chassan torah

וַיֹּאמַר ה׳ מִסִּינַי בָּא וְזָרַח מִשֵּׂעִיר לָמוֹ הוֹפִיעַ מֵהַר פָּארָן וְאָתָה מֵרִבְבֹת קֹדֶשׁ מִימִינוֹ אֵשׁ דָּת לָמוֹ  

The pshat in the pasuk is that it is describing Hashem's revelation on Sinai to give the Torah.  Rashbam: מסיני בא – ונראה לישראל ונתן להם תורתו   Shouldn't it therefore say that Hashem came לסיני, not מִסִּינַי?  

The simple answer is that מלאה הארץ כּבודו and so you cannot say that Hashem comes anywhere.  He is there already.  Like the Uncle Moishy song says, "Hashem is here, Hashem is there, Hashem is truly everywhere..."  

Rashi already anticipated this quesrtion on the pasuk as well and quotes from Chazal מסיני בא – ויצא לקראתם כשבאו להתייצב תחת ההר כחתן היוצא להקביל פני כלה.  Sefas Emes (in the Likutim) explains this analogy:

"יצא ממה שׁהי׳ נסתר מקודם ונתגלה כּבודו"

I think in this case the nimshal teaches us something with respect to the mashal and not just the other way around. Just like at mattan Torah Hashem drew Himself out kavyachol and revealed what had previously been hidden, so too, the lesson for us is that when a person who comes to teach Torah, to learn Torah, they need to draw out their latent kochos and bring them to the table. You cannot sit back and expect to passively absorb Torah; you have to push yourself to be engaged and stretch your mind to meet the text halfway.   

Every one of us on Simchas Torah and year round can be a chassan -- a chassan Torah.  But you have to reach out beyond yourself and take the first step.

אידך פּירושׁא זיל גמור

צא ולמד

כחתן היוצא להקביל פני כלה

simchas torah and chanukas ha'bayis

Mah inyan Simchas Torah to Sukkos, to Shmini Atzeres?  Shouldn't we celebrate Simchas Torah in conjunction maybe with Shavuos?  Why here, why now?

Aside from the general inyan of celebrating the completion of a mitzvah (as Rashbam writes in the sugya of T"U b'Av) there are two sources that point to a particular chiyuv to celebrate a siyum: 

1) The gemara (Shabbos 119) writes that Abayei would make a yom tov when one of the bnei yeshiva would finish a masechta.

2) The Midrash (Shir haShirim Rabbah 1:9) writes that when Hashem gave Shlomo haMelech the chochma he had asked for, Shlomo gave thanks, and from here we learn (says the Midrash) that one should make a seudah to celebrate the completion of the Torah.

(Shu"T Binyan Av points out a potential nafka minah between these sources: is a siyum a celebration of the maaseh of learning, the ameilus and yegiya in Torah, or is it a celebration of the knowledge acquired?  What if one learned a masechta but did not really understand it fully -- can one make a siyum?  Shlomo haMelech's wisdom was a gift from Hashem; he did not have to work to get it.  According to Midrash, it's the acquisition of knowledge that is being celebrated.)

The Hagahos Ashri"I at the end of Sukkah quotes this second source as the basis for the minhag of our celebration of Simchas Torah.

I would like to suggest that there is another source as well.

Ramban writes at the end of Parshas Naso that there is a mitzvah doraysa l'doros to make a chanukas ha'bayis just like the celebration done for chanukas ha'mishkan.  This is why Shlomo haMelech celebrated chanukas bayis rishon for a week and this is also what we will do when we have bayis shlishi, bi'mheira b'yameinu.

The Netziv in a number of place (Haamek Davar in P' Beh'aloscha, also the last piece in the Sheiltos) writes that the celebration of chanukas ha'bayis is not a celebration of the completion of the building itself, but rather is a celebration of the hasra'as haShechina that is the result of having a completed Mikdash to serve as a bayis l'Hashem.

"Ain lanu shi'uur rak haTorah ha'zos" we say in Slichos.  "Ain lo l'hKBH elah 4 amos shel halacha."  When there is no beis hamikdash, says the Netziv, that hashra'as ha'shechina is still with us, manifest in Torah.

