a fixed arrangement, preparing a place for it for a day or two, and so on. A chassan is also considered a person of importance. If separate minyanim are arranged for chassanim who want to daven with their families, that too falls under the definition of a person of importance to whom a Torah scroll may be brought. So preparing a place allows for certain cases. The same applies to a house of mourning. A mourner is also included in the category of a person of importance, so a Torah scroll may be brought to him. But as we said, even when bringing it to a house of mourning, the poskim write that one should try to prepare a place for it: put it in a cabinet, and have that cabinet in a room where people do not sleep—at least, not a husband and wife. Another point: some also permit moving a Torah scroll if it will be used for three readings. Three readings. This ruling, this permission, appears in the Aruch Hashulchan. Igros Moshe also mentions it: if a Torah scroll is being moved to a house of mourning or to a chassan, and so on, it should be used for three readings. What does “three readings” mean? In one place, the Rebbe wrote that the three readings must be on three separate days when the Torah is read: Monday, Thursday, Shabbos, and so on. If I read from it on Shabbos at Shacharis and Minchah, that does not count as three readings. If I read from it on Thursday and then on Shabbos at Shacharis and Minchah, that does not count as three readings. On the other hand, there is also another indication suggesting that it does count as three readings. In any case, there need to be three readings. That too creates a kind of fixed arrangement. So that is more or less the approach: either we prepare a place for the Torah scroll and do it respectfully, or arrange three

30:55 Speaker 2 readings, including in a house of mourning and so on. We have to make sure it is done that way. All this, as we said, is according to the revealed dimension of Torah. But ultimately, there is the Zohar. As we said, the Zohar is very stringent about taking a Torah scroll out and moving it. So according to the Zohar, moving a Torah scroll is permitted only in circumstances of genuine inability: someone absolutely cannot get to the Torah scroll. He is completely unable to come to it. And even then, a place has to be prepared for it. When these conditions are met, a Torah scroll may be brought according to the Zohar. But all these cases—a mourner, a chassan and kallah, and so on—are not cases of genuine inability. So according to the Zohar, there is a problem here. Nevertheless, the poskim write that even according to the Zohar, there are several ways to permit it. For example, some permit it if the Torah scroll is accompanied by ten people. The Kaf Hachayim writes that when we take the Torah scroll accompanied by ten people, the Zohar was not speaking about such a case. Others say the opposite: specifically if I take the scroll discreetly—as Yabia Omer would say—meaning, for example, I put it in a car and take it from the car into the shul, in a way that people do not see it, then it would be permitted even according to the Zohar. The Zohar was speaking about doing it publicly, but when it is done discreetly, it would be permitted even according to the Zohar. As we said, others say no,

33:01 Speaker 2 it is specifically when accompanied by ten people that it would be permitted according to the Zohar. Some say that if I put it in an aron kodesh, it would also be permitted according to the Zohar. On the other hand, someone writes that an aron kodesh makes no difference. But there are those who write that if I move it inside a cabinet, that makes it easier to permit, even according to the Zohar. So when bringing it to a house of mourning and the like, we should try to meet all the conditions that permit it: prepare a place for it, have three readings, and either accompany it with ten people or take it discreetly, as we said. Then it can be done. All this is when we are talking about a communal Torah scroll, which of course is subject to these restrictions. But with a privately owned Torah scroll—someone’s own Torah scroll, which is not kept in a shul but in his private home—the poskim write that moving it is not a problem. On the contrary, the Gemara relates that on Yom Kippur, everyone would bring his Torah scroll from home and show the congregation how beautiful it was. Clearly, they moved Torah scrolls; these were privately owned scrolls. So with a privately owned Torah scroll, the Kaf Hachayim only requires that it have been written on the condition that it may be moved from place to place. But according to the basic law, if a privately owned Torah scroll is not kept permanently in a shul but is in the person’s home, there is less of a problem with moving it. It can be moved from place to place. All the more so from a private home to a communal place. Even with a communal Torah scroll, moving it from a private home

