Daf Ditty Chagigah 3: Hakhel

Rabbi Tanḥum said: One who is lame in one leg is exempt from the mitzva of appearance, as
it is stated:

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 .‫ ָתֹּחג ִלי ַבָּשָּׁנה‬,‫יד ָשׁ@שׁ ְרָגִלים‬ 14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto Me in the year.
Ex 23:14

“Three times [regalim] shall you keep a feast for Me in the year” .Since the term for feet is
raglayim, it can be inferred from here that the obligation to ascend involves the use of both of
one’s legs.

The Gemara asks: But the term “regalim” is necessary to exclude people with artificial legs.
Although these people are capable of walking, as they do not have two natural legs they are exempt
from ascending to the Temple. The Gemara responds: That halakha is derived from: “Three
occasions [pe’amim] in the year all your males will appear before the Lord God”

The term pe’amim can also mean legs, as it is taught in a baraita, with regard to the term
“pe’amim”: Pe’amim means nothing other than legs. And so it says:

,‫ ָרֶגל; ַרְגֵלי ָﬠ ִני‬,‫ו ִתּ ְרְמֶסָנּה‬ 6 The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and
.‫ַפֲּﬠֵמי ַדִלּים‬ the steps of the needy.
Isa 26:6

“The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor and the steps [pa’amei] of the needy”

and it says:

-‫ ַבּת‬,‫ ַבּ ְנָּﬠִלים‬o‫ָיּפוּ ְפָﬠַמ ִי‬-‫ב ַמה‬ 2 How beautiful are thy steps in sandals, O prince's
‫ְכּמוֹ‬--o‫ְי ֵרַכ ִי‬ ‫ַחמּוֵּקי‬ ;‫ָנִדיב‬ daughter! The roundings of thy thighs are like the links of a
.‫שׂה ְיֵדי ָאָמּן‬ ֵ ‫ ַמֲﬠ‬,‫ֲחָלִאים‬ chain, the work of the hands of a skilled workman.
Song 7:2

“How beautiful are your feet [fe’amayikh] in sandals, daughter of the prince”

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With regard to the aforementioned verse, Rava taught: What is the meaning of that which is
written: “How beautiful are your feet in sandals, daughter of the prince [nadiv]”?

How pleasant are the feet [raglehen] of the Jewish people when they ascend to Jerusalem on
the pilgrimage Festival [regel]. “Daughter of the prince”: this is referring to the daughter of
Abraham our father who is called a prince, as it is stated:

,‫ַﬠם‬ --‫ ֶנֱאָספוּ‬,‫י ְנִדיֵבי ַﬠִמּים‬
:‫ֱא@ֵהי ַאְב ָרָהם‬
-‫ֶא ֶרץ‬-‫ ָמִגֵנּי‬,‫ִכּי ֵלא@ִהים‬
.‫ ְמֹאד ַנֲﬠָלה‬-
10 The princes of the peoples are gathered together, the
people of the God of Abraham; {N}
for unto God belong the shields of the earth; He is greatly
exalted. {P}
Ps 47:10

“The princes of the peoples are gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham”

The Gemara asks: Is God only “the God of Abraham,” and not the God of Isaac and Jacob?
Rather, the verse mentions “the God of Abraham,” as he was the first of the converts. Abraham
was the first prince, as all converts who follow in his path are called “the princes of the peoples.”

They said to him that Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya interpreted the following verse:

‫ ָהֲאָנִשׁים ְוַהָנִּשׁים‬,‫ָהָﬠם‬-‫יב ַהְקֵהל ֶאת‬
‫ְלַמַﬠן ִיְשְׁמעוּ‬--d‫ ֲאֶשׁר ִבְּשָׁﬠֶרי‬,d‫ ְוֵג ְר‬,‫ְוַהַטּף‬
,‫ֵהיֶכם‬l‫ ְיהָוה ֱא‬-‫ ְוָי ְראוּ ֶאת‬,‫וְּלַמַﬠן ִיְלְמדוּ‬
‫ִדְּבֵרי ַהתּוָֹרה‬-‫ָכּל‬-‫ ֶאת‬,‫ְוָשְׁמרוּ ַלֲﬠשׂוֹת‬
.‫ַהזּ ֹאת‬
12 Assemble the people, the men and the women and the
little ones, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that
they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD
your God, and observe to do all the words of this law;
Deut 31:12

“Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones”

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This verse is puzzling: If men come to learn, and women, who might not understand, come at
least to hear, why do the little ones come? They come in order for God to give a reward to
those who bring them, i.e., God credits those who bring their children to the assembly. Rabbi
Yehoshua said to them: This good pearl of wisdom was in your hands, and you tried to conceal
it from me?

Tosafos

In order to give reward to those that bring them: And upon this, [people] have relied on to
bring small children to the synagogue.

(3) And this is also a reason for this hakhel (assembly). As in addition to the taking of these four
species on the first day of the festival, God commanded to make another impression similar to
it at the end of seven years. Since the seventh year also causes assembly and peace by way of
one not planting and growing upon it. And the destitute of His people eat on it, since the
[landowners] are not permitted to hold on to their produce on the seventh year as an owner. And
without a doubt, this is is a cause of peace, since all disagreements are from the trait of "what's
mine is mine" [and] "this one says, 'it is all mine.'" And this is not so [prevalent] on the seventh
year, since [even if] in the positive acts, not all are equal, in the negative acts, all are equal, and
this is truly the way of peace.

And so [too] with the festival of Sukkot, when everyone goes out from a permanent dwelling to
a temporary dwelling and sits under the 'Sukkah (hut) of His peace.' Behold, [accordingly] on
the first of the intermediate days, the king was commanded to make an impression about peace
and this is the matter of hakhel.

As all of this is a preparation to repentance, and [so] he reads from Deuteronomy words of
exhortation and rebuke.

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Ramban to Deut 31:13

AND THAT THEIR CHILDREN, WHO HAVE NOT KNOWN, MAY HEAR, AND LEARN
TO FEAR.

This refers to the little children [mentioned in the preceding verse], for they will hear and inquire,
and the fathers will accustom them [to the words of the Law] and educate them. For the little
children [mentioned here] are not those who suckle at the breasts, but rather the young in years
who are nearly old enough to be educated, this being the sense of the expression and learn to fear
— in the future [when they are grown up].

But above [when speaking of the men and the women] he stated that they may learn, and
fear13Verse 12. [now, since they are adults]. However, our Rabbis have said,14Chagigah 3a. “The
men came to learn, and the women to listen. And the little children — why did they come?

In order to reward those who bring them.”15From this text it appears that the Rabbis understood
the term little children as applying to the very young who are not yet old enough to ask questions.

Summary

Disability and Ascention; Teachers and Students; Multiple Truths1

In order to justify their interpretations, the rabbis use a literary tool known as gezera shava. This
is an analogy based on words used in two different places. Those words might be similar in
spelling, or sound, or meaning. In some way, those words will be proven to have influence over
the meaning of two texts.

To explain why those who are deaf might not be obligated to ascend or to appear to the Temple on
the three Festivals, the rabbis use a number of these analogies. They consider whether or not
having hearing in one ear makes any difference. The rabbis also consider those with at least one

1
http://dafyomibeginner.blogspot.com/2014/09/

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artificial leg. They use the specific words in the Mishna and connect them with words from the
Torah, demonstrating that there is a larger scheme that perhaps we can comprehend if we just use
our creativity and tenacity.

Two fascinating stories about teachers and students are presented to us. The first involves Rabbi
Yehoshua, who is greeted by his students. He asks them what they studied that week in the study
hall with Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria. They answer that nothing novel was learned; they already
learned everything they could from Rabbi Yehoshua. But there is always something novel in the
study hall, Rabbi Yehoshua insists. The two students share stories from their learning to the
delight of Rabbi Yehoshua. The second story tells us why the two students hesitated. Perhaps
they had the tale of Rabbi Eliezer (Elazar), who was greeted by his students. When a student
answered Rabbi Elazar's question with the correct halacha but an incorrect reason for that ruling,
Rabbi Elazar tells him to hold out his hands - which catch his eyeballs as they fall from his
eyes. Then Rabbi Elazar cries - not for the student, but for the misinformation learned in a class
that he was forced to leave. When Rabbi Elazar feels better, the student's eyes are healed.

We end the daf with a debate about the characteristics of an 'imbecile'.

One of our notes remind us of the oft quoted Talmudic phrase: both these and these are true; the
word of the living G-d. There is more than one truth contained within the words given to
Moses. There are many truths. This appeals to me tremendously. It suggests that we keep the
words of those who 'lost' the battle of logic in the Gemara. It tells us to continue searching, for
there might be further truths not yet known. And it suggests that we cannot rely on others to teach
us "the way". We must search for meaning that speaks to us; it is waiting for our search.

Rav Avrohom Adler writes:2

The Gemora above inferred from a Mishna taught elsewhere that one who has the capacity to speak
but cannot hear, or one who hears but cannot speak, would be obligated in the mitzvah of appearing
in the Beis HaMikdash (and offering the olas re’iyah) during the festivals.

The Gemora notes a contradiction from the following braisa: One who has the capacity to speak
but cannot hear, or one who hears but cannot speak, is exempt from the mitzvah of appearing in
the Beis HaMikdash during the festivals. Ravina answers, and others say that it was Rava who
answered: It is as if there were missing words and this is what the Mishna was teaching us: All are
obligated in ascending to the Bais HaMikdash on the three festivals, and all are obligated in
simchah (the mitzvah of rejoicing in the Beis HaMikdash; this is accomplished by slaughtering
shelamim offerings and eating their meat) except for one who has the capacity to speak but cannot
hear, or one who hears but cannot speak, for they are exempt from the mitzvah of appearing in the
Beis HaMikdash. And even though they are exempt from the mitzvah of appearing in the Beis
HaMikdash, they are obligated in simchah.

2
https://dafnotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Chagigah_3.pdf

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However, someone who cannot hear nor speak, and a deranged person and a minor as well are
exempt from simchah, for they (all types of mentally incompetent people) are exempt from all
mitzvos stated in the Torah.

The Gemora cites a braisa which supports this explanation: All are obligated in ascending to the
Bais HaMikdash on the three festivals, except for one who can speak but is deaf, and one who can
hear but is mute, as these two individuals are exempt from appearing in the Bais HaMikdash.
Nonetheless, these individuals are obligated in simchah. A deaf-mute, a deranged person and a
minor are exempt from appearing in the Bais HaMikdash and from the mitzvah of simchah since
they are exempt from performing all mitzvos of the Torah.

The Gemora asks: Why is there such a distinction? Why, with regard to the mitzvah of appearing,
are they (one who is either deaf or mute) exempt, and with regard to simchah, they are obligated?
The Gemora answers: They are exempt from the mitzvah of appearing, because we derive this law
(using a gezeirah shavah) from Hakhel (the gathering that occurred every seven years at the end
of the Shemittah cycle when the king would read Mishneh Torah, the Book of Deuteronomy, in
the Courtyard of the Bais HaMikdash).

Regarding Hakhel, they were excluded based on a verse which states: Gather together the people,
the men, the women and the small children. And in the preceding verse it is written: When all
Israel comes to appear before Hashem.

[Since there is a common word ‘appearing’ in both verses, we derive the laws of the mitzvah of
re’iyah from the laws that apply to the mitzvah of hakhel, and just as by hakhel, one who cannot
speak or is deaf is exempt from the mitzvah, similarly, they are exempt from the mitzvah of
re’iyah.]

The Gemora asks: And how is it known that this is the law regarding hakhel? The Gemora answers:
It is written: [Gather together the people] so that they will hear and so that they will learn, and it
was taught in a braisa: so that they will hear excludes one who speaks but cannot hear; and so that
they will learn excludes one who hears but cannot speak.

The Gemora asks: Does that mean to say that one who cannot speak is incapable of learning? But
there were two mute people living in Rebbe’s neighborhood, who were the sons of the daughter of
Rabbi Yochanan Gudgeda, and others say that they were the sons of the sister of Rabbi Yochanan,
and they would attend Rebbe’s lectures. When Rebbe entered the study hall, they sat down before
him and they would nod their heads and move their lips. Rebbe prayed for them and they were
healed. It was subsequently discovered that they knew Mishnayos, Sifra, Sifri, and all of Shas (the
six orders of the Mishna). [Evidently, one who cannot speak is still capable of learning!?] Mar
Zutra answers: The verse should be read as if it says: so that they will teach (and one who cannot
speak, although he can learn himself, cannot teach others).

Rav Ashi proves that it definitely means ‘so they will teach,’ for if you would understand the verse
to simply mean ‘so they will learn,’ and since they cannot talk that cannot learn; and since one
who cannot hear cannot learn (and that is why he is exempt from the mitzvah), why then would

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another verse (so they will learn) be necessary to exclude (one who cannot speak)? It is already
derived from the verse: so that they will hear!? Rather, the correct understanding of the verse is
‘so that they will teach.’

