1) This is the final shabbos of the year. Some people get confused because it's not Zos haBracha, but it's the end of the calendar year even thought the leining cycle is not complete. ברוך אתה בבאך וברוך אתה בצאתך We see, says Sefas Emes, that there is bracha at the start of something and bracha at the end. Shabbos starts with kiddush; Shabbos ends with havdalah. We say a bracha before we begin kri'as haTorah; we say a bracha when we conclude the reading. So too with respect to the year as a whole. We hope to start the new year next week with bracha, but there is special bracha this week as well, as the year comes to conclusion. Take advanatage!
2) Interesting question: For 40 years in the midbar Bn"Y did not do the mitzvah of milah because it would have posed a mortal danger (Yevamos 71b). Rashi comments that the wood cutters and water drawers mentioned at the beginning of Nitzavim were people who converted while Bn"Y were in the midbar. Geirus requires milah, tevilah, kabbalas mitzvos, and a korban. If it was impossible to do milah in the desert, how did they undergo geirus? (Panim Yafos)
3) Last week I wrote about the silver lining that can be found in at least one of the pesukim of tochacha. The Chassidic seforim suggest that all the pesukim really are pesukei bracha, but we don't understand how to read it that way in our state of galus.
Our parsha talks about people who just blow off the tochacha and do not take it to heart: וְהָיָה בְּשׇׁמְעוֹ אֶת דִּבְרֵי הָאָלָה הַזֹּאת וְהִתְבָּרֵךְ בִּלְבָבוֹ לֵאמֹר שָׁלוֹם יִהְיֶה לִּי כִּי בִּשְׁרִרוּת לִבִּי אֵלֵךְ (29:18). How do you just blow off pesukim describing such horrific things? The answer is that they absorbed last week's idea a little too well! They absorbed the idea that everything that comes from Hashem is bracha, everything comes from a place of love, and so they are not afraid of the threats.
The Torah in response tells us הַנִּסְתָּרֹת ה׳ אֱלֹקינוּ וְהַנִּגְלֹת לָׄנׄוּׄ וּׄלְׄבָׄנֵׄיׄנׄוּׄ עַׄד עוֹלָם. There may be a hidden meaning of bracha, but that is הַנִּסְתָּרֹת ה׳ אֱלֹקינוּ, k'lapei shemaya galya alone. Fore us, הַנִּגְלֹת לָׄנׄוּׄ וּׄלְׄבָׄנֵׄיׄנׄוּׄ , we need to focus on the revealed meaning of the words and take to heart their basic meaning.
4) The gemara (Chagiga 3) asks why it is that Hashem commanded us to bring even little children to hakhel, to which the gemara answers so that we can accrue reward for the effort. Maharasha on the gemara and Kli Yakar on our parsha ask: since we are speaking about children too young to learn anything (otherwise the answer to why bring them is obvious -- to learn Torah! See Gur Aryeh) and therefore there is no purpose to what we are doing, Hashem might as well have commanded us to carry rocks in our pockets and give us reward for that. Does Hashem just give us reward for doing senseless things with no purpose?
Tzror haMor has a beautiful diyuk in the pesukim describing hakhel.
הַקְהֵל אֶת הָעָם הָאֲנָשִׁים וְהַנָּשִׁים וְהַטַּף וְגֵרְךָ אֲשֶׁר בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ לְמַעַן יִשְׁמְעוּ וּלְמַעַן יִלְמְדוּ (31:12)
Notice that the verbs at the end are written in future tense. However, in the next pasuk describes the chiyuv to bring children:
וּבְנֵיהֶם אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָדְעוּ יִשְׁמְעוּ וְלָמְדוּ לְיִרְאָה
Notice that here the verbs are written in past tense - לָמְדוּ and not יִלְמְדוּ. Why the switch?
Tzror haMor answers that there are tzvei dinim in what can be learned by coming to hakhel. For most people, the limud that takes places occurs after they get to Yerushalayim, when the king reads the parshiyos of Torah. Little kids, however, don't understand the pesukim. They are not coming to hakhel to hear a shiur. What they do understand, however, and what does make an impression on them, is the fact that their parents packed up the whole family and brought them along, the fact that this is such a "chavaya" that even they get to be there. For them the main lesson takes place before a single pasuk is read. The lesson is in being able to be there. לָמְדוּ is past tense because שכבר למדו מה שהיה להם ללמד מההבאה שהוא החנוך לפי שלא היו מבינים יותר
If you shlep your little kid to shul with you (assuming he/she can behave), they may not know every tefilah, they may not understand exactly what is going at every moment, but what they do understand is that if you made a point of bringing them, if you made a point of showing that you want to share this experience with them, then shul is something important.
If you take your kid to a father/son learning programs on motzei Shabbos in the winter months, that kid may not remember a particular Rashi or sugya you learned together during those sessions, but what they will remember is the fact that you brought them, that you gave up your time, that you bundled up to go out in the cold, and therefore that Torah is important.
The answer, I think, to the Kli Yakar/Maharasha, is that intellectually, a little kid may be no smarter than a rock. Some kids remain this way through their teenage years : ) But emotionally, it's a different ball game. Hakhel is about EQ, not IQ. The child who is brought along and shares in the experience of hakhel with his parent learns that Torah is something they, and he, should value. That lesson, hopefully, will last a lifetime.
(See Sefas Emes 5634 for a different answer to this Maharasha. Bli neder, for another time).
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