Therefore, just like there is a mitzvah of chanukas ha'bayis when the mikdash is completed, so too, there is a mitzvah of celebration siyuma shel Torah.

In fact, the Netziv says a chiddush l'halacha (see Sheilta 45 for his proofs): the hallel recited on Simchas Torah is not a hallel that stems from the kedushas ha'yom, but rather is a hallel that stems from the chiyuv to celebrate siyuma shel Torah.

As we saw earlier in the chag from the Radomsker, Sukkos is intertwined with beis ha'mikdash.  The gemara in Moed Katan proves there is a din of ain m'arvin simcha b'simcha from the fact that Shlomo haMelech made the chanukas ha'bays just before Sukkos instead of waiting a week and celebrating the two together so everyone doesn't have to take two weeks of vacation : )  Shem m'Shmuel asks: why should Shlomo have delayed?  Every single day without a Mikdash is an unfathomable loss!  Surely he should have made the chanukas ha'bayis as soon as possible to gain every day possible of avodah.

It must be, he concludes, that the chanukas ha'bayis and the chag of sukkos are inherently related -- chanukas ha'mikdash naturally goes hand-in-hand with Sukkos.  He quotes that if not for cheit ha'eigel that caused chanukas hamishkan to be delayed until the month of Nissan, the month of rachamim, it would have taken place in Tisrei, the month of din, on Sukkos.  And according to some Rishonim, it is on Sukkos that we will celebrate the chanukah of the bayis shlishi.

Since Sukkos is the zman which is mesugal to celebrate chanukas ha'bayis, which means, according to Netziv, celebrating the hashraas haShechina that takes place through that chanukah, m'meila if we have no bayis to celebrate in we can do the next best thing -- we can celebrate that same hashraas haShechina as it is manifest in the 4 amos shel halacha, in the Torah itself.  M'kan she'osim seudah l'gomra shel Torah, and this is why Simchas Torah belongs on the calendar now.

"V'hayisa ach sameiach - l'rabos leil acharon shel chag."  As opposed to the chiyuv simcha of the other days which comes from isarusa dl'eila, an explicit pasuk in Torah sheb'ksav, the simcha of leil acharon comes from Torah shebaal peh, from isarusa d'litata of the nefesh yisraeli, from the Torah that is innate to the Jewish soul.  No matter what mishugas has been going on this year, lulei Torascha sha'ashuay..., there is 4 amos of Torah, 4 amos in the Jewish heart, where you can always find hashraas haShechina.  On the "leil acharon," the end of this bitter galus, we just need to find it within, to be marbeh simcha, and hopefully soon we will be able to celebrate the chanukas hamikdash b'poel.

the closing act

This limud should be a zechus for a refuah sheleimah for Shulamis bas Sarah Sacha.

Apologies for not having time to write more...

1) The Mishna at the end of the 5th perek of Chulin writes that even though normally only meshicha is koneh, there is a takanah that 4 times a year ma'os konos to buy meat.  Meaning, if you paid the butcher for a brisket for Yom Tov, even if he has to shecht an entire cow to give it to you and he doesn't know if there will be any other customers, he has to do so and can't just return your payment.  The payment completes the sale and the butcher can't back out.  There is such a demand for brisket for the Yom Tov that Chazal made is easier for everyone to get their meat : )  

Interestingly, Sukkos is not one of these 4 days, but erev Shmini Atzeres is.  Chasam Sofer in his Derashos quotes from the Yaavet"z that this proves that the chasima of our din is still incomplete until the end of the chag.  Who can truly fully celebrate when there is an unresolved judgment hanging over their head?  Who can enjoy their brisket in that state?  It's only at the end of the chag, as we approach Shmini Atzeres, when all will be resolved l'tovah IY"H, that we can celebrate.