Rabbi Tanchum said: One who is deaf in one ear is exempt from the mitzvah of appearing, because
it is said regarding Hakhel that the Torah should be read before all Israel in their ears, which
implies that one must have two ears that he can hear with. The Gemora asks: But ‘in their ears’ is
used to teach us that the king must recite it in the ears of all Israel (that the entire Jewish nation
must be there)? The Gemora answers: That is derived from the verse: before all Israel. The Gemora
asks: If the Torah would have merely said, ‘before all Israel,’ I might have thought that it is
sufficient even if they do not hear (as long as they are present), that is why the Torah also wrote
‘in their ears’ – to teach us that they must hear as well? The Gemora answers: That is derived from
the verse which states: so that they will hear. (3a)

Rabbi Tanchum said: One who is lame in one leg is exempt from the mitzvah of appearing, because
regarding the ascent of the pilgrims to Jerusalem, it is said regalim, which literally means feet. The
Gemora asks: But ‘regalim’ is used to teach us that people with wooden feet are exempt from the
mitzvah? The Gemora answers: That ruling is derived from the usage of the word ‘pe’amim,’
which (although means ‘times’ – as in three times during the year) also means feet, as it was taught
in a braisa: Pe’amim. This means only ‘a man who has feet.’ And so it is written: The foot will
trample it – the feet of a pauper, the soles (pa’a’mei) of the needy. And it is also written (in Shir
HaShirim): but your footsteps were so lovely when shod in pilgrim’s sandals, O daughter of nobles.

It is said: but your footsteps were so lovely when shod in pilgrim’s sandals, O daughter of nobles.
The Gemora interprets this verse to refer to the lovely footsteps of the Jewish People as they ascend
to Jerusalem for the pilgrimage on the three festivals. The words, O daughter of nobles, alludes to
our Patriarch Avraham who was called a noble, as it is said (in Tehillim): the nobles of the people
gathered, the people of the God of Avraham. The Gemora asks: Is Hashem the God of Avraham,
and not Yitzchak and Yaakov? The Gemora answers: The verse references Avraham because he
was the first of converts.

Rav Kahana said: Rav Nassan bar Manyumi expounded: The Torah states that the pit that the
brothers cast Yosef into was empty without water. If the Torah states that the pit was empty, it is
implicit that there was no water in it. The Torah must be teaching us that even though there was
no water in the pit, there were snakes and scorpions in the pit. [The brothers did not know this.]

The Gemora cites a braisa: Rabbi Yochanan Ben Berokah and Rabbi Elazar Ben Chasma visited
Rabbi Yehoshua in Pekiin on the festival, as there is a requirement that one visits his teacher on
the festival. Rabi Yehoshua requested of his disciples that they relate a novel teaching that they
heard in the study hall. They asked him: We are your students and we drink your water (referring
to the Torah; it is you who teaches us the Torah)? He responded: Nevertheless, there is always
something novel taught in the study hall. Whose week was it? It was the week of Rabbi Elozar ben
Azaryah. [After an incident between the Nasi Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Yehoshua, it was decided
that Rabban Gamliel lecture three weeks and Rabbi Elozar ben Azaryah one week.]

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The two rabbis related that Rabbi Elozar Ben Azaryah had taught that regarding the mitzvah of
Hakhel, it is said that men, women and children should assemble. The men come to learn, the
women come to listen and the children come so that those who brought the children can earn
reward. Rabbi Yehoshua said to them: You had a precious stone in your hand, and you wished to
withhold it from me!?

Rabbi Elazar Ben Azaryah expounded further: It is written: You have praised Hashem today …
and Hashem has praised you today. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Israel: You have made
Me (the focus of) a unique praise in the world, and I shall make you (the focus of) a unique praise
in the world. ‘You have made me a unique praise in the world,’ as it is written: Hear, O Israel,
Hashem is our God, Hashem is one, and I shall make you a unique praise in the world, as it is
written: And who is like Your people Israel, one nation on the earth. And he also began to expound:
It is said (in Koheles): the words of the wise are like goads, and the nails well driven are the sayings
of the masters of collections, coming from one Shepherd. This can be interpreted to mean that the
Torah is likened to goads because just like goads align the cow to the rows of the furrows and this
brings life to the world, so too the words of Torah align those who study the Torah and lead them
from the pathways of death to the pathways of life. A goad, however, is movable, so perhaps the
words of Torah are movable as well (and the Rabbinic decrees which protect the Torah will not
last forever)!?

It is for that reason that the Torah is compared to nails as well. And perhaps, just as nails cause a
loss (when nailed into an item) and do not increase, so too the words of Torah diminish but do not
increase (those who observe the Torah)? It is for that reason the Torah is compared to planting.
Just as a plant is fruitful and multiplies, so too the words of Torah cause one to be fruitful and
multiply. He continued: The words “masters of collections” refers to Torah scholars who assemble
together to study Torah. Despite the fact that the scholars all have different opinions, one can learn
from all of them because the Torah was given by one G-d and disseminated by one leader, Moshe,
whose words are indisputable. One must make his ears like a millhopper where the grain is
funneled through. Similarly, one must be able to discern which halachic opinion is correct and
decide accordingly.

The Gemora cites a braisa: Rabbi Yosi Ben Durmaskis went to visit Rabbi Eliezer in Lod, and
Rabbi Eliezer asked Rabbi Yosi regarding what was taught in the study hall that day. Rabbi Yosi
responded that they concluded that day that in the lands of Ammon and Moav, it was permitted to
plant during the shemittah year and they could tithe the Maaser Ani during the shemittah year.
Rabbi Eliezer then told Rabbi Yosi to open his hands and accept his eyes, which Rabbi Yosi did.
This act implied that Rabbi Eliezer was disturbed by the need to render this ruling which had
already been decided in the time of the members of the Great Assembly. Rabbi Eliezer told Rabbi
Yosi that the ruling that Rabbi Yosi had quoted was unnecessary and he should inform those in
the study hall of this, because Rabbi Eliezer had received the tradition from his teacher, Rabbi
Yochanan Ben Zakkai, who had received this tradition all the way back to Moshe at Sinai, that
tithes could be taken from grain in the lands of Ammon and Moav during the shemittah year. The
reason for this ruling was because the Jewish People who left Egypt captured many cities but these
same cites were not captured by those who left Babylonia. The reason they did not capture these
cites is because the first sanctification of the land was only done for that time period and not for
the future. Yet, the second sanctification of the land was sanctified forever. Thus, regarding the

9
rest of Eretz Yisroel, one was forbidden to plant during the shemittah year. The lands of Ammon
and Moav, however, were not sanctified, so that the poor could rely on receiving their gifts during
the shemittah year. For this reason the Chachamim instituted that in the lands of Ammon and
Moav, people should tithe Maaser Ani during the shemittah year. The Gemora relates that once
Rabbi Eliezer was calm, he prayed that Rabbi Yosi should regain his eyesight.

PILGRIMAGE WITH SHOES ONLY

The Gemora cites a verse in Shir HaShirim that states mah yafu peomayich baneolim bas nadiv,
how lovely are your steps in sandals, O daughter of the noble? The Gemora explains that this verse
refers to the lovely steps of the Jewish People when they ascended to Jerusalem for the festival.
The words bas nadiv refer to Avrohom Avinu who is referred to as the nadiv, the noble one. What
is the connection between the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Avrohom Avinu?

The Mahretz Chayus in his responsa (7) quotes Rabbeinu Bachye in Parshas Mishpatim who cites
a Medrash that states that from the verse in Shir HaShirim we derive a law that one is only allowed
to ascend to Jerusalem for the three times a year pilgrimage by foot and one is forbidden to ascend
in any other manner. This law is derived from the fact that Scripture uses the words peomayich
and neolim, which allude to one walking as opposed to traveling on an animal or in a wagon.

The Mahretz Chayus writes that he was not able to locate the source of this Medrash. The Mahretz
Chayus also cites the Yerushalmi in Pesachim (4:7) that would indicate that the law is the opposite
of the Medrash that is quoted by Rabbeinu Bachye. There is a dispute between Rabbi Yosi and the
Tanna Kamma if a leather craftsman is permitted to work on Erev Pesach. Rabbi Yosi permits
them to work because the people who were making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem needed to have
their shoes and sandals fixed in honor of the festival.

The Tanna Kamma disagrees and maintains that it was not necessary to have leather craftsmen as
the Jewish People were wealthy and they all ascended to Jerusalem by riding on animals. This
discussion indicates that it was permitted to ascend to Jerusalem by riding on an animal and
walking was not the only permitted means of transportation.

Rav Elyashiv heard from a Torah scholar who said that whether the halachah is in accordance with
Rabbeinu Bachye that one could only ascend to Jerusalem by foot or whether it was merely the
poor people who ascended by foot, it is evident from the Yerushalmi that there was a concern that
people required shoes in order to fulfill the mitzvah. In all likelihood, this concern would have
resulted in a collection for the poor prior to the festival, similar to a collection of food that was
orchestrated on behalf of the poor. Perhaps it is for this reason that the Gemora mentions Avrohom
Avinu regarding the pilgrimage. The character of kindness displayed by the Jewish People is an
inheritance from Avrohom Avinu and in a sense, it was Avraham Avinu who catalyzed the
outpouring of kindness that the Jewish People demonstrated when the Jewish People ascended to
Jerusalem for the festivals.

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 THE PRAISE OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE DURING "ALIYAH
L'REGEL"

Rav Mordechai Kornfeld writes:3

The Gemara expounds the verse, "How beautiful are your footsteps in sandals... daughter of the
generous one" (Shir ha'Shirim 7:2), and says that the verse is praising the Jewish people who go
up to Yerushalayim three times a year. The verse calls them "the daughter of the generous one"
("Bas Nediv"). "Nediv" refers to Avraham Avinu, who is called "Nediv" (see Tehilim 47:10)
because he was the first person to "convert," to generously dedicate his heart to recognize his
Creator (RASHI).

Why is the praise, "Bas Nediv," applied to the Jewish people specifically when they are Oleh
l'Regel? What is the relationship between the accolade of "the daughter of Avraham Avinu" and
the Jewish people's ascent to Yerushalayim at the time of the festival? Also, why does the verse
refer to Avraham Avinu specifically in this context as "Nediv," the first to generously give his life
to the service of Hash-m?

(a) The MAHARSHA explains why the Jewish people are praised as "the daughter of Avraham
Avinu" when they are Oleh l'Regel. Avraham Avinu was not only the first convert, but he was also
the first to ascend to Har ha'Moriyah, the place of the Beis ha'Mikdash, in order to offer a Korban
(his son, Yitzchak). The Jewish people follow in his ways when they ascend to Yerushalayim to
offer Korbanos in the Beis ha'Mikdash during the festival.

The Maharsha does not explain why the Gemara refers specifically to Avraham Avinu as "the first
of converts." The ETZ YOSEF explains that dedicating his life to serve Hash-m entailed for
Avraham Avinu the necessity to leave his homeland and his father's household in order to travel
to a distant land (see Bereishis 12:1). The Jews who are Oleh l'Regel are similar to converts in that
sense. They separate themselves from their households and leave everything behind in order to go
to the Beis ha'Mikdash in Yerushalayim.

(b) The CHIDA (in Pesach Einayim) suggests that the words of the Gemara here are based on the
Midrash (Bereishis Rabah 43:9). The Midrash teaches that as reward for his refusal to accept from
Malki-Tzedek even "a thread (Chut) or a sandal-strap (Seroch Na'al)" (Bereishis 14:23), Avraham
Avinu was blessed that his descendants would offer Korbanos on the Mizbe'ach (which was
encircled with a "Chut," a painted strip of red dye) and would be given the Mitzvah of Aliyah
l'Regel. The Midrash then quotes the verse cited by the Gemara here, "Ma Yafu... ba'Ne'alim" --
"How beautiful are your footsteps in sandals," an allusion to the reward that Avraham Avinu
received for his refusal to accept even "a thread or a sandal-strap" from Malki-Tzedek.

3
https://www.dafyomi.co.il/chagigah/insites/cg-dt-003.htm

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(This answer explains the association of the Mitzvah of Aliyah l'Regel with Avraham Avinu, but
it does not explain why Avraham is referred to as "the first of converts" specifically in this context.)

(b) The Gemara in Berachos (17b) relates that shortly before the festivals of Pesach and Sukos,
the Jews in Bavel gathered together to learn Torah at the "Yarchei Kalah" in preparation for the
festival. At that time, a great Kidush Hash-m occurred. When members of the foreign nations saw
the immense glory of Hash-m as the Jews gathered together in a large assembly to learn Torah,
they experienced a tremendous inspiration to come and convert.

This byproduct of the Jews' assemblage is mentioned in other Midrashim. The Midrash (Midrash
Rabah to Shir ha'Shirim 1:15) says that the Jewish people are comparable to a Yonah (dove) in
several ways (see Insights to Sukah 50:3). One way in which the Jewish people are comparable to
a Yonah is that one type of Yonah, when fed, emits a scent that attracts other doves to its nest.
Similarly, when the Chachamim teach Torah to the people, the nations who hear them come and
convert.

In a similar vein, Rashi explains that in the blessing given to the tribe of Zevulun, "Amim Har
Yikra'u" -- "Nations will gather at the mountain" (Devarim 33:19), "nations" refer to the Jewish
people who gather at "the mountain" of Har ha'Moriyah and offer Korbanos to Hash-m during the
festivals. The verse also refers to the nations of the world who travel to Eretz Yisrael to do business
and who gather at Har ha'Moriyah where they witness the Jewish people serve Hash-m. The
visiting nations become so impressed that they convert.

These two sources together imply that the nations come to Yerushalayim at the time when the Jews
are Oleh l'Regel. At that time, the great assembly of Jews who perform the will of Hash-m in
unison impresses the nations and inspires them to convert.