34:58 Speaker 2 to a congregation, to a place where there is a congregation—a shul where people can read from it—is also easier to permit. Some say that even according to the Zohar, it would be permitted. In any case, that covers moving a Torah scroll. But there is another question we encounter often on Shavuos: Can we take a Torah scroll out to a central location where we can gather many, many children and a large crowd to hear the Torah reading—in a playground, a central park, or somewhere like that? The answer is that this cannot be done under any circumstances. As we said, taking a Torah scroll out into the street so that people can have the opportunity to hear the Torah reading is not one of the permitted cases. There is no such allowance. It is simply not an option, especially since such places generally lack modesty, and sometimes there may also be filth, and so on. So one certainly should not do this. Rather, the children and the rest of the public should be brought to the shul to hear the reading of the Aseres Hadibros. What can be done is this: ordinarily, the arrangement the Rebbe asked for is to have a minyan of people who have not yet heard the Torah reading. The Torah scroll is then taken out, and the Aseres Hadibros are read for the children as well. But if there is no such minyan, one may take out a Torah scroll—within the shul, of course—and read just the Aseres Hadibros for the children, without a blessing or anything else. Reading just the Aseres Hadibros for them is permitted. Now, as we said, taking out a Torah scroll within the shul raises another possible situation. Sometimes there are bar mitzvah boys whose teacher is preparing the reading with them, and he wants to show them what it looks like in practice. In other words, the boy already knows the reading. It is not

37:03 Speaker 2 For the purpose of teaching. If I take a Sefer Torah out of the Aron Kodesh to teach a boy how to read from it, that’s all right; that’s still possible. But if the boy already knows how to read and I just want to give him practice with the real thing, to show him what it actually looks like in a Sefer Torah, and I take one out for that purpose, that’s forbidden. So that can’t be done. All this concerns moving a Sefer Torah. Another matter: there are many situations in which a Sefer Torah needs to be transported from one country to another, by plane, by mail, or the like. Here too, the question is whether that’s possible. First of all, you should try to take it in a suitcase. I’m not talking at the moment about a plane and... You should try to keep it with you, whether you’re on a plane or a bus. In certain circumstances, you can put a Sefer Torah in a suitcase. The halachic authorities write that it should be rolled so that the beginning of the reading, Parshas Bereishis, faces the top of the suitcase, and the suitcase should not be placed on the floor. Put it beside you on the seat, or, if there’s a place above, you can put it there too—but, of course, not on the floor. It’s possible to transport an unfinished Sefer Torah, one that isn’t yet... to transport it this way. But if you want to send it by mail—not have someone accompany it with a suitcase, but actually send it by mail, or put it in the plane’s cargo hold—then additional steps are needed. First of all, it has to be placed inside one container and then another. Not just in a suitcase: put it in some kind of sturdy bag, and then put that inside the suitcase. Make sure it has

39:01 Speaker 2 one wrapping and another wrapping over it, one container inside another. Another requirement of the halachic authorities is to undo the stitching between each of the five books of the Torah; that way, it has a lesser degree of sanctity. The Chofetz Chaim writes to “undo the stitching between each of the five books, and write on it: Fragile—do not throw.” That’s what you should do: write on the suitcase, and so on, “Fragile—do not throw.” When it says “fragile,” they handle it gently. We rely on them because this is their profession; they’re paid for it, and a professional doesn’t undermine his own trade. So we rely on them not to throw it around roughly, but to handle it as something genuinely fragile. That’s regarding transporting and moving a Sefer Torah in a suitcase, by mail, on a plane, and so on. Now, regarding the obligation of Torah reading itself: where does that obligation come from? We know the Gemara’s account that they traveled for three days and had no water for the people to drink. From this we learn that “water” refers to Torah. So the Sages instituted that three days should not pass without a Torah reading. From the way this is presented, we understand that Torah reading is an enactment of the Sages, not a Torah obligation. And that is indeed the view of the vast majority of halachic authorities. Even so, it’s worth knowing that there is an important authority who holds that Torah reading is a Torah obligation: the Bach. The Bach writes that the obligation of Torah reading comes from the Torah; that’s how he understands it. In any case, that is the Bach’s view. Even though we don’t rule that way, knowing that an important authority does hold this view gives us a sense of how significant this is, and how important it is to make a point of hearing the Torah