2) The Midrash teaches that ha'posei'ach, the one who opens the Torah reading, recites a bracha, and the choseim, the one who reads last, closes the reading with a bracha.  (In the days of Chazal there was not a bracha recited before/after each aliya like we do, but rather one bracha was said before the start of the kriah and one at its conclusion).  The source of the bracha before reading, says the Midrash, is the pasuk "baruch atah Hashem lamdeini chukecha."  The source for the bracha at the conclusion of the reading is because "v'zos habracha..."  follows the shirah of Ha'azinu.

The obvious question: the pasuk of "v'zos habracha…" is not a blessing on the words of Torah that Moshe read.  It is a blessing given to Klal Yisrael.  What does that have to do with birchas haTorah?

Sadly, for a lot of people Torah is a closed book.  Take a peek at your average yeshivah high school classroom, for example, and you will see the glazed over eyes of the students, the captives forced to sit listening to lectures on topics that have no interest in, analyzing a dry book written in a language they cannot understand.

"Ha'posei'ach ba'Torah…"  How do you open that book?  It starts with "baruch atah Hashem lamdeini chukecha."  No one comes to school and says "Thank G-d we can study algebra today!" or "Thank G-d for Hamlet today!"  But when we sit down and crack open a sefer, that's how we have to start our learning.  We need to build love and appreciation for Torah first, before getting to the Tosfos or the R' Chaim, or we will never get out of the starting gate.

But even after you come to appreciate Torah, that's not enough.

"Sameini k'chosam al libecha…"   A chosam is a seal; it identifies who you are.  V'zos habracha is about who we are as Klal Yisrael -- our strengths and weaknesses, our future destiny.  Ha'choseim ba'Torah means Torah defines who we are.  It's not just a book we study; it's our identity.

We opened the Yamim Tovim with Rosh haShana and tekiyas shofar; now we come to the chasima: not just the closing of the books, the closing of the din, but the "sameini k'chosam" -- when we take all we have gleaned from these special days and make it part of our identity, part of who will be will during this coming year.  (based on Shem m'Shmuel Nitzavim 5672)

Smach Zevulun b'tzeisecha -- taking the happiness of Y"T out with you

1. The navi concludes its description of the chanukas habayis done by Shlomo by telling us, "Va'ayas Shlomo ba'eis ha'hi es ha'chag... shivas yamim v'shivas yamim arb'ah asar yom." (Melachim I 8:65)  Chazal explain that Shlomo celebrated the dedication of the Mikdash for 7 days, and then immediately thereafter celebrated Sukkos for the next 7 days.  In other words, these were two different celebrations that happened to fall out one right after the other.  Why then, asks R' Tzadok haKohen (Pri Tzadik Sukkos 32), does the navi describe it as a celebration of the chag, singular, and tell us the celebration was 14 days, as if it was one long event?  

R' Tzadok explains that the chanukas haMikdash and the holiday of sukkos are in fact one and the same celebration.  The sukkah is a commemoration of the ananei ha'kavod that surrounded Bnei Yisrael in the desert, and when the Mikdash was dedicated, the navi tells us, "V'he'anan malei es beis Hashem," (8:10) that Hashem's anan descended into the place.  The ananei ha'kavod of the midbar came in Aharon's merit, and it was Aharon's descendants who served in the Mikdash.   Mikdash and sukkah both symbolize the same hashra'as haShechina in Klal Yisrael.  Each one of our sukkos is a mini-Mikdash.  

The Vilna Gaon writes that the reason we celebrate Sukkos in Tishei and not in Nisan is because the ananei ha'kavod departed after the sin of cheit ha'eigel and did not return until 15 Tishrei when Moshe began collecting for the construction of the Mishkan.  In light of R' Tzadok's explanation, it is not coincidental that the clouds returned just then.  The kedusha manifest in Mishkan/Mikdash is the  very same as was manifest by the ananei ha'kavod.