When the Jewish people conduct themselves in a way which inspires the nations to convert, they
are referred to as "the daughter of Avraham," who was the first to convert and to inspire others to
follow him (see Bereishis 12:5). This is why the Gemara quotes the verse, "The noblemen of the
nations gathered [to join] the nation of the G-d of Avraham" (Tehilim 47:10) -- they gathered in
order to become part of the Jewish people (as the Maharsha explains) and to follow the ways of
Avraham. Therefore, when the Jewish people are Oleh l'Regel and inspire the nations to convert,
they are called "Bas Nediv," for they are following the ways of Avraham Avinu who led the way
for converts. (M. Kornfeld. This approach is also proposed by RAV YOSEF SHAUL
NATANSON in DIVREI SHAUL on Agados ha'Shas.)

THE "DERASHOS" OF REBBI ELAZAR BEN AZARYAH

The Gemara (3a-3b) relates that two Talmidim came to greet Rebbi Yehoshua on the festival. He
asked them what Chidush was taught in the Beis Midrash that day. They demurred and did not tell
him, excusing themselves with the claim that "we are your students and from your waters we
drink."

He asked them again and said that it is not possible that no Chidush was said in the Beis Midrash.
The Talmidim remained silent, and thus Rebbi Yehoshua asked them who lectured in the Beis

12
Midrash that week. They answered him that it was Rebbi Elazar ben Azaryah's week to lecture,
but they told him nothing more. Finally, he insisted that they tell him what was said in the Beis
Midrash, and they consented. They related the three teachings that were taught in the Beis Midrash:
First, they told him that Rebbi Elazar ben Azaryah taught that the reason why the Torah commands
that children must be brought to hear the Torah reading during the Mitzvah of Hakhel is in order
for those who bring them to receive reward.

Second, they told him that Rebbi Elazar ben Azaryah expounded a verse that describes how Hash-
m designated the Jewish people to be a unique and singular nation in the world.

Third, they related the explanation of Rebbi Elazar ben Azaryah (according to Rashi) for the verse
in Koheles (12:11). His explanation concludes with a directive for a person to "make his ear like a
funnel" and absorb all of the different teachings of the Chachamim, even when the Chachamim
seem to disagree and their teachings seem to conflict, for "they are all given by one Master" and
they are all "Divrei Elokim Chayim."

Why did the Talmidim choose to relate to Rebbi Yehoshua only these specific teachings?

It is clear from the Gemara's narrative that Rebbi Yehoshua did not attend the lecture in the Beis
Midrash. Presumably the reason he did attend was because of the incident described in Berachos
(27b-28a). The Gemara there relates that Rebbi Yehoshua disagreed with Raban Gamliel, the head
of the Yeshiva, concerning a certain Halachah, and Raban Gamliel harshly censured Rebbi
Yehoshua for arguing. The Chachamim, displeased by Raban Gamliel's treatment of Rebbi
Yehoshua, dismissed him from his position and appointed Rebbi Elazar ben Azaryah in his place.
Raban Gamliel subsequently apologized to Rebbi Yehoshua and was reinstated as the head of the
Yeshiva. However, Rebbi Elazar ben Azaryah also remained as the head (because of "Ma'alin
b'Kodesh v'Lo Moridin"). In order to accommodate two heads of the Yeshiva, it was decided that
they would alternate weeks during which they lectured. Raban Gamliel would lecture for two
weeks and Rebbi Elazar ben Azaryah for one.

Perhaps Rebbi Yehoshua did not resume his attendance in the Beis Midrash after the incident. He
did not attend when Raban Gamliel was the lecturer, because he considered himself to be a greater
authority than Raban Gamliel and did not accept his opinion, or perhaps because he feared further
censure from Raban Gamliel. He did not attend when Rebbi Elazar ben Azaryah was the lecturer,
because -- as the Gemara in Berachos says -- Rebbi Elazar ben Azaryah was only eighteen years
old when he was appointed as the head, and Rebbi Yehoshua -- who far surpassed him in age and
knowledge -- understood that there was nothing for him to learn from Rebbi Elazar ben Azaryah.

(The Gemara in Berachos clearly implies that Rebbi Yehoshua was superior to Rebbi Elazar ben
Azaryah in scholarship. The Gemara says that when Raban Gamliel was removed from his
position, Rebbi Yehoshua was the first candidate to replace him. Only when the Chachamim
decided not to appoint Rebbi Yehoshua (since he was one of the parties involved in the initial
dispute) and not to appoint Rebbi Akiva (who was descended from converts) did they appoint
Rebbi Elazar ben Azaryah.)

13
The Talmidim who visited Rebbi Yehoshua understood that he did not attend the Beis Midrash for
those reasons. They sought to convince Rebbi Yehoshua to return to the Beis Midrash, and
therefore they related to him these three teachings in particular.

They quoted the teaching that the reason why the Torah instructs parents to bring their children to
hear the Torah reading during Hakhel is "in order to give reward to those who bring them." They
meant to say that even if Rebbi Yehoshua would learn nothing from the lecturers in the Beis
Midrash, he still should attend because one receives reward merely for coming to the Beis Midrash
even if he learns nothing.

They then related to him the teaching that Hash-m designated the Jewish people to be a singular
nation in the world. This teaching emphasizes that the Jewish people can accomplish their mission
in the world only when they are united. The Talmidim were telling Rebbi Yehoshua that by coming
to the Beis Midrash even though he would not learn anything from the lecturers, he would increase
the Achdus, unity, of the Jewish people.

They gave him one more reason to come to the Beis Midrash. They quoted the teaching of Rebbi
Elazar ben Azaryah who derived from a verse that a person is not entitled to assert that his opinion
is correct and all of the others are incorrect, because all of the opinions of the Chachamim are
based on "Divrei Elokim Chayim." Rather, one should hear all of the opinions expressed in the
Beis Midrash before he comes to a conclusion.

According to this explanation, it is clear why the Talmidim were reluctant to say anything to Rebbi
Yehoshua outright. They did not want to sound disrespectful by insisting that he return to the Beis
Midrash, or by showing him that something was taught in the Beis Midrash that he did not know.
They needed Rebbi Yehoshua to insist that they tell him what was said in the Beis Midrash so that
they would not sound disrespectful to him.

(This may explain why Rebbi Yehoshua emphasized twice in his request that they tell him what
"Chidush" was said in the Beis Midrash. He was telling them that he did not believe that any
Chidush could be said in the Beis Midrash which he did not already know.)

This approach also explains the next incident in the Gemara. Rebbi Yosi Durmiskis came to visit
Rebbi Eliezer in Lud during the festival. (Although the text in our editions is "Rebbi Elazar," the
correct Girsa, as recorded by the DIKDUKEI SOFRIM, is "Rebbi Eliezer," who was the Rav in
Lud (Sanhedrin 32b).) When Rebbi Eliezer asked Rebbi Yosi Durmiskis what was taught in the
Beis Midrash, he answered that the Chachamim concluded that the people in the lands of Amon
and Moav must separate Ma'aser Ani during the Shevi'is year for the sake of the poor people. When
Rebbi Eliezer heard this, he became very upset with Rebbi Yosi and cursed him. Then, he cried
and said that the Chachamim in the Beis Midrash should know that they accurately concluded, in
accordance with a very old tradition which extended back many generations, that those areas
separate Ma'aser Ani during Shevi'is.

If the Halachah was correct, why did Rebbi Eliezer become so upset? Rashi explains that he
became upset because Rebbi Yosi said that the Chachamim in the Beis Midrash "decided today"
that Ma'aser Ani should be separated in the lands of Amon and Moav. He erred by saying that it

14
was a new enactment when it actually was an enactment that dated back to the Anshei Keneses
ha'Gedolah. That is why Rebbi Eliezer became upset.

Why, though, should Rebbi Eliezer have become so upset simply because Rebbi Yosi made a
mistake and thought that the enactment was a novel one?

In light of the above explanation, Rashi may mean to say as follows. Like Rebbi Yehoshua, Rebbi
Eliezer did not attend the Beis Midrash because he was aware that he was more knowledgeable
than Raban Gamliel and the other Chachamim (see Bava Metzia 59b). When Rebbi Eliezer asked
Rebbi Yosi what Halachah was taught in the Beis Midrash, Rebbi Yosi responded immediately,
as if to say, "Look at what you missed by not coming to the Beis Midrash. Certainly you did not
know about this enactment, because it was decided just today."

Rebbi Eliezer became upset because Rebbi Yosi related the teaching to him in a disrespectful
manner. Moreover, Rebbi Eliezer was well aware of the enactment, which was not a Chidush.
Because Rebbi Yosi insinuated in a disrespectful manner that Rebbi Eliezer should come to the
Beis Midrash because the Chachamim knew more than he, Rebbi Eliezer became upset with him.

Steinzaltz (OBM) writes:4

The Gemara on our daf (page) quotes a list of aggadic teachings from various Sages.

Rav Kahane quotes Rav Natan bar Manyumei in the name of Rabbi Tanchum as offering an
interpretation of the passage (Bereshit 37:24) which describes how Yosef’s brothers stripped him
and put him in a bor (a pit). The Torah mentions that “the pit was empty; there was no water in it.”
If we already have been told that the pit was empty, why does the Torah need to emphasize that
there was no water in it? Rather, the Torah was hinting to the fact that although it was empty of
water – which we expect to find in a bor – there were other things in it, specifically snakes and
scorpions.

One question raised by the commentaries about this interpretation (which has become well-known,
since it is quoted in Rashi on the passage in Chumash), is that although a close reading of the Torah
does indicate that there was something in the pit, how can we reach the conclusion that it was
specifically snakes and scorpions?

In his Petah Einayim, Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai quotes the Ar”i as explaining that only
snakes and scorpions – creatures that can hide away in cracks and crevices – could have been in a
pit about which we are told “the pit was empty.” Thus the intention of the passage is to say that
the pit appeared to be empty, but, in fact, it was inhabited by creatures like these.

Another passage that is interpreted on our daf is quoted in the name of Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria,
who expounds on the pasuk (verse) (Devarim 31:12) that teaches how every Jewish person – man,
woman and child – is obligated to travel to Jerusalem once in seven years for
the mitzvah of hakhel (assembly). While the men and women come to learn and to listen, what is
4
https://www.ou.org/life/torah/masechet_hagigah_25/

15
the purpose of bringing children? Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria explains that it is so that extra reward
can be given to those who bring them. The Ri”af explains that this is derived from the unnecessary
command to bring children – after all, if the men and women are all in Jerusalem, the children will
have to accompany them, since there is no one who is home to tend to them.

Thus, if the Torah commands that they be brought, there must be an additional reason for it.

Two Brothers by Maurice Leloir

The case of a deaf-mute

Mark Kerzner writes:5

Earlier we said that a deaf-mute does not need to appear in the Temple. Presumably, this is because
he in general does not have to do the mitzvot, not being in full possessions of his senses, and that
is why he is mentioned next to a deranged person.

5
https://talmudilluminated.com/chagigah/chagigah3.html

16
What about one who is only deaf or only mute? Generally, he has to do the mitzvot, but he still
does not have to go to the Temple. Why? We have to admit that our ruling is incomplete, and some
words we intentionally omitted by the teacher. Since going to the Temple on a Holiday is for the
purpose of hearing and learning, and one who is deaf cannot hear, while a mute cannot learn, they
don't have to go. However, the joy of the Holiday is still for them, and they should bring a "peace
offering of joy" and eat it.

But is it really true that one who cannot talk can't learn? Why, there were two mute brothers who
always attended the lessons of Rabbi Yehudah the Prince, and nodded in agreement, and moved
their lips, so in the end Rabbi Yehudah prayed for them and they recovered, and it was found out
that they knew all parts of the Torah!? True, but the purpose of learning is also teaching, and a
mute cannot teach.

What does it mean that "The words of the Wise are as goads and as nails well planted... given by
one Shepherd"? - That just like goads direct a cow in the field, so the words of the Torah direct
people to ways of life; and that they are fastened steady like nails. However, while nails take away
from the object into which they are fastened, the mitzvot are "planted" and give back to those who
observe them. Finally, they all come from one Master, and even though the Sages disagree, one
can still find a correct way.

The mitzvah of "Hakhel" is where the Jews gather to listen as the King reads from Sefer Devarim.6

The Torah says that all are to gather, "the men, women, and children" (Devarim 31:12). In a parallel
context

Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya pointed out that the men come to study the words of the king, the
women come to listen, and the children are brought to provide merit for those who bring them.
When Rabbi Yehoshua heard these words, he was exceedingly impressed, and he exclaimed,
"How fortunate are you, Avraham Avinu, to have Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya as your
descendant!"

What so impressed Rabbi Yehoshua, and why did he credit Avraham Avinu for this insight?

Harav Mordechai Rogow explains that the Jewish nation throughout all generations is united and
interconnected. When an insightful and brilliant Torah lesson is taught by a scholar, although it
may be many years after the time of Avraham Avinu, the spiritual satisfaction and pleasure which
it causes is shared by all Jews of all times.

6
https://www.dafdigest.org/masechtos/Chagiga%20003.pdf

17
This is also the case for any merit which is generated by any Jew at any moment, no matter how
distant one may be from another in place or in time. Even as individuals, we each have a great
responsibility to the nation as a whole. Our merits transcend the generations, and our entire people
benefit, dating as far back as those who were redeemed from Egypt, and even back to Avraham
Avinu. Furthermore, the episode of Hakhel is described as one where the fathers listen intently and
study the words of Torah which are uttered by the king.

The women come to hear for themselves and to bring the children to be witness to this grand event.
Yet the Gemara writes that the parents earn reward for bringing the children. What is the meaning
of this? Herein is contained a powerful message. If parents exert a concerted effort to bring their
children to the Beis Midrash they thereby demonstrate their goals and aspirations that these
children be provided an environment of Torah and kedusha.