41:08 Speaker 2 reading. The question is: what kind of obligation is Torah reading? Does it rest on each individual? In other words, is a person individually obligated to hear the Torah reading, or is it an obligation on the community? The halachic authorities do, in fact, disagree about this. We can say that the vast majority—including the Tzemach Tzedek, the author of She’eilos Uteshuvos Imrei Yosher, who was a student of the Tzemach Tzedek, and many others—hold that it is a communal obligation. Some authorities hold that it is an individual obligation. The Brisker holds that way, but most authorities hold that the obligation is on the community. So the individual is not personally obligated in Torah reading. The obligation takes effect when we are a community, praying together in shul. When ten people gather on a day of Torah reading, that community becomes obligated to hear the Torah reading. The Brisker adds that even if we say it is a communal obligation, there is still some kind of obligation on the individual to bring himself within that communal obligation. In other words, he should put himself in a position to be part of a community, so that the obligation of Torah reading applies to him. And we know of many G-d-fearing people, great people, who went to great lengths—even to the point of self-sacrifice—not to miss the Torah reading, but to hear it. In any case, as a matter of halachah, it is a communal obligation, and that has several practical implications. If we hold that Torah reading is a communal obligation, several practical consequences follow. First, for example, if a person has a choice between praying at the proper time and hearing the Torah reading, or, similarly, between praying with a minyan and hearing the Torah reading, he should give preference to praying with a minyan over

43:09 Speaker 2 hearing the Torah reading. He should give preference to praying at the proper time over hearing the Torah reading, because praying at the proper time is an individual obligation, while Torah reading, as we said, is not an obligation on the individual. So he should give preference to praying at the proper time or praying with a minyan. The Biur Halachah goes further: if you have the opportunity to pray at a house of mourning, and in some places there is no Sefer Torah there, and you know that by praying there you’ll miss the Torah reading, he writes that there is a mitzvah here of gemilus chassadim—doing a kindness for the mourners. That may even be a Torah obligation, and it takes precedence over the Torah reading. Of course, all this applies when there are no other options. Certainly, a person should plan his time so that he prays with a minyan, prays at the proper time, and also hears the Torah reading. He certainly shouldn’t give that up. A second practical implication concerns the intention of the listener and the reader. Torah reading does not require that kind of intention. The baal korei does not need to intend to fulfill my obligation on my behalf, nor do I need to intend to fulfill my obligation through his reading. It is a communal obligation: when the baal korei reads from the Torah and the community listens, the obligation is fulfilled. Similarly, if a person misses a few words of the Torah reading—in circumstances where he isn’t fully focused and misses a word here or there—of course, this is only if it happens unavoidably, not when he deliberately does something that is strictly forbidden. As we’ll see later, it is forbidden to let one’s attention wander from the reading, and all the more so to speak during it. That is very serious, and there is an entire letter from the Rebbe Rashab about it. In any case, if it happened that a person missed a few words, he has no specific obligation to go and make up the

45:09 Speaker 2 The omission—to make up the words he missed. Even so, the Shelah does write that it is proper to do so. There is no obligation, because the very fact that you were with the congregation and the Torah was read publicly—that is the mitzvah. Even if you, as an individual, missed a few words, we do not look at you as an individual. We look at the congregation: it fulfilled its obligation and held the Torah reading. In any case, there is a value in completing the Torah over the course of the year, so this does matter. The Shelah Hakadosh speaks very emphatically about the importance of hearing the entire Torah reading without missing any words. In his view, if I missed something, there is even a reason to hear the reading at another minyan to make up the words I missed. But as we said, strictly speaking, it is not a problem. The poskim also discuss hearing the Torah reading over a loudspeaker. That is part of the same question. If the listener’s and reader’s intent are not required, then, in principle, one can hear the Torah reading over a loudspeaker as a matter of basic halachah. Teshuvos Vehanhagos discusses this. He writes that, of course, one should not arrange things this way in the first place, but strictly speaking, one can fulfill the obligation of hearing the Torah reading over a loudspeaker. We do not do this, but still, circumstances can arise—like during COVID, when people could not hear the Torah reading. If someone had set up a loudspeaker so that many people could hear it, that would be possible according to the basic halachah.

47:02 Speaker 2 Along the same lines is the obligation of a woman or a minor. A woman is not part of the congregation in this regard, and neither is a minor, so there is no obligation here—not even the obligation to educate a child—with respect to the Torah reading. Of course, there is still value in having a child participate by listening to the reading, but it is not an obligation. The father is not obligated in this either, because a minor does not have the status of being part of the congregation. The same applies to a woman. So when it is not feasible, especially if children might disturb the adults who are obligated and prevent them from hearing the reading properly, there is no need to make too much of it. Ultimately, there is no obligation. Nor must a woman go to extraordinary lengths for it, because strictly speaking, neither a woman nor a minor is obligated to hear the Torah reading. Another question about the reading—one we encountered a great deal during COVID—is what happens when people miss the Torah reading. Must they make it up? The halachah says that they must. If we missed a reading on Shabbos, we have to make it up. When? On the following Shabbos, of course. We read the previous week’s parsha and then the current week’s parsha. That is how it is made up: we read the previous week’s parsha. Some hold that we do it as we would with two combined parshiyos: three people are called up for the previous parsha, and the fourth connects the previous parsha to the current one. Others say no: the first person called up reads the entire previous parsha together with the first portion of the current parsha, and then all the others are called up. Those are the options for making up the parshiyos. As for a situation