2. On one of the days of Sukkos I suggested that the shalosh regalim correspond to banei, chayaei, and mezonai.  Pesach is the holiday of banai -- the Torah speaks to us of 4 sons.  Shavos is chayai -- chayei olam nata b'socheinu, the Torah.  Sukkos and Shmini Atzeres is mezonai, as it is on this chag that we daven for geshem, which encompasses our material needs.  I found the Sefas Emes alludes to this idea, see 5743 d"h baMishna. 
3. The gemara says Shmini Atzeres is distinct from Sukkos with respect to 6 halachos represented by the siman PZ"R KSh"V.  R=regel.  With respect to what din is it a new regel?  I saw quoted in the name of the Rogatchover that there is a new din of chayav adam l'hakbil pnei rabo ba'regel on Shmini Atzeres in addition to the chiyuv of the same din on Sukkos. 


4. V'Zos haBracha is the only parsha not read on a Shabbos.  R' Tzadok explains that Shabbos is "keviya v'kayma," it's kedusha is set without our having to do anything, unlike the kedusha of Yom Tov which comes through beis din's declaration.  The parsha of each Shabbos, the torah unique to that week, comes down to us like the kedusha of Shabbos, from without.  We hope that we can accept it and absorb it each week when it comes down to us.

The kedusha of Zos haBracha, after a full year of parshiyos, after experiencing a whole cycle of moadim, is a kedushah that comes from within.  At the end of the day, what Torah is all about is not obeying rules imposed upon us from without, but discovering within ourselves that those rules are built into our souls and define who we are. 

Sefas Emes explains that the difference between Shavuos and Simchas Torah is that on Shavuos we celebrate Torah sheb'ksav -- it is the Torah given to is, imposed upon us.  Simchas Torah, Shmini Atzeres, is torah she'ba'al peh, the Torah that comes from within, that we are mechadesh, that is part of who we are.

5. "Smach Zevulun b'tzeisecha..."  Sefas Emes asks: why should Zevulun be happy that he has to go off on business?   I don't know about you, but I don't get much simcha out of riding the subway and dealing with hectic problems at work all day. And it's not just about work.  This is the last few days of Yom Tov, and then we go out -- "tzeisecha" -- out from an intense period of kedusha back to the daily grind, back to the world of chol.  Where's the happiness in that? 



Sefas Emes answers that what the Torah is doing here is giving us advice.  How can we make that transition back to the world that for better or worse we have to be part of a successful one?  By making sure we start off with simcha.  If you are a Zevulun and are stuck going out there, then "smach Zevulun b'tzeisecha," before you go, take a moment to rejoice in what you have before you leave.  Have a simchas Torah, celebrate the dveikus of the chagim, appreciate the experience.  How many people go through three+ weeks of Yom Tov and don't even take a moment to THINK about what is going on?  How many people pause to reflect?  This is the last chance -- take advantage!  Absorb the simcha now, and then it will stick with you, so that even "b'tzeisecha," the Torah will be with you, the dveikus will still be with you.

Simchas Torah -- kiyum simcha of the tzibur vs kiyum of the yachid

Rama (O.C. 660) quotes that minhag Ashkenaz is that an aveil does not do the hakafos with his lulav during hosha'anos.  Beis Yosef disagrees and wonders why an aveil should be exempt.  After all, an aveil is obligated in all mitzvos, including simchas Yom Tov, which cancels aveilus, so why is hosha'anos any different?  Achronim try their best to justify the minhag, but the answers are not (as the Taz and others already say) are not completely satisfying.  The Bach suggests that the problem stems from the fact that an aveil cannot cut his hair, and the kohanim who did the hakafa of the mizbeiach that we are commemorating were not permitted to have long hair, peru'ei rosh.  The problem is that the shiur of hair that is called too long is a growth of more than 30 days, and except for aveilus on parents, an aveil can take a haircut at the end of 30 days.  Some see participating in hosha'anos as representing the tzibur, and just like an aveil cannot serve as the shat"z on days that tachanun is not recited, so too, he cannot participate here.  The GR"A (quoted in M"B as well) says the exemption is based on the fact that the hakafos of the mizbeiach are a kiyum of "u'smachtem lifnei Hashem Elokeichem shivas yamim" and an aveil lacks the ability to be b'simcha (begging the question of how this is different than the mitzvah of simchas Y"T).  In short: it's a difficult minhag to justify.  (The Gesher haChaim paskens that an aveil can do hakafos after the tzibur as finished, and he quotes the Ya'avetz as allowing the aveil to participate on Hosha'ana Rabbah.  I'm not sure how that would fit with the GR"A.)