With this infusion of training and nurturing, these youths are set on their path of commitment to
Torah and Yiddishkeit. As a result, they will certainly be deserving of merit. It is critical that the
parents be personally involved and that the children observe them as positive role models. There
is nothing that can replace the direct involvement of parents and their partnership with Torah
teachers in the education of the youth, as is demonstrated by the Hakhel event.

When the adults fulfill their responsibilities, they can be assured that Hashem will assist and have
their efforts meet with success.

Gather the nation, the men and the women and the children.” If the men come to learn and the
women come to hear etc.

Shulchan Aruch (1) states that although women receive reward for studying Torah, nonetheless,
the Sages decreed that one should not teach his daughter Torah, and one who teaches his daughter
Torah is considered as if he is teaching her frivolity. This restriction applies to the Oral Law.
Written Law should not be taught to one’s daughter, but if it is, it is not considered as if one is
teaching her frivolity.

The Taz (2) explains that the source that teaching a woman the Written Law is not considered as
if he is teaching her frivolity is our Gemara.
Our Gemara relates that during Hakhel the king would read from Sefer Devarim to the nation—
including the women, which clearly indicates that it is not prohibited for women to study that part
of Torah. Taz questions whether this is, in fact, a valid source for this ruling. The Shulchan Aruch
rules that ideally the Written Law should not be taught and yet concerning Hakhel we do not find
a reason to restrict women from attending, even ideally.

Therefore, Taz explains that the reason the women attended Hakhel is that the king did nothing
more than read and provide a simple explanation of the text rather than provide in-depth

18
expositions. The hesitancy mentioned in Shulchan Aruch against women studying the Written Law
refers to in-depth study of the text, but a superficial reading and explanation are completely
permitted. Following this approach, Rav Yoel Teitlebaum (3), the Satmar Rov, and Rav Shmuel
Halevi Wosner (4), the Shevet Halevi, question the practice in many schools to teach Chumash
with commentators since, according to Taz, women should not engage in the in-depth study of
Torah. Even Rashi contains many citations from Chazal which constitute the study of the Oral
Law which is certainly prohibited.

Notwithstanding their opposition, many schools continue to teach Chumash with the in-depth
analysis of the commentators.

Every year between Rosh Chodesh Elul and Sukkos, three distinguished chassidim would stay
with Rav Sinai of Zmarmrad, zt”l. They didn’t waste a second of their time and would learn with
tremendous intensity the entire night and most of the day. They would fast until midday every day,
and all day long on Mondays and Thursdays. The group spent much time in heartfelt prayer and
each man worked to refine his character and come closer to his Creator.

Once, the eldest chassid said to the Rebbe, “If I may ask, were there greater avodos then what we
are doing right here in exile when the Beis Hamikdash stood?” (He meant could it be that anything
else needs to be improved upon to bring the final redemption?)

The Rebbe replied, “Do you think that when the Beis Hamikdash stood people only excelled in
their learning and davening? The main thing when the Beis Hamikdash stood was the joy of the
mitzvos, and this attitude would naturally lead people to help those less fortunate than themselves.

People would feed the poor and help them to rejoice. They were not only concerned with their own
spiritual growth; they were concerned for those less fortunate!” When the Rebbe’s son would tell
this story, he would add, “This is actually a Gemara in Chagigah 3a.

Rava taught on the verse: How lovely are your footsteps in your shoes, daughter of the noble one—
How pleasant are the steps of the Jewish people as they walk to Yerushalayim for the festival! If
one calculates what the Jews brought up to Yerushalayim (Maaser Sheni or Maaser Ani, as well
as Maaser Beheimah, etc.), you will find that approximately half of most material goods went with
them on their pilgrimage.

This means that those who owned a lot of land or animals brought up a huge amount of material
goods. They couldn’t consume it all themselves so they searched out those who didn’t have enough
and shared their bounty with them. This is why the verse compares them to our father Avraham.

19
They would seek out those who were less fortunate and make it their business to bring joy to their
lives. My father was telling his chassidim that they were far indeed from bringing the ultimate
redemption!”

Sara Ronis writes:7

The Gemara is famous for offering multiple rabbinic opinions on any given topic. This wealth of
opinions can lead to frustration for those encountering the Talmud for the first time. After diving
deep into a sugya, my students will often ask — OK, but what is the answer? On today’s daf, Rabbi
Elazar ben Azarya offers a beautiful response to these students.

Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya taught: “The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails well fastened
are those that are composed in collections; they are given from one shepherd.” (Ecclesiastes 12:11)
Why are matters of Torah compared to a goad? To tell you that just as this goad directs the cow
to her furrow to bring forth life to the world, so too the words of Torah direct those who study
them from the paths of death to the paths of life.

Rabbi Elazar compares the Torah to a tool meant to spur cows to till the earth and plant. Likewise,
the Torah spurs us to plant ourselves on the paths of life. Of course, comparing the Torah to an ox
goad causes some problems. After all, a goad is a long stick with a sharpened end which can be
pointed in any direction. The Gemara ignores the violence of this imagery and asks: Can the Torah
really be pointed in any direction, made to say anything you want?

Not to worry: The Gemara notes that the verse mentions nails, which are fixed in space and limit
the range of motion. But this solution causes its own problems:

If so, just as this nail is diminished in size and does not expand, so too matters of Torah are
gradually diminished and do not expand. The verse states: “Well fastened [netuim].” Just as this
plant [neti’a] flourishes and multiplies, so too matters of Torah flourish and multiply.

Analogizing the Torah to nails also has its pitfalls. Perhaps, like nails, the Torah rusts and flakes
off. Not to worry, says Rabbi Elazar. With a classic bit of rabbinic wordplay, he equates well-
fastened nails (netuim) with plants (neti’a) to insist that words of Torah continue to grow like
plants even though they are rooted to their principles.

But how many directions can the Torah actually grow in? The Gemara continues:

“Those that are composed in collections [ba’alei asufot]”: These are Torah scholars who sit in
many groups [asupot] and engage in Torah. These sages render an object or person ritually
impure and these render it pure; these prohibit an action and these permit it; these deem an item
invalid and these deem it valid.

7
Mytalmudiclearning.com

20
Rabbi Elazar reads the verse from Ecclesiastes as pointing not only to the diversity of rabbinic
opinions, but to the fact that they are often diametrically opposed to each other! But as the Gemara
noted over 1,500 years before my students, this opposition can be troubling for those who study
rabbinic teachings.

Here Rabbi Elazar begins to answer my students’ question:

Lest a person say: How can I study Torah? The verse states that they are all “given from one
shepherd.” One God gave them; one leader said them from the mouth of the Master of all
creation, Blessed be He, as it is written: “And God spoke all these words.” (Exodus 20:1). So too
you, make your ears like a funnel and acquire for yourself an understanding heart to hear the
statements of those who render objects ritually impure and the statements of those who render
them pure; the statements of those who prohibit and the statements of those who permit; the
statements of those who deem items invalid and the statements of those who deem them valid.

Though the Torah grows in multiple directions, it is all rooted in the same source, the Divine voice
communicating through Moses. Rabbi Elazar insists that the point of learning isn’t about deriving
a single answer, but about developing the ability to understand all of these directions with insight
and empathy — and to recognize that they all derive from the same place. On today’s daf, the
Torah’s growth is not dangerous, but rather a sign of its rootedness, vibrancy and value.

Rabbi Johnny Solomon writes:8

According to Rambam’s 8th ‘Principle of Faith’, it is essential to consider every word of the
Written Torah to be equally holy. Yet while, as an Orthodox Jew, I sincerely believe that God gave
an Oral Torah to accompany and to explain the Written Torah, which means that I regard the Oral
Torah as being divinely given, this is not to say that every word of the Talmud must be given equal
weight - notwithstanding the fact that every word of the Talmud is nevertheless Torah.

On this basis, while I do not believe it proper to claim that any particular word or phrase in the
Written Torah is more important or holier than another, it is not improper to make such a claim
vis-à-vis the words of the Talmud, and the reason I wish to draw this distinction is because I would
– deliberately and emphatically - like to stress the importance, and the holiness, of one phrase
above others in a teaching found in our daf (Chagigah 3b).

Basing himself on Kohelet 12:11 which states how ‫ִדְּבֵרי ֲחָכִמים ַכָּדּ ְרֹבנוֹת וְּכַמְשְׂמרוֹת ְנטוִּﬠים ַבֲּﬠֵלי ֲאֻספּוֹת‬
‫ ִנְתּנוּ ֵמֹרֶﬠה ֶאָחד‬- ‘the words of the wise are like goads; like pointed nails are the sayings of those
who gather together. One shepherd gave them all’, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah explains that this
verse refers to ‘the wise people who sit in various groups and who occupy themselves with the
Torah.’

However, he then points out that when Torah scholars gather to discuss matters of Jewish law, we
often find that, ‘some groups declare particular items to be ritually impure, while some other group

8
www.rabbijohnnysolomon.com

21
declare those same particular items to be ritually pure’, and similarly, ‘those groups forbid [certain
items or actions], while other groups permit [those same items or actions]’.

But then, reflecting on the apparent absurdity that different scholars often reach such radically
different conclusions when seemingly studying the same Torah, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah raises
an essential question – one which continues to be asked by so many today - namely: ‘perhaps,
upon observing the fact that Torah scholars struggle to agree on so many points of halacha], people
will ask themselves: “[If these scholars cannot agree on what to do], is there any point in me
learning [and trying to live according to] Torah?”’

Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah answers his own question by explaining that, though it is often hard to
understand why there is so much disagreement between various Torah scholars, people won’t
despair or reach the conclusion that there is no point to them learning Torah or observing Torah as
long as they are reminded of the final words of the above-mentioned verse, namely that ‫ִנְתּנוּ ֵמֹרֶﬠה‬
‫‘ – ֶאָחד‬one shepherd gave them all’, meaning ‫ל אחד נתנן‬-‫‘ – א‬One God gave them’.

To my mind, these final words – more than any other - need to be repeatedly stressed because they
elucidate the possibility for achieving holiness, and the formula for holding onto our faith, when
it comes to rabbinic disagreement and debate. Specifically, what Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah is
saying is that when Torah scholars gather together in good faith in order to determine the halacha
and with the express intention to understand the words that God gave us, then even though they
may likely reach different conclusions, this need not – and should not - rock our faith.

The problem, however, is that rather than emphasizing this message of ‫ ִנְתּנוּ ֵמֹרֶﬠה ֶאָחד‬, oftentimes
one or both groups who disagree seek to delegitimize each other while questioning the ‘good faith’
of the other party. Yet when this happens, a sadly overlooked consequence is what Rabbi Elazar
ben Azariah speaks of – namely the fact that the general public come to the conclusion that: “[If
these scholars cannot agree on what to do], is there any point in me learning [and trying to live
according to] Torah?”’

Ultimately, while disagreement often occurs, it is the responsibility of faith leaders to ensure that
it does not rock the faith of their followers. And this will only occur if they have the faith, and the
humility, to acknowledge ‫‘ – ִנְתּנוּ ֵמֹרֶﬠה ֶאָחד‬One shepherd gave them all’.

22
 ‫"‪THE MITZVAH OF "HAKHEL‬‬

‫‪Rabbi Jay Goldmintz writes:9‬‬

‫‪SOURCES‬‬

‫דברים לא‪:‬ט‪-‬יג‬
‫משנה סוטה ז‪:‬ה‬
‫בבלי סוטה לב ע”ב‬
‫ספרי דברים יז‪:‬יח‬
‫ספר החינוך מצוה תרי”ב‬
‫רמב”ם‪ ,‬משנה תורה‪ ,‬הלכות חגיגה פרק ג’‬
‫רמב”ם‪ ,‬ספר המצוות‪ ,‬מצות עשה טז‬
‫אנציקלופדיה תלמודית כרך י’ עמ’ תמג‪-‬תנב‬
‫הרב ש”י זוין‪ :‬לאור ההלכה‪ ,‬עמ’ קלה‪-‬קמה‬
‫הרב אליהו בקשי‪-‬דורון‪“ :‬מצות הקהל‪ ,‬עיקרה במעמד או בקריאת התורה?”‬
‫שנה בשנה )תשנ”ו( ‪.081-071‬‬

‫?‪1. What is the HAKHEL Assembly‬‬

‫‪9‬‬
‫‪Edited by: Dr. Moshe Sokolow https://www.lookstein.org/professional-dev/jewish-law-halakha/the-mitzvah-of-hakhel/‬‬

‫‪23‬‬
 2. When is it convened?
3. How was the Assembly conducted?
i. Who were the participants?
ii. Who officiated?
iii. What was read aloud?
4. For what purpose was it held?
5. HAKHEL in the 20th century

1. What is the HAKHEL Assembly?

In the Torah, Moshe instructs the ‫ כהנים‬and the ‫ זקנים‬to convene an assembly of all Israel:
men, women, children and ‫ גרים‬during the Sukkot festival following a Shemittah year. Its
express purpose was for the people to hear a reading of the Torah, learn it, fear God, and
observe the Torah laws.

From the evidence of the Mishnah we learn that the assembly was held throughout Bayit
Sheni and, by implication (i.e., its association with ‫ פרשת המלך‬see #3b), during Bayit Rishon as
well. There is no evidence for it at all after the ‫חורבן‬, and only in recent times has an attempt been
made to revive this custom (see #5), albeit on a symbolic basis.