49:19 Speaker 2 where we missed two parshiyos and would now have to read three on the following Shabbos, there is a dispute about whether we make up all three. Ketzos Hashulchan rules that we make up only two parshiyos. If a congregation missed three or four parshiyos, it does not make them all up; only two are read. Now, what happens when we have not necessarily missed an entire parsha? The truth is that even if we missed a word, or even a letter, we must go back and read it. That concerns the Shabbos reading, not the reading on Monday and Thursday. The Shabbos reading is significant. As for the Monday and Thursday readings, those verses are read on Shabbos anyway, so an omission is not as critical and there is no reason to make it up. But in the Shabbos reading, if we missed a verse or a word, we must make it up. The Alter Rebbe says it depends on when the mistake was noticed. If it was noticed between aliyos, it should be corrected between aliyos: go back to the verse that was missed, read it correctly, and then continue with the other verses. But if we have already finished the Torah reading—even if we only realize after davening that we read something incorrectly, made a mistake, or skipped a verse—we take out the Torah scroll and, with a blessing, read the verse in which we made the mistake along with two more verses, because one may not read fewer than three verses. That is how the congregation that missed it makes up the reading. The question is whether we can still make up the reading once Minchah arrives. Whether it is an entire parsha, a verse, or a word, can we still make it up then? There is a dispute about this, including among Sephardic and Ashkenazic authorities. The Chida writes that we do not make it up at Minchah. That is it: once its time has passed, the opportunity is lost. It is no longer made up at Minchah. From his words,

51:34 Speaker 2 it sounds as though it is not made up at all. If I do not make it up at Minchah, I would not make it up afterward either. But that requires some examination, because if I missed an entire parsha, I do make it up the following Shabbos. Still, his words seem to imply that if I missed a verse, I would not make it up. This needs further examination. It would seem reasonable that, at any rate, we do make up the verse in which we erred on the following Shabbos, but he holds that we do not do so at Minchah. On the other hand, other poskim say that we can make it up even at Minchah—with one qualification: it must be done before Ashrei and Uva Letzion. First make up the reading we missed, whether it is an entire parsha, a verse, or a word, reading it with two more verses or the like, with blessings before and after. Then begin Ashrei and Uva Letzion and daven Minchah. But if we have already begun Ashrei, if we have already begun Minchah, then everyone agrees that we no longer make up the reading at that point; we wait until the following Shabbos. This applies to a mistake in the Shabbos reading, whether we did not read the parsha at all or, as we said, made a mistake in a verse or even a word. On Monday and Thursday, though, the requirement is to read ten verses. That is what must be done: ten verses must be read. So even if we skipped a verse or made a mistake, as long as ten verses were read and each person called up read at least three verses, there is no need to repeat the reading. That is the law for Monday and Thursday. Once ten verses have been read, with at least three for each person, there is no need to repeat it. This is stated explicitly in Shulchan Aruch, section 137. There is another situation that can happen quite often with a bar mitzvah boy: he reads the wrong haftarah.

53:38 Speaker 2 We spoke about making a mistake in the parsha and so on, but what happens if we did not read the correct haftarah? This can happen with a bar mitzvah boy, especially with certain haftaros. The halachah says this: if there is an opinion that the haftarah we read is the correct one, there is no need to read it again. This can often come up on Shabbos Rosh Chodesh or the Shabbos before Rosh Chodesh, when there are differing opinions about the haftarah. So if the haftarah he read is the correct one according to one of those opinions, there is no need to read it again. But if no opinion holds that this is the haftarah that should be read, then the haftarah must be read again. That is what must be done. Sometimes you know beforehand that the boy has not prepared the correct haftarah. In such a case, it would seem possible for the boy to recite the blessings before the haftarah and for someone else to come up and read the correct haftarah. After that person has read the correct haftarah, the boy can read the haftarah he prepared, so as not to disappoint or embarrass him, and then recite the concluding blessing. That, too, would seem to be a possible solution in such a situation.