Gesher haChaim (vol 2 ch 17) raises another fascinating question.  The Kaf haChaim and others writes that although an aveil cannot participate in dancing on Simchas Torah, he is allowed to have a hakafa with the sefer Torah.  If hakafos with the lulav, which are only a zeicher to the "u'smachtem" of the mikdash, are prohibited, how then are hakafos of Simchas Torah, which are part of the simchas ha'yom itself, permitted?!  (Note that the Chelkas Ya'akov here prohibits participating in hakafos for this very reason.)

One theory the Gesher haChaim offers is that there is a fundamental difference between the kiyum simcha that happens in the mikdash, commemorated by hosha'anos, and other kiyumim of simcha.  The simcha of the mikdash was a chovas hatzibur -- it was a communal celebration, a national rejoicing.  Simchas Yom Tov celebrated by having a meal with family, Smchas Torah celebrated by dancing in shul, is a simcha of the yachid, the individual.  We may come together as families to celebrate or as communities to celebrate, but the end goal in doing so is to enhance our personal kiyum of simcha.  It does not transform the kiyum into a communal one.  Therefore, the Rama prohibits only participating in hosha'anos but no other simcha as only hosha'anos contains a "zeicher l'mikdash" component that reminds us of this communal kiyum in the mikdash.

Even if one accepts the sevara as correct, perhaps there is room to argue.  Abarbanel in Parshas VaYeilech writes that our celebration of Simchas Torah is based on the hakhel ceremony.  Just like in hakhel the king would read Sefer Devarim before the assembled people, so too, on Simchas Torah we gather together and the leader of the community finishes the reading of Devarim (see Kli Chemdah in P' Zos haBracha who discusses the source for a talmid chacham being called for the final aliya without noting this Abarbanel and the parallel to melech.  I am sure many Rabbis are wondering about the validity of the comparison between themselves and a melech : )  Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that the hakhel ceremony, done in the makom mikdash, is a communal obligation.  Everyone -- men, women, and even children -- must come and participate in hakhel.  If that's what our celebration on Simchas Torah is modeled after, then the same logic that precludes an aveil from hosha'anos should apply here.

One final note: Many shuls hold a big kiddush or lunch on Simchas Torah and I was wondering if one can participate during aveilus.  This post is pretty long already so I'll skip going through the shitos about whether and what simchos an aveils can/cannot participate in -- let's keep it simple: social occasions are out.  I view most kiddushes as social occasions.  However, it turns out that Simchas Torah lunch is an exception.  Even those who hold that an aveil cannot participate in a siyum would allow an aveil to make a siyum himself -- in that case, the aveil is not a guest; he is the host.  On Simchas Torah, each one of us is not a guest at the siyum haTorah -- each one of us is the host, the mesayeim.  Each one of us is celebrating our personal completion of another round of learning.

And one last final, final note: I don't know how you balance "v'samachta b'chagecha" with being aware of and feeling the pain of those killed al Kiddush haShem in Eretz Yisrael.  All I know is that we need lots of rachamei shamayim, lots of Torah, and we need lots of zechuyos.

simchas torah question: is it the first aliya of the third cycle through zos habracha or is it aliya #11?

On Simchas Torah there were a few stations set up in the beis medrash I was davening in to lein Zos haBracha over and over so everyone could get an aliya.  On what I think was the third cycle through at the station was standing near a kohen was called up for the first aliya, but there was no levi.  Myself and a number of other people told the stand-in gabai to just call anyone up.  However, a talmid chacham who was there opined that this was incorrect and the kohen should get the next aliya as well.

I was a bit surprised as I don’t recall having seen this done before, so I asked about it afterwards.  He explained that just like any other time when a kohen is called for the first aliya and there is no levi, the kohen gets the second aliya as well because there is a concern for creating a suspicion of pgam in his yichus.  If you ignore the kohen when you should be calling someone from sheivet levi, it looks like the kohen is pasul for some reason.  In our case, had there been no kohen, you can call anyone.  However, once the kohen got the first aliya and is standing there, he needs to get the second one as well to avoid the pgam problem. 