2. When is the Assembly convened?

The Torah specifies: ‫ מקץ שבע שנים במעד שנת השמטה בחג הסכות‬i.e., during the Sukkot
festival of the year following Shemittah.

The next verse: ‫ בבוא כל ישראל לראות את פני ה’ אלקיך במקום אשר יבחר‬i.e., when all Israel
comes on pilgrimage, indicates that the appropriate time is at the beginning of the festival
(‫ )אתחלתא דמועד‬and the Mishnah narrows it downfurther, to the morrow of the first
day(‫טוב ראשון של חג‬-‫ )במוצאי יום‬that is to say, the first day of Chol Hamoed according to
the practice in Israel.

The Sefer HaChinuch implies that the Assembly was not held annually in order to ensure
its special character, and ABRABANEL explains that the choice of the year following
Shemittah was in consideration of the bountiful produce of the Shemittah year, which
belonged to all Israel as a reward for their observance of the Shemittah

24
 (see Leviticus 25:6-7). Sukkot, says ABRABANEL, is particularly suited for Assembly
on account of its favourable climate, as well as on account of the mood created by Rosh
Hashana and Yom Kippur which immediately precede it.

3. How was the Assembly conducted?

The Mishnah describes the Assembly as follows [with additions from other sources]:
[Trumpets would sound throughout Yerushalayim – ‫] תוספתא‬

A great platform of wood would be brought and erected in the women’s forecourt. The king
would sit upon it so that all could hear his reading.

All the Jews would gather about him. The ‫חזן הכנסת‬would take the Torah and give it to the ‫ראש‬
‫הכנסת‬who would give it to the ‫( כהן הסגן‬assistant Kohen Gadol). He would then give it to the
Kohen Gadol who, in turn, gave it to the king…

[“in order to endow it with eminence amid the multitude of the people” –
Sefer HaChinuch. The king would accept it while standing but, if he wished, he might sit while
he read it. ]

a. Who were the participants?

The Torah first states: “All Israel” (vs. 11), and quickly details: “Men, women, children
[and strangers]” (vs. 12). A famous adage of Rabbi El’azar ben Azariah states: “Men
would come to learn and women – to listen. Why would children come? To provide a
reward for those who brought them”‫)חגיגה ג ע”א‬. )

The Role of Women

Although this mitzvah is one whch is dependent upon a specific time (and women would
ordinarily be exempt), the verse specifically mentions the obligation of women to attend.
This verse thus plays a pivotal role in our understanding of the mitzvot in which women
are generally obligated.

The Participation of Children

Although children are generally exempt from all legal obligations, they were an integral
part of the Hakhel Assembly for one of two reasons, depending upon their age. If they
were infants, their presence served to benefit their parents (who would otherwise have

25
 had to remain at home with them and miss the Assembly), as we quoted R. El’azar ben
Azariah, above.

The second possibility, however, is that the requirement of participation in Hakhel refers
only to children who are already at an age of understanding. This, in fact, is the opinion
of RAMBAN in his commentary (vs. 13), basing himself upon the purpose of the
ceremony (vs. 12), “that they will listen and fear.”

A third possibility is raised by the ‫)מהרש”א )חגיגה ג ע”א‬who says that the children referred
to in vs. 12 as attending Hakhel must be of an educable age, whereas the ones mentioned
in vs. 13 as “‫ ”אשר לא ידעו‬are the infants. The same conclusion is reached by the Or
HaChaim in his commentary, basing himself upon the difference between “ ‫ולמען ילמדו‬
‫“(“ ויראו‬to learn and to fear”, vs. 12), and “‫“( ”ולמדו ליראה‬to learn to fear”, vs. 13).

In ‫ לאורההלכהעמ’ קלז‬Rabbi Zevin cites the ‫[ אדר”ת‬Rabbi A.D. Rabinowitz-Teomim; see

more about him in section 5], who finds it hard to believe that the Torah would require
the presence of thousands of crying and screaming infants, whose voices might drown out
the ceremony and whose lack of cleanliness was inconsistent with the sanctity of the
occasion.

[See the ‫ תוספות‬in ‫ חגיגה‬who discuss bringing children to the ‫ ביתהכנסת‬based upon the
presumption of their participation in Hakhel.

[We will not deal here with the question of who is “the stranger” who participated, other
than to note that it refers to either a ‫ גר צדק‬or a ‫]גר תושב‬

b. Who officiated?

As we have already seen in the Mishnah, the presiding official at Hakhel was the king of Israel.
This is determined, in the‫ ספרי‬by the association of the Torah reading of Hakhel (“‫)”התורה הזאת‬
with the Torah reading for which the king is responsible (also called“‫)”התורה הזאת‬, according to
the “”.‫ משפט המלך‬Another basis for this determination (found in the(‫ חזקוני‬is the singular form of
the verb (‫ תקרא‬vs. 11), which is assumed to refer to Joshua, whose status was that of a king. A
third source is provided by the description in 2 Kings 23:1-2 of the assembly convened by King
Josiah during which the ‫ הבריתספר‬was read before all the people.

c. What was read aloud?

All the sources agree that the reading was from the book of ‫( דברים‬the words ‫””התורה הזאת‬
are understood to refer to it specifically), and the predominant opinions are that the
readings were:

26
i. From the beginning of the book through Shema (6:4);
ii. The second paragraph of Shema (11:13-21);
iii. 14:22-27 ‫עשר תעשר‬
iv. 26:12-15‫כי תכלה לעשר‬
v. 17:14-20 ‫פרשת המלך‬
vi. 28:1-69 ‫הברכות והקללות‬

The reading was preceded and followed by the same blessings that we customarily recite,
and seven additional blessings were added at the end.

The reading had to be performed in Hebrew. Of those who had difficulty with that
language, Rambam says:

Converts, who do not know Hebrew, are obligated to prepare their hearts and ears to listen
with fear and trembling as on the day the Torah was given on Sinai. Even the wisest
scholars who know the entire Torah are required to listen with great intent. One who cannot
hear (either because he is too far away, or because he doesn’t understand Hebrew) is
required to direct his heart to the reading, for the Torah established this in order to
strengthen the true faith. He should see himself as if he were commanded to accept the
Torah at this moment as though he heard it from God, Himself, for the king is the emissary
for making the voice of God heard.

4. For what purpose was it held?

We cite the Sefer HaChinuch:

The source of the mitzvah is that the essence of the Jewish people is the Torah and it is
incumbent upon each and every Jew to gather together – men, women and children – to
hear it read…. This mitzvah is in force whenever the Jewish people inhabit their own
land… and it is a great pillar of our religion.

5. HAKHEL in the 20th century

27
The Torah genius, the Aderet, Rabbi Eliyahu-David Rabinovitz Teomim,
Head of the Bet Din in Mir (1893-1901)

In recent times, the idea of reviving Hakhel was first raised by Rabbi Eliyahu David
Rabinowitz–Teomim (known as the ‫ אדר”ת‬he was the father-in-law of RavKook), who
published two pamphlets to this effect”‫ ”זכר למקדש‬and “‫”דבר בעתו‬.

In his book, ‫( עיר הקודש והמקדש‬part 4, chapter 15), Rabbi Y.M. Tekochinsky narrates:

I heard that when the ‫ אדר”ת‬arrived in ‫ ירושלים‬he was upset to see that the people were not
accustomed to commemorate the mitzvah of ‫הקהל‬after the conclusion of the Shemittah year.
He was correct; even if there is no obligation to do so today, it would be desirable to
commemorate it as other mitzvot which pertained to the Temple are commemorated.”
When Rabbi Shemuel Salant was the chief rabbi of Yerushalayim it was his custom to gather
all the students of ‫ תלמודי תורה‬in front of the Kotel on the first day of Sukkot Chol HaMoed,
where he read before them the same Torah portions which the king would read at ‫הקהל‬.

28
 ‫‪ commemoration occurred following the Shemittah year of 5705 (1945).‬הקהל‪The first actual‬‬
‫‪This event was subsequently described as follows:‬‬

‫‪Some of the Relevant Sources :‬‬

‫דברים פרק לא‬

‫)ז( ויקרא משה ליהושע ויאמר אליו לעיני כל ישראל חזק ואמץ כי אתה תבוא את העם הזה אל הארץ אשר‬
‫נשבע ידוד לאבתם לתת להם ואתה תנחילנה אותם‪:‬‬

‫)ח( וידוד הוא ההלך לפניך הוא יהיה עמך לא ירפך ולא יעזבך לא תירא ולא תחת‪:‬‬

‫)ט( ויכתב משה את התורה הזאת ויתנה אל הכהנים בני לוי הנשאים את ארון ברית ידוד ואל כל זקני ישראל‪:‬‬

‫)י( ויצו משה אותם לאמר מקץ שבע שנים במעד שנת השמטה בחג הסכות‪:‬‬

‫)יא( בבוא כל ישראל לראות את פני ידוד אלהיך במקום אשר יבחר תקרא את התורה הזאת נגד כל ישראל‬
‫באזניהם‪:‬‬

‫)יב( הקהל את העם האנשים והנשים והטף וגרך אשר בשעריך למען ישמעו ולמען ילמדו ויראו את ידוד‬
‫אלהיכם ושמרו לעשות את כל דברי התורה הזאת‪:‬‬

‫)יג( ובניהם אשר לא ידעו ישמעו ולמדו ליראה את ידוד אלהיכם כל הימים אשר אתם חיים על האדמה אשר‬
‫אתם עברים את הירדן שמה לרשתה‪ :‬פ‬
‫רמב”ם הלכות חגיגה פרק ג‬

‫הלכה א‬
‫מצות עשה להקהיל כל ישראל אנשים ונשים וטף בכל מוצאי שמיטה בעלותם לרגל ולקרות באזניהם מן התורה‬
‫פרשיות שהן מזרזות אותן במצות ומחזקות ידיהם בדת האמת‪ ,‬שנאמר מקץ שבע שנים במועד שנת השמטה‬
‫בחג הסכות בבוא כל ישראל לראות וגו’ הקהל את העם האנשים והנשים והטף וגרך אשר בשעריך וגו’‪.‬‬

‫הלכה ב‬
‫כל הפטור מן הראייה פטור ממצות הקהל חוץ מן הנשים והטף והערל‪ ,‬אבל הטמא פטור ממצות הקהל‬

‫‪29‬‬
 ‫שנאמרבבוא כל ישראל וזה אינו ראוי לביאה‪ ,‬והדבר ברור שהטומטום והאנדרוגינוס חייבין שהרי הנשים‬
‫חייבות‪.‬‬

‫הלכה ג‬
‫אימתי היו קורין‪ ,‬במוצאי יום טוב הראשון של חג הסכות שהוא תחילת ימי חולו של מועד של שנה שמינית‪,‬‬
‫והמלך הוא שיקרא באזניהם‪ ,‬ובעזרת הנשים היו קורין‪ ,‬וקורא כשהוא יושב ואם קרא מעומד הרי זה משובח‪,‬‬
‫מהיכן הוא קורא מתחילת חומש אלה הדברים עד סוף פרשת שמע ומדלג לוהיה אם שמוע וגו’ ומדלג לעשר‬
‫תעשר וקורא מעשר תעשר על הסדר עד סוף ברכות וקללות עד מלבד הברית אשר כרת אתם בחורב ופוסק‪.‬‬

‫הלכה ד‬
‫כיצד הוא קורא תוקעין בחצוצרות בכל ירושלים כדי להקהיל את העם‪ ,‬ומביאין בימה גדולה ושל עץ היתה‬
‫ומעמידין אותה באמצע עזרת נשים והמלך עולה ויושב עליה כדי שישמעו קריאתו וכל ישראל העולים לחג‬
‫מתקבצין סביביו‪ ,‬וחזן הכנסת נוטל ספר תורה ונותנו לראש הכנסת וראש הכנסת נותנו לסגן וסגן לכהן גדול וכהן‬
‫גדול למלך כדי להדרו ברוב בני אדם‪ ,‬והמלך מקבלו כשהוא עומד ואם רצה ישב ופותח ורואה ומברך כדרך‬
‫שמברך כל קורא בתורה בבית הכנסת‪ ,‬וקורא הפרשיות שאמרנו עד שהוא גומר וגולל ומברך לאחריה כדרך‬
‫שמברכין בבתי כנסיות ומוסיף שבע ברכות ואלו הן‪ :‬רצה ה’ אלהינו בעמך ישראל וכו’ מודים אנחנו לך וכו’‪,‬‬
‫אתה בחרתנו מכל העמים וכו’‪ ,‬עד מקדש ישראל והזמנים כדרך שמברכין בתפלה‪ ,‬הרי שלש ברכות כמטבען‪,‬‬
‫רביעית מתפלל על המקדש שיעמוד וחותם בה בא”י השוכן בציון‪ ,‬חמישית מתפלל על ישראל שתעמוד מלכותם‬
‫וחותם בה הבוחר בישראל‪ ,‬ששית מתפלל על הכהנים שירצה האל עבודתם וחותם בה בא”י מקדש הכהנים‪,‬‬
‫שביעית מתחנן ומתפלל בה כפי מה שהוא יכול וחותם בה הושע ה’ את עמך ישראל שעמך צריכין להושע בא”י‬
‫שומע תפלה‪.‬‬

‫הלכה ה‬
‫הקריאה והברכות בלשון הקדש‪ ,‬שנאמר תקרא את התורה הזאת בלשונה אע”פ שיש שם לועזות‪.‬‬

‫הלכה ו‬
‫וגרים שאינן מכירין חייבין להכין לבם ולהקשיב אזנם לשמוע באימה ויראה וגילה ברעדה כיום שניתנה בו‬
‫בסיני‪ ,‬אפילו חכמים גדולים שיודעים כל התורה כולה חייבין לשמוע בכוונה גדולה יתרה‪ ,‬ומי שאינו יכול‬
‫לשמוע מכוין לבו לקריאה זו שלא קבעה הכתוב אלא לחזק דת האמת ויראה עצמו כאילו עתה נצטוה בה ומפי‬
‫הגבורה שומעה‪ ,‬שהמלך שליח הוא להשמיע דברי האל‪.‬‬
‫הלכה ז‬

‫יום הקהל שחל להיות בשבת מאחרין אותו לאחר השבת‪ ,‬מפני תקיעת החצוצרות והתחינות שאינן דוחין את‬
‫השבת‪/+ .‬השגת הראב”ד‪ /‬שאינן דוחין את השבת‪ .‬א”א ואפילו יו”ט אינו דוחה ופירשו בירושלמי מפני‬
‫הבימהשבעזרה ויעשו אותה מערב יו”ט שלא לדחוק את העזרה שמענו מכאן שאינו מעכב את התקיעות כאשר‬
‫כתב‪ .+‬סליקו להו הלכות חגיגה בס”ד‪.‬‬

‫‪30‬‬
 " ‫"ה ק ה ל א ת ה ע ם ה א נ ש י ם ו ה נ ש י ם ו ה ט ף‬
“Assemble the people — the men, the women, and the small children.” (31:12)

Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria asks, “Men come to learn, women come to listen, but why do the infants
come?” He answers, “To give reward to those who bring them.” When Rabbi Yehoshua heard this
he exclaimed, “Lucky are you our patriarch Avraham to have a descendant such as
Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria” (Mechilta 13:102).

Why was Rabbi Yehoshua so excited about Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria’s explanation, and what does
it have to do with Avraham?

Superficially, Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria’s question is somewhat strange. If the parents and
entire Klal Yisrael are assembling, obviously they must bring their infants, because otherwise who
will care for them? Therefore, Rabbi Yehoshua deduced that Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria’s question
was not merely “why are they coming?” but “why did the Torah have to mention that they should
be brought?”

31
There is a rule in the Gemara (Kiddushin 31a) that one who is commanded to perform
a mitzvah and does it, is greater than one who does it voluntarily. Therefore, Rabbi Elazar ben
Azaria explained that the Torah mentions the bringing of infants in order to make it a command.

When Rabbi Yehoshua heard that from the mitzvah of “Hakheil” we learn that fulfilling a
command is greater than voluntary performance, he became very excited, because now he realized
the justification for Avraham’s not circumcising himself until the age of 99, although he had
fulfilled every other mitzvah of the Torah. The reason was that Avraham wanted to be in the
category of “metzuveh ve’oseh” — one who performs a mitzvah as a fulfillment of Hashem’s
command. Since circumcision can be performed only once, Avraham therefore waited for a direct
command from Hashem.

‫פ ר ד ס י וס ף‬

" ‫"ה ק ה ל א ת ה ע ם ה א נ ש י ם ו ה נ ש י ם ו ה ט ף‬
“Assemble the people — the men, the women, and the small children.” (31:12)

Our Daf (Chagigah 3a) relates that once Rabbi Yochanan ben Beroka and Rabbi Elazar (ben)
Chisma went to pay their respects to Rabbi Yehoshua in Peki’im.

He asked them, “Who gave the lecture?”

“Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria” they replied.

“And what was the theme of his Aggadic discourse today?”

They answered, “The section hakheil — ‘assemble.’ ”

“And what exposition did he give thereon?”

32
“Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones. The men came to learn, the
women came to hear, but why do the little ones come? In order to grant reward to those that bring
them.”

He said to them: “There was a fair jewel in your hand, and you sought to deprive me of it.”

Why was Rabbi Yehoshua so intrigued by this teaching?

In Pirkei Avot (2:9) Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai said of Rabbi Yehoshua, “Happy is she who bore
him.” It is related in the Jerusalem Talmud (Yevamot 1:6) that his mother strove to permeate him
with Torah. When he was a little baby she would bring his cradle to the Beit Hamedrash so that
he would hear the words of Torah.

Consequently, Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria’s explanation that the reason for bringing very small
children is, “To grant reward to those that bring them” was of special significance to him since it
substantiated his mother’s efforts to connect him with Torah. Hence, he said to them, “You had a
fair jewel in your hand which applies specifically to my mother and me, and I would have been
deprived of it had you kept it to yourselves.”

‫מ ש ך ח כמ ה‬

18 Tishrei: R. Ovadya Yosef on Hakhel

33
 Hakhel

R. Gidon Rothstein writes:10

Truth is, I cheated with this one. I was looking for a responsum written on the eighteenth of Tishrei,
and forgot that respondents would date it to the second or third day of Chol HaMoed (depending
on whether they were inside or outside Israel). I had another responsum, and then
encountered Shu”t Yabia Omer 10, Yoreh Deah 22, which was too good to pass up.

It’s not dated, but it makes reference to a Hakhel commemoration that occurred on 18 Tishrei,
5741 (1980). Since this is again a Hakhel year, I thought we’d enjoy R. Ovadya Yosef’s review of
some of the central issues in the commandment.

The Basic Mitzvah

He starts with a long quote of Rambam’s Laws of Chagigah 3;1, which lays out the obligation to
gather the people in Jerusalem on the Sukkot after the shemittah year, to read them sections of the
Torah that stimulate observance and strengthen connection to the true dat.

We often translate that Hebrew word as religion; I think Rambam was more focused on the belief
aspect than on the set of practices and rituals many of us see as the definition of religion.

The reading took place, Rambam says, on the first day of Chol HaMoed. The king read the Torah,
in the part of the Beit HaMikdash all could enter, the Ezrat Nashim. Davidic kings had the right to
read sitting down, but it was considered more praiseworthy to stand. The reading (preceded and
followed by birchot haTorah), started with the beginning of Devarim, went to Shema, VeHaya Im
Shamo’a, skipped to Aser Te’aser (a portion we read on major holidays), and read straight through
to the end of the tochacha in Ki Tavo.

Trumpets were blown throughout Jerusalem to gather people, and a large wooden stage was set
up, so that the king’s voice would carry and be heard by all.

Our Version

Today, R. Ovadya says, since shemittah is not Biblically obligated, there is no Temple to which to
make a holiday pilgrimage, and the majority of Jews do not yet live in Israel (which may change
in the next ten to twenty years), there is no way to have a Biblical Hakhel.

In other situations, we institute ceremonies zekher leMikdash, in memory of the Temple, such as
when we wave the Arba Minim, the Four Species all the days of Sukkot, instead of just the one
day mandated by the Torah (only in the Beit HaMikdash itself was lulav shaken for seven days).

10
https://www.torahmusings.com/2015/10/hakhel/

34
We eat maror despite the Biblical obligation applying only in the context of a korban Pesach, a
Paschal sacrifice, and we donate money annually in memory of the half-shekel.

All of these examples led Aderet, R. Eliyahu-David Rabinowitz-Teomim, to argue that we should
have a commemoration of Hakhel as well, as he wrote in a pamphlet titled Zekher leMikdash. A
significant source for his claim is a Sifrei at the end of Ekev, which says that even in exile, we
should be marked by our observance of mitzvot, so that they are not new to us when we return
(this Sifrei led Ramban, I think famously and surprisingly, to say that our observance
of mitzvot outside of Israel is to keep us in practice for when we return to Israel.)

Does It Have To Be the King?

If the king must be the one to read, we couldn’t have any such ceremony today. Ha’amek
Davar argues (and others but not all agree), that if the king cannot, or there is no king, some other
leader of the entire people could, such as the High Priest. R. Yerucham Perla, in his edition of R.
Saaday Gaon’s Sefer HaMitzvot, and Tiferet Yisrael to the seventh chapter of Sotah held that the
king’s reading was a rabbinic enactment, not essential to the original ceremony.

All of this is why R. Ovadya writes of a custom (relatively new) to have a Hakhel celebration in
the courtyard of the Kotel, near enough to where the Beit HaMikdash stood that the Divine
Presence also never left (but with no risk of going where we are not allowed). In 2001 (Chol
haMoed Sukkot 5762), more than 60,000 Jews came (including my family), in a ceremony capped
by declarations of Hashem’s rule (the ones that close Yom Kippur davening, Shema, Hashem Hu
HaElokim, and Hashem Melech.

Struggling With a Bracha

It’s not clear that one about to read the Torah as part of a commemorative practice can make
a bracha. R. Herzog in Heichal Yitzchak suggested the person review Rambam’s Hilchot
Tefillah where he records the blessings on reading the Torah, and read the blessing with Hashem’s
Name. This was based on R. Yaakov Emden’s view that one who is reading any traditional text
can read any mentions of Hashem’s Name in its full form. Since the prohibition against
unnecessary brachot is Rabbinic, R. Herzog reasoned, R. Emden’s view is enough to rely on to
allow making this bracha in this way.

Derech Pikudecha, an earlier work, had a similar idea. He ruled that if the moon was not visible
until too late in the month to say Kiddush Levana, one could study the page in Sanhedrin that
mentions it (42a), then read the bracha with Hashem’s Name. While our version of the Gemara
does not write Hashem’s Name, Rif, Rambam, and Rosh’s version did have it, which is enough.

But Otzar HaGeonim records the view of R. Nachshon Gaon that since these texts were written at
a time other than when enacting the ceremony, they did not indicate an actual recitation—to read
them with the full Name, then, is saying it purposelessly. R. Ovadya sees R. Nachshon Gaon as so
authoritative, he is confident R. Yaakov Emden would have withdrawn his claim had he known of
it. Tashbetz, also earlier and presumptively more authoritative than R. Yaakov Emden, said that it

35
was only Scriptural verses that appear in Rabbinic literature that we can read with Hashem’s Name,
not blessings.

After rejecting another suggestion of R. Herzog’s (that any public Torah reading can include a
bracha), R. Ovadya writes that no blessings were recited at the Hakhel ceremony enacted on the
18th of Tishrei 5741 (1980) —this date being my excuse for using this responsum—which had
about 50,000 people present.

Who Blew?

Even kohanim who had physical blemishes that disqualified them from Temple service could blow
the trumpets to call people to Hakhel. In this regard, R. Ovadya quotes the Yerushalmi’s story of
R. Akiva citing a verse to show that only kohanim who could perform Temple service could blow
trumpets. Disagreeing, R. Tarfon asserts having himself seen physically blemished kohanim blow.
R. Akiva suggests that that was for Hakhel, which reminds R. Tarfon that that is what had
happened.

The older rabbi then praises R. Akiva for his ability to derive ideas textually yet arrive at the correct
halachic conclusion. It’s a reminder of halachah’s devotion to the use of the human intellect, but
in the name of reaching conclusions whose correctness or lack of it is previously decided. We’re
not finding new truths, we’re (we hope) discovering old, pre-existing but hitherto unknown (or
forgotten) truths. Doing that well is the highest goal of Torah study.

We allow these kohanim because actually anyone could blow for this occasion, R. Ovadya
assumes, just that priests laid claim to this mitzvah—as they did with the slaughter of sacrifices,
which can also be performed by non-kohanim.

R. Ovadya adds that in our times, any media for announcing the event is fine.

How Young?

Hagigah 3a reports R. Elazar b. Azaryah’s teaching that little children are to be brought to the
event, to earn their parents reward for bringing them. Maharsha takes that to mean children who
are not yet in school, similar to a tradition of Sefer Hasidim’s, that we don’t bring such small
children to shul, since they distract their parents and the community (a currently relevant topic we
will not take up here). Another sefer, Bereich Yitzchak, thought the youngest would be children
already six or seven, who are close enough to being educable that, depending on each one’s
development, might find the event productive.

Other sources, such as Ramban and Rashi, indicate that even the smallest should be brought (Rashi
explains Megillah 5a’s ruling that we delay a Hakhel that falls on Shabbat as being so that parents
can carry their small children without an eruv). R. Ovadya suggests there’s a value even at that
young an age, in that their ears get used to hearing Torah, as well as the benefit from being at an
event where the Divine Presence is particularly present (Yevamot 64a tells us that any gathering of
over 22,000 Jews has an added element of the Divine Presence).

36
On the other hand, Aderet wondered how hundreds or thousands of crying babies (and perhaps
wet or soiled ones) could not but detract, a question R. Ovadya leaves for another time, seemingly
confident that it doesn’t change the conclusion, but not sure why.

Adults Who Can/Should Attend

Hakhel readings are in Hebrew, which might imply that those who don’t understand (or can’t hear)
need not come. R. Ovadya disagrees, based on Rambam’s specifically requiring converts to attend
and pay attention, like at Sinai, despite their not knowing Hebrew. R. Ovadya adds that those who
know these texts well still need to focus, because we all need the fortification of our faith that is
the focus of this mitzvah.

The verse includes ‫גרך אשר בשעריך‬, the stranger in your gates among the attendees. Ibn Ezra
thought such a person might then become Jewish, showing that this stranger is a non-Jew, a ger
toshav, because full converts are referred to as ‫בקרב מחניך‬, in the midst of your camp. We’d expect
conversions, R. Ovadya says, because only the hardhearted could see the wonders of such a large
gathering, declaring Hashem’s Presence and power, and not want to join that people.

Hakhel: a once in seven years’ chance to be with tens of thousands of Jews, in the more direct
Presence of God than usual, fortifying our own faith and others’, by listening to our leaders read
crucial portions of the Torah. One of which, 35 years ago, took place on the 18th of Tishrei.

37
 There Is Always Something New

Rabbi Jay Kelman writes:11

Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of the Yamim Tovim, especially in Temple times, was the
coming together of Jews from all walks of life to celebrate together in Jerusalem. “Rava
expounded: What is the meaning of the verse: ‘How beautiful are thy steps in sandals, O prince's
daughter’. [It means:] How beautiful are the feet of Israel when they go up on the festival
pilgrimage” (Chagiga 3a). When Jews join together--whatever the reason--there is great beauty.
When they do so to revel in the Divine presence, the beauty is enhanced.
With the destruction of the Temple, our celebration of Yom Tov was radically altered. No
pilgrimage, no Temple, no sacrifices and no multitudes of people joining together. Yet if we could
no longer visit G-d in His home, we could do the next best thing; visit our teachers. “et, And you
shall fear G-d”. As Rabbi Akiva explained, “et” comes to include Torah scholars. If we must visit
G-d, we must visit those who teach us Torah--“there is a mitzvah to visit one’s teacher on the
holiday”. The importance attached to this [often-neglected] mitzvah is demonstrated by the fact
that it is the paradigm of the concept “that one who is involved in one mitzva is exempt from
performing another mitzvah”. To cite the Talmudic example, those who are travelling to visit their
teachers are exempt from the mitzvah of Sukkah.
The Gemara relates how, in fulfillment of this dictum, Rav Yochanan ben Bruka and Rabbi Eliezer
ben Chishma went to visit their teacher, Rabbi Yeshoshua. When they arrived, Rabbi Yehoshua
asked them, “What new insight was there in the Beit Midrash today?”. When they demurred that
“'We are your students, and from your waters we came to drink,' he said to them, 'Nonetheless, it
is not possible for [there to be] a Beit Midrash without a new insight'” (Chagigah 3a). How
beautiful when teacher and student seek to learn from each other.
Every time we involve ourselves in learning, there is insight gained. We may have learned the
same material many times before, we may know more than the teacher, the material may be the
most basic, but it is not possible to go to the Beit Midrash and not gain a new insight. And if not,
we have gone through the motions, but we have not truly learned. “One cannot compare one who
learns something 100 times to one who learns it 101 times” (Chagigah 9b).
Rav Yochanan ben Bruka and Rabbi Eliezer ben Chishma told Rabbi Yehoshua that discussion in
the Beit Midrash centered around the mitzvah of Hakhel (which we will read this coming Shabbat).
During Sukkot following the Shmitta year, we were to “gather the people, the men, the women,
and the [infant] children, and the proselyte that is in your gates, so that you may listen, so that they
may learn and fear the Lord, your G-d’ (Devarim 31:12). In the Beit Midrash that day, they taught,
“If the men come to learn and the women to listen[1] , the children, why do they come? In order
to give reward to those who bring them” (Chagiga 3a). When Rabbi Yehoshua heard this, he
exclaimed, “A beautiful pearl you had in your hand, and you sought to keep it from me!”.

11
https://torahinmotion.org/profile/rabbi-jay-kelman-cpa-ca

38
As with the teaching of Rava cited above, there can be nothing more precious than parents and
their children both big and small joining together to mark the end of the Shmitta cycle, to celebrate
Sukkot, and to hear words of Torah.

[1] As Tosafot notes, this teaching is not in sync with the view of Ben Azzai that one is obligated to teach his daughter Torah (Sotah
20a). Rather, this teaching follows the view of Rabbi Eliezer that one should avoid teaching his daughters Torah. As many Torah
giants have explained, in our times, even according to the view of Rabbi Eliezer, we are allowed and even obligated to teach Torah
to women at the highest of levels, just as we do (in theory) for men.

Why Bring The Children To “Hakhel”?

Rabbi Yissocher Frand writes:12

We learn in Parshas Vayelech about the mitzvah of “Hakhel,” whereby the entire nation gathered
in Jerusalem once every seven years (at the conclusion of the Sabbatical year) for a communal
reading of the Torah. The pasuk says, “Gather together the people — the men, the women, and the
small children…” [Devorim 31:12].
12
https://torah.org/torah-portion/ravfrand-5762-netzavim/

39
Rashi spells out the details of Hakhel, based on the Gemara [Chagiga 3a]: The men come to learn;
the women (who in those days did not have the educational background to really learn the Torah)
come to listen; and the children come to bring a reward to those who bring them. The simple
reading of the Gemara is that there is in fact no inherent purpose for the children to come. The men
can learn. The women can at least listen. But what are the kids coming for? They will not even
listen properly.

In light of this, it is hard to understand the meaning of the Gemara when it says, “to give reward
to those who bring them”. What does this mean? If, in fact, there is no purpose to bring the children,
then what reward should be granted to those who bring them? There is no mitzvah to bring a sack
of potatoes!

The Nesivos answers this question very practically. All the Jews from throughout the Land of
Israel came to Jerusalem for Hakhel. So who was left home to watch the kids? Where would they
find babysitters? Obviously, the adults had no choice but to bring the children. Since the children
had to be brought anyway, the Torah commanded that they be brought, so that there would also be
a mitzvah and the associated reward involved in bringing the children.

Reb Yerucham, as well as the Sefas Emes interpret this Gemara in a slightly different fashion.
When the Gemara states that the children are brought “to grant reward to those who bring them”,
the intent is not that there is no inherent value in bringing children to Hakhel. In fact, there is
something to be gained from bringing them even if they do not have the intellect to learn or the
patience to listen. Merely being present at an event like Hakhel — in an atmosphere permeated
with holiness has an effect on the children, not necessarily immediately, but in years to come.

For example, the Gemara [Jerusalem Talmud: Yevamos] says that the mother of Rav Yoshua ben
Chananya used to take his cradle and place it in the Beis Medrash, just so the baby should absorb
the sound of Torah.

So too, explain both Reb Yerucham and the Sefas Emes, parents who make the effort to expose
their children to positive experiences in life, despite the fact that the child ostensibly does not gain
anything concrete from the experience at the time, will be rewarded. Merely making the effort to
expose them to a positive environment will allow the parents to reap reward in the future.

I recently bought a book for my wife called, “A Day in the Life of Israel”. Sixty of the best
photographers in the world were assigned a city or an area in Israel and told to take photos on a
given day, the best of which would appear in this book. I saw one photo of a newborn nursery in
Bnei Brak. There is a picture of rows of little infants in plastic cribs lined up in the nursery. In one
of the cribs, there is a picture book opened to pictures of Rav Shach, the Steipler Gaon, and the
Chazon Ish. There in the cradle, in the hospital, pictures of Gedolim [great Torah luminaries]
surround the baby. This book is not a religious book. It is a secular book. Nonetheless, the caption
on this photo is “Education starts early in Israel”.

This illustrates our explanation of the previously quoted Gemara in Chagiga. Even though the
child’s only care in the world at this point is when he is wet or hungry, somehow on a subconscious

40
if not a conscious level, his environment has an effect on him. Parents who make the effort to put
their children into a good environment — even though at the time the efforts seem in vain — will
eventually receive reward, in the form of the development of spiritually developed children. This
is what our Sages mean when they say, “to grant reward to those who bring them”.

Asher Y. Altshul writes:13

Were the Temple standing, we would have observed the septennial Hakhel assembly this Sukkot.
The Torah describes Hakhel as follows (Devarim 31:10-13):

According to this description, the mitzva of Hakhel consists of three aspects.

13
Based on a sicha by Harav Aharon Lichtenstein, https://etzion.org.il/en/holidays/sukkot/experience-hakhel

41
* First, we have the formal commandment to assemble.

* Second, there is actual reading, listening, and learning that is done at this assembly.

* The third aspect is the fulfillment of Hakhel's purpose, as the Torah writes: "In order that they
hear, and in order that they learn to fear the God your Lord."

II.

The Gemara (Chagiga 3a) recounts Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya's understanding of the Hakhel
assembly:
"'Assemble the entire nation: men, women, and children' - men, to learn; women, to hear; and
children, to give reward to those who brought them [to the assembly]."

R. Elazar believes that the Torah designates a specific purpose for each group's obligation to attend
Hakhel. Men are obligated to assemble in order to fulfill their mitzva of learning Torah. Women,
who are not commanded to perform that mitzva, are required to hear the words of the Torah, and
thus internalize its teachings. Lastly, children, who are too young to do either, have no essential
purpose in being there. Rather, those who are inconvenienced by taking them to Jerusalem are
rewarded.

The Ramban (Devarim 31:12) has a very different approach. He explains that both men and
women are obligated to listen and learn. The children referred to in the verse are not too young to
understand, as R. Eliezer taught. Rather, they are already old enough to comprehend their
surroundings, and therefore the Hakhel experience can and should instill in them fear of God.
Although Rabbi Elazar seems to indicate that the "learning" aspect of Hakhel is limited to men, if
we look carefully, we see that this is not necessarily so. The verse cited by R. Elazar states that all
three groups must be present, and each group had its own focus. However, words "in order that
they hear and in order that they learn" do not refer to the objective of any single group. Rather,
they describe the general objective of Hakhel.

Hakhel is held once every seven years. The experience is intended to be an extraordinary one. The
entire nation assembles in Jerusalem - men, women, and children silently await the reading of
God's Torah. The King of Israel, God's representative, sits above the nation and in a booming voice
reads the Book of Devarim. The nation "listens and learns," as if the words were being given on
Har Sinai.

Hakhel's purpose is not only to teach the content of God's Torah, but to cause Bnei Yisrael to
internalize the words of the Torah. The experience of standing in awe as the king recites the words
of the Almighty, of trembling in fear as the holy words reach one's ears, will ultimately bring the
participant to fear God - a feeling which is meant to last for the next seven years.

42
We find a similar concept within the laws of ma'aser sheini. Most years, one is required to take
one-tenth of his crop and to travel to Jerusalem. Only in Jerusalem, the city of God, is one permitted
to eat this portion of his crop: only before the Temple, and only before God. Eating before God
elevates what seems to be a solely gastronomic event into the realms of the sacred and divine. The
Torah (Devarim 14:23) explains that fulfilling this mitzva, according to its laws, will teach one "to
fear the Lord your God all of his days." The experience of feasting in Jerusalem will remain with
the person throughout the year. Similarly, the events of Hakhel transform a simple reading of the
Torah into a mass renewal of our faith, an experience meant to transform our lives for the future.

III.

We explained previously that, independent of the requirement to learn what the Torah says, there
is a need to "hear" and to "listen" to the words of the Torah. Hearing is normally understood as the
physical, mechanical method of recording information. This concept of physical hearing is relevant
to the recital of the Shema. One must say the Shema loud enough to hear the words he is reciting.
This, however, is not the concept of "hearing" referred to in Hakhel.

What is the nature of this "hearing?" What is its purpose? And how is it attained?

When listing the laws of Hakhel, the Rambam (Hilkhot Chagiga 3:6) explains how a ger (stranger
or convert) participates:
"The gerim who are not familiar with the Torah must prepare their hearts, and listen with their ears
in order to hear, in fear, and in awe, in joy, and in trepidation, as on the day the Torah was given
at Sinai. Even great scholars, who know the entire Torah, must listen with great intensity."

It is quite clear that hearing is required not only in order to learn. Even Gedolei Torah, who have
read through Devarim numerous times, must listen with the same level of intensity required of a
young lad or a convert, who are only beginning to learn. The "hearing" required is of an internal
nature. The word of God must be internalized. Once one reaches this level of "hearing," it will
affect his inner emotional and spiritual dimensions. Our fear and awe of the Almighty will thus be
increased and intensified.

This aspect of Hakhel is present in our daily lives. In our day-to-day learning, we must strive to
achieve this aspect of "hearing." How do we approach our learning? Is it just the dry accumulation
of facts and information? Is it merely the analysis of texts, the understanding of laws and their
underlying principles? Is this the extent of our learning?

I pray not. An approach of this nature might lead to deep conceptual understanding, but it will not
lead to the fear of God. It will not create the groundwork for "ve-lamdu le-yir'a" - "they will learn
to fear."

Our learning must be accompanied by two kinds of emotion: passion and joy on the one hand, and
fear, trepidation, and awe on the other. The concepts and principles which we learn must not only
be understood, but also internalized. They must form our spiritual personality. The Torah we learn

43
must also remain within us, just as the experiences of hearing the king read the Torah at Hakhel
and of feasting in Jerusalem before God must be remembered in the years to come.

IV.

The years that one spends in Yeshiva are, in a way, years of Hakhel. Learning has two aspects.
One aspect is the learning itself. King David requested from God that he die a day earlier, enabling
him to receive a proper funeral. God answered David that one day of his learning is more beloved
to Him than a thousand sacrifices Shlomo offers. Learning itself, swimming in the waves of God's
divine ocean, reading a Rashi, explaining a Tosafot, are beloved before the Almighty.

The other aspect of learning is demonstrated by Hakhel. Learning leaves an imprint on one's soul;
it forms and develops one's personality. It remains with a person day to day, year to year, and
shemitta to shemitta.

This second aspect of learning is paramount for the years you spend in Yeshiva. You sit in the Beit
Medrash, not as King David did on his last day, but rather as the young and impressionable did at
the Hakhel. You must take full advantage of these years, for they will determine the type of
household that you will build, athe type of education your children will receive.

Learning the words of Torah alone will not suffice. You must internalize what you learn. You must
"hear" them, "listen" to them, as if they were being read by the king at Hakhel or by the mouth of
God at Har Sinai. Only if your learning is accompanied by this type of "hearing" will it bring you
to the ultimate goal of fearing God. Only then will it endure.

"How?" you ask. Is it indeed possible to hear in this way? How can we prepare ourselves to "hear"
properly?

There are three things you must understand and always remember.

First, you must open yourself up emotionally. You must be sensitive to the feelings involved in
Torah learning: love, fear, joy, passion, trepidation. Without first opening your heart, nothing can
find its way in.

Second, you must constantly understand and visualize that you are standing in front of the
Almighty. You must accept "ol malkhut Shamayim" - the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. You
must see yourselves as if you are standing in Jerusalem at the Hakhel assembly, standing in God's
presence at Har Sinai, standing in God's court.

Third, you must learn with the recognition and understanding that the words you are reading are
the words of God. These words are "devar Hashem!" They were written by God's own Hand, so to
speak.

44
If you learn with these three ideas before your eyes, then you will "hear" the words of the Torah.
If your learning is of this nature, these years in Yeshiva will be a "Hakhel." The effects of learning
will bring you to fear God, and will also remain with you in the years following your time in the
Yeshiva. Then you will be able to fulfill the goal as stated in the verse: "You will learn to fear the
Lord your God all your days."14

The Commandment of Hakel

Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Rimon writes:15

On the holiday of Sukkot, once every seven years, in the year after Shmita, the celebration of Hakel
takes place. This is a very emotional occasion.

The whole nation "the men, the women, and the small children, and your stranger who is in your
cities" gathers in the Temple. The Torah describes Hakhel in a very moving way (Deutoronomy
31: 10-13):

14
This sicha was delivered at seuda shelishit, Shabbat Parashat Vayelekh 5756 [1995]

15
https://www.yeshiva.co/rabbi/382

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 What is the purpose of this gathering? Is the purpose to learn Torah? If so, then why do we
also bring little children (see Chagiga 3a)?

From the verses it becomes clear that there is an important purpose to this occasion "so that they
will hear and so that they will learn, and they shall fear G-d, your L-rd". On this occasion we
receive the fear of Heaven. This sentence repeats itself twice "they shall hear and they shall learn
to fear G-d, your L-rd". The first time, there is hearing and learning, and this leads to fear of
Heaven. The second time, they will learn fear of Heaven "they shall learn to fear G-d". On this
occasion there is learning Torah as well, but the essence is fear of Heaven.

However, it turns out that there is an additional central point. Maimonides (Chagiga 3:6) explains
that the occasion of Hakel is a form of reconstructing the giving of the Torah:

Everyone receives the Torah anew. Everyone needs to be there. There are those who hear and
understand and there are those who do not understand. However, all as one, the whole Nation of
Israel, stands and hears the Torah, stands and accepts the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven.

It is possible that Hakel today is a biblical commandment (if there is no fundamental connection
between it and Shmita) or it is possible that it is a rabbinical commandment (just as Shmita is
rabbinic). Indeed, even if it is neither biblical nor rabbinic, it still is something meaningful as a
remembrance of Hakel, in which all of Israel joins together in Jerusalem, and the great one reads
the Torah.

In 1945 (two years before the founding of the State) Rav Herzog initiated the first modern Hakel.
A special train left Tel Aviv for Jerusalem for the Hakel occasion.

46
After the founding of the State (1952) Hakel was celebrated, but not at the Kotel since the city was
divided but on Har Zion. It remained that way until 1967.

On Sukkot 1973 – the Kotel was already ours, and preparations were being made for a large and
meaningful Hakel. However, on Yom Kippur, war broke out and Hakel was canceled. Since then,
Hakel has taken place. At the end of Shmita 1987 there was a large Hakel gathering, and President
Chaim Herzog read the Torah. (There are Rishonim who count the gathering itself as a
commandment, and the reading as a separate commandment. The Lubavitcher Rebbe thought that
the essence of Hakel is strengthening Torah among the Nation, and not specifically by the king,
and he thought that gatherings for strengthening the Torah should be done that year).

We are required to carefully think how to ensure that the gathering of Hakel is both grand and
serious. We must think how we can connect different types among the Nation of Israel. Through
this, we will also create a unity surrounding the Torah.

Why is Hakel Celebrated Following the Shmita Year?

Chizkuni (Deutoronomy 31:12) explains that since we are not gathering the crops now (since we
did not plant during Shmita), the nation is available during the Harvest Festival, and instead of
gathering the crops they can hear words of Torah.

It seems we can say it in a slightly different way: this commandment specifically takes place
following the Shmita year. At the end of Shmita, after a full year in which there was a
disengagement from the material, a year of spiritual elevation, a year of moral, ethical and social
building, a year of tremendous strengthening in faith, we need to stop, to think and to see, how this
year will influence the next six years, how we will make sure that the regular work years will be
infused with holiness and purity, morality and ethics. We pray that they will be years in which G-
d is the center of everything.

The Hakel celebration has the ability to express the spiritual significance of Shmita which
completed the seven years prior to it. However, it also has the ability to encourage us to think about
the upcoming six years. It can be the opening to better, more correct, more spiritual and more
ethical years.

47
 Ezra stands on a wooden tower near the water gate and reads the laws of
Moses. Jan Luyken, after Bernard Picart, 1700 rijksmuseum.nl

Historical Hakhel Ceremonies and the Origin of Public Torah

Reading

Deuteronomy’s command to publicly read the Torah on Sukkot every seven years appears in

stories about King Josiah, King Agrippa, and Ezra the Scribe. The latter’s innovative

ceremony served as the model for what became synagogue Torah-reading.

Prof. Aaron Demsky writes:16

16
https://www.thetorah.com/article/historical-hakhel-ceremonies-and-the-origin-of-public-torah-reading

48
 Torah Reading Ceremony in Deuteronomy

In Deuteronomy 31, Moses charges the people to perform a public reading of the torah:[1]

The date: Sukkot, at the end of the shemitah (7th) year

The place: God’s dwelling

The command: Read the torah to all Israelites.

Scholars generally understand the word torah here as a reference to Deuteronomy and not the
entire Pentateuch.

The Mishnah further limits the scope, claiming that the reading is from selected parts of
Deuteronomy only (m. Sotah 7:8, Kaufmann MS):

49
General Audience

Having established the basic contours of the mitzvah (commandment), Deuteronomy expands on
the details of who should be present and why:

Who: men, women, children, sojourners

Why: so they learn to revere God and observe torah.

The opening word of this verse, Hakhel “gather,” from the root ‫ל‬.‫ה‬.‫ ק‬meaning “congregation” or
“gathering,” gives the commandment its name and reflects its outlook nicely. This reading was
not meant for priests, scribes or other initiated literati alone, as we would have expected in
antiquity, but rather for the widest possible audience, without regard to status, gender or

50
age.[3] This fits with the public nature of the theophany at Horeb, which forms the basis of God’s
covenant with Israel.

Deuteronomy reiterates the importance of reading to children:

Who: children who don’t know

Why: learn to revere God and thus survive on the land.

In this ceremony, all Israelites must gather to hear the torah read aloud, even women and young
children, making this passage the earliest instantiation in the Ancient Near East of the innovative
idea of setting a specific time for inclusive religious public education.

Deuteronomy’s Covenant Ceremony and ANE Vassal Treaties

The Hakhel ceremony at the end of Deuteronomy functions to renew the covenant between God
and Israel. Since the 1950s, biblical scholarship has compared this covenantal idea and
institution with the genre of political treaties and oaths from the 2nd and 1st millennia B.C.E.
found throughout the Ancient Near East.[4]

Some of these treaties were between equals of political rank, others between suzerain and vassal,
demanding loyalty to the overlord from the inferior party. The latter type, from the second and
first millennia, have a number of key features, many of which overlap with Deuteronomy:

51
Historic Prologue – A list of the favors bestowed by the suzerain on the vassal, which was
prevalent in the Second millennium Hittite treaties.[5]

Obligations – A list of political and military obligations imposed upon the vassal;

Divine Witnesses – A list of the gods of both cosignatories were called upon to witness the
treaty.

Curses – Vassal treaties had varied curse formulae recited and sometime acted out in order to
insure the vassal’s loyalty.

Oaths – The earlier treaties were solemnized by a sworn oath of allegiance by “the life of the
gods”, i.e., niš ilī. Needless to say, parallels to these paragraphs have been found in the Torah,
especially in the Book of Deuteronomy.[6]

Treaty in a Box by the Deity – Of particular interest is the clause assuring the safe keeping
of these vassal treaties placed in a box (‘aron), near the image of the deity.

Read Aloud before the King – The text was to be read aloud before the vassal king and his
court at selected intervals that could range from every couple of months to several years. This
recital of the text reiterated the vassal’s duties as well as the favors that the sovereign has
benevolently granted him. See for example, the treaty between Muwattalli II of Hatti (ca.1300)
and Alaksandu of Wilusa (Ilios//Troy):

This last feature is particularly significant in our context since it is likely that the public reading
of the torah was envisioned along these same lines. In the Torah, however, the vassal treaty has
been recast from a political document with local and limited time-bound import, which was

52
frequently broken, into a sublime, divinely revealed text that has shaped Israel’s destiny and
theology over the millennia.

Historical Hakhel ceremonies?

We do not know how this mitzvah was performed—or even if it was performed—in ancient
times. Nevertheless, three Hakhel or Hakhel-like ceremonies are described as having occurred in
ancient times.

Josiah’s “Hakhel”

The book of Kings relates how while renovating the Temple during the reign of King Josiah, a
lost scroll of the torah (some form of Deuteronomy?) was found (2 Kings 22:8). Upon reading
the scroll, King Josiah initiated a massive religious reform. Part of this reform was a public
reading of torah, highly reminiscent of the mitzvah of Hakhel in Deuteronomy:

The term used for the torah found in the Temple “the Scroll of the Covenant” (‫)ספר הברית‬
underscores the Vassal Treaty-like feel of Deuteronomy (as noted above). The story continues
with Josiah’s (re-)establishing the covenant with the people:

53
The public reading to all the people, with the intention that they will understand how to observe
the commandments, is very much in line with the passage in Deuteronomy. Nevertheless, the
passage makes no explicit reference to the mitzvah of hakhel, nor does it imply that the reading
took place on Sukkot, or on a shemitah year, the seventh year of remittance. The reading has the
appearance of an impromptu, emergency measure, to ensure that the people would follow
Josiah’s covenant-based reform. Note that the event takes place in Josiah’s 18th regnal year (2
Kings 22:3; 2 Chron 34:8 ), which is dated to 622-21 B.C.E.[8]

Agrippa’s “Hakhel”

The Rabbis assume that the king must perform this mitzvah (m. Sotah 7:8), though it seems
likely that this was meant as an ideal and not a hard-and-fast rule.[9] They even refer to
the mitzvah as Parashat HaMelekh,“the portion of the king.”

54
The Mishnah continues with an account of King Agrippa I (10 B.C.E. – 44 CE) performing the
public reading (m. Sotah 7:8).[11]

The Sages mention this story mostly to point out that it is praiseworthy—though unnecessary—
for the king to stand during the recitation, and as an opening to discuss whether Agrippa, as a
descendant of Herod and thus from a family of converts, was an appropriate king. Even so, this
passage is the only description of a public Torah reading by a king or leader in ancient times that
is explicitly referred to as a Hakhel.

Ezra’s “Hakhel”

The most elaborate Hakhel-like reading appears in the book of Nehemiah, and is significant not
just as a possible example of this mitzvah, but because of its place in the history of public Torah
reading, to this day a key feature of the Jewish prayer service.[13]

Ezra and Nehemiah

The Bible describes the careers of two great Jewish leaders arriving in Judea around the mid-fifth
century B.C.E., during the Period of the Return (Shivat Zion). One of these leaders is Ezra the
Scribe, who received a royal appointment as overseer of the Temple administration[14] and
Jewish affairs throughout the Twentieth Satrap of Eber Nehar (Ezra 7:11-26). The text describes
Ezra as dedicated to Torah study:

55
The second leader was the governor of Judea, Nehemiah ben Hakaliah, whose administrative
prowess as well as his indomitable personality allowed him to have great influence in shaping
Judean society.

The Public Torah Reading

On the first of the seventh month, which according to my chronology came out in September,
443 B.C.E at the end of a sabbatical year,[15] throngs of people had congregated at the wide plaza
at the eastern gate of the Temple compound[16] for the traditional sacrificial service of the New
Year[17] that would be conducted by the priests and Levites. They request that Ezra bring out the
Torah and read it to them.

The date is the first of the seventh month as opposed to the holiday of Sukkot (15th to the 22nd of
the month), the time Deuteronomy instructs Hakhel to take place. While the reading was
seemingly done at the people’s request much of the planning of this innovative event must have
come under Ezra’s direction and religious sanction.

56
The public reading here resonates with the description of hakhel with its emphasis
on torah being read to the entire nation, even using the same root ‫ל‬.‫ה‬.‫ק‬, albeit in noun form, as
that of the verb hakhel (‫)הקהל‬. And yet, the text does not explicitly say that it was being done in
accordance with Deut 31. In addition, the description of the audience is slightly different.

Whereas in Deuteronomy, the torah is read to men, women, and children and the stranger in your
community (d‫ ֲאֶשׁר ִבְּשָׁﬠֶרי‬d‫)ָהֲאָנִשׁים ְוַהָנִּשׁים ְוַהַטּף ְוֵג ