Tuesday, February 23, 2010

krias hatorah - chovas hayachid or chovas hatzibur

Achronim discuss whether krias haTorah is a chovas hayachid which can only be fulfilled in the presence of a tzibur or whether the chiyuv is on the tzibur as a whole. The nafka minah would be whether an individual has to make an effort to find a tzibur to listening to layning. If the chiyuv to listen to kriah applies to the yachid, the answer would be yes, but if the chiyuv is only on the tzibur as a whole, a yachid who does not find himself in a tzibur for krias hatorah has no obligation to do anything. Those who have gone to YU know that when the Rav used to commute from Boston to NY he would sometimes miss krias hatorah and gather a minyan in yeshiva to fulfill the mitzvah.

The first Mishna in Megillah tells us that villagers may read the megillah early on the 11th, 12th, or 13th of Adar which fall on Monday or Thurs., the days when the villagers traditionally gathered together in the cities. What were these villagers gathering for? Rashi writes that Monday and Thursday were the days when court was in session; the villagers came to the city to do their legal business. The Ran, however, writes that the villagers gathered in the city on those days because those are the days in which krias haTorah is done. Apparently the villagers did not have a minyan (or perhaps did not have a sefer Torah) where they lived and needed to travel to a central meeting point to fulfill the mitzvah of kriah. R’ Shternbruch in a number of his seforim points out that perhaps the point of disagreement between Rashi and the Ran (whose explanation is echoed by most Rishonim) revolves around how to understand the takanah of kriah. If kriah is a chiyuv on the tzibur as a whole, then where no tzibur exists, such as a village, there is no chiyuv. But if there is a chiyuv on the individual to hear kriah, then we understand why villagers which otherwise did not have a tzibur would nonetheless gather to create one to fulfill their chiyuv.

I should point out that the Ramban in Milchamos (first perek of Megillah) seems to indicate that krias hatorah is a chovas hatzibur; read more about it on Chaim Markowitz’s blog here.

And while on the topic, just to mention it again (previous post here), if krias hatorah is a chovas hatzibur, then it is hard to understand how a second leining of parshas zachor can be done just for women. Women cannot form a tzibur, so how can the chiyuv of kriah be fulfilled for them in the absence of a minyan of men?

10 comments:

  1. Why do you have to understand the nature of the obligation for the reading for Zachor to be the same as the weekly reading? They very well may be two different types of obligations which both happen to be done with the Sefer Torah.

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  2. I think you would need a ra'aya to prove that this kriah is different from all other kriyos. If you have proof, by all means let me know. What comes to my mind is a proof to the contrary: the gemara says that R' Eliezer freed his slave so he could have a minyan for krias parshas zachor. If there is no requirement of tzibur, how does this gemara make sense?

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  3. A few things. First, according to those authorities who feel that women are also biblically obligated to heard Parashat Zachor, why can't they make up a tzibbur? Second, it isn't an open-and-shut case what is the level of the obligation for reading Parashat Zachor in a tzibbur. See OH 685 MB s"k 16 and Shaar HaTziyun 5.

    It isn't agreed upon that individuals have an obligation to hear the Torah being read every Shabbat. See e.g. here, something which no one thinks applies to Parashat Zachor.


    Lastly, Rav Ovadiah Yosef explicitly permits one to take out Torah and read it only for women. See Hazon Ovadiah, Purim, p. 10 in the notes.

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  4. >>>according to those authorities who feel that women are also biblically obligated to heard Parashat Zachor, why can't they make up a tzibbur?

    And eved is no worse than an isha, and you see that an eved does not count, right?

    >>>It isn't agreed upon that individuals have an obligation to hear the Torah being read every Shabbat.

    Noted that in the first line of the post.

    I don't have a Hazon Ovadya, so can you fill me in on the reasoning?

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  5. "And eved is no worse than an isha, and you see that an eved does not count, right?"

    An eved would not be obligated to hear Parashat Zachor, but a woman is obligated.

    Hazon Ovadiah doesn't even give it too much thought. He says that even for customary reasons one can take out a Sefer Torah and read from it. The example he brings is the custom of some to take out a Sefer Torah to just read Parashat HaNesi'im during Nissan. He also adds that according to some women are obligated d'oraitah to heard Parashat Zachor, so according to this opinion it is definitely permitted.

    It is intersting that his son, David Yosef, in Torat HaMoadim, says that ten men should be present when they read Zachor in the afternoon. He cites the Minhat Yitzhak 9:68 which I checked and he actually says that a minyan of men is not needed.

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  6. Since some hold that Parashat Zachor is a mitzvat aseih she'ein ha'zeman gemarah, the eved issue may need to be looked at. This is what the Shaarei HaTziyun may have been thinking of.

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  7. >>>An eved would not be obligated to hear Parashat Zachor, but a woman is obligated.

    Why is an eved patur but a woman chayeves?

    Another proof that even if a woman is obligated in zachor she cannot count to the tzibur: the MG"A holds that women are obligated in krias haTorah every Shabbos -- lo shama'nu that 10 woman can form a tzibur for krh"t on a regular shabbos.

    >>>even for customary reasons one can take out a Sefer Torah and read from it.

    According to most Rishonim (except the Rosh and maybe Ramban) you can be yotzei the d'oraysa of zachor by saying "I remember Amalek" (or something similar) -- no sefer Torah or kriah required. So yes, you can take our a sefer and fulfill the d'oraysa of zachor by reading it even by yourself, but that's not the issue. The Chachamim were metakein that you should fulfill the mitzvah d'oraysa by doing a krias hatorah. If you don't have a tzibur, it's not a formal kriah. So it's the mitzvah derabbanan that's the problem.

    The zman gerama idea is a whole discussion in itself.

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  8. "Another proof that even if a woman is obligated in zachor she cannot count to the tzibur."

    It seems that according to some, see Rav Ovadiah, they do make a tzibbur in order to read Parashat Zachor

    "lo shama'nu that 10 woman can form a tzibur for krh"t on a regular shabbos"

    Where I come from they can.

    "The Chachamim were metakein that you should fulfill the mitzvah d'oraysa by doing a krias hatorah. If you don't have a tzibur, it's not a formal kriah."

    Ideally one should hear it being read with a minyan and with blessings, but if that is not possible, it is permitted to read it without a minyan and w/o blessings. See OH 685:7 in the Rama. This is not held by everyone, but it is a legitimate opinion.

    Enough thinking about Parashat Zachor for one night. Kol Tuv.

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  9. Tal Benschar10:32 PM

    AFAIK, where there is a second leining for women, most places are makpid that a minyan of men be present.

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  10. The fact that the establishment of krias hatorah came in segments (Shabbos/yuntif, M/T, shabbos mincha some by moshe some by ezra) would possibly seem to imply that the dinim that govern each type of laining would be different.

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