My counter-argument is that this is well and good were it the first aliya of the parsha -- but it’s not.  If, for example, you want to add extra aliyos beyond the required seven on a normal Shabbos, a kohen can be called for acharon and be followed by a yisrael, or vica versa, or any other order you like.  You don’t have to follow kohen with a levi, and you don’t need to call a kohen twice if no levi is present.  Once you are beyond the required number of aliyos, all bets are off. 

So here's the chakirah: how do you view the first aliya of the third cycle through Zos haBracha – is it the first aliya of round three (in which case the normal order of kohen followed by levi applies), or is it aliya # 11, one of many hosafos?

The person who offered the psak asked another Rav just to be sure and that person concurred with him, barring proof to the contrary.  I needed someone on my side to even the score, so I was happy (it was simchas torah after all) to find the Netziz in Meishiv Davar II:48 (link) agrees with my idea (see the Taz he quotes).

the bracha of Moshe Rabeinu

Before Zos HaBracha gets into the meat and potatoes of Moshe Rabeinu's bracha to the shevatim, it opens with praise of Hashem (Rashi 33:2) -- "Hashem m'Sinai ba... Mimino aish das lamo..." etc. as lawgiver and as having a special bond with Bnei Yisrael. As much as this introduction is about Hashem, it is also about us. Commenting on the pasuk, "Torah tzivah lanu Moshe...," Ramban explains that it is the acceptance of the Torah on our part which makes us worthy of receiving a bracha. In other words, you can't just walk up even to a Moshe Rabeinu with no desire to change, to grow, to come closer to Hashem, no commitment, and expect him to drop a bracha in your lap and give you whatever your heart desires. A bracha has to be earned. A bracha requires a kabbalas haTorah as a pre-requisite.

The parsha presents the brachos of Moshe one by one to each sheivet -- "Yechi Reuvain...," "V'Zos l'Yehudah...," etc. Yet when it comes to sheivet Yisachar, rather than start a new pasuk with his bracha, instead the Torah tacks it on to the bracha of Zevulun, almost as an afterthought: "Smach Zevulun b'tzesecha v'Yisacha b'ohalaecha." The parsha then goes right back to Zevulun, "Amim har yikra'u..." Why doesn't Yisachar get his own spot in the sun, his own individual moment of attention? Furthermore, Chazal tell us that Zevulun and Yisachar made a partnership: Zevulun was a merchant who used his wealth to help support Yisachar, who dedicated himself to talmud Torah; together they shared the reward of talmud Torah. Shouldn't the focus be on Yisachar, who was doing the actual learning, and not on Zevulun, who just enabled Yisachar's talmud Torah? Why is the bracha directed at Zevulun as the primary recipient with Yisachar tacked on secondarily?

R' Chaim Kanievski in his Ta'ama d'Kra writes that the reason Zevulun is the focus of attention for this bracha and Yisachar is tacked on secondarily is precisely because Yisachar was the one who was totally immersed in talmud Torah. When one's life is Torah, one doesn't need an added bracha -- Torah itself is the biggest source of bracha a person can have.

Maybe that's what we are supposed to get out of Simchas Torah. The lulav is put away, we don't have to eat in the sukkah anymore, there is no particular mitzvas ha'yom -- so why do we have a Yom Tov? Perhaps the idea is that those items are just props, accoutrements, albeit very important and meaningful ones, but if one has Torah, then one can have simcha and bracha even if one has nothing else at all.

when to do shenayim mikra on braishis

I had this same question in other years but don't remember if I posted it. In theory you have until Shmini Atzeres / Simchas Torah to finish shenayim mikra on Zos HaBracha. Does that mean you can't start shenayim mikra on Braishis until after that? Usually you can start the upcoming week's parsha from after mincha on Shabbos the week before but not earlier -- but is this week's parsha Zos HaBracha, or Braishis?

Obviously, if you can only start Braishis on Simchas Torah, that doesn't give you a lot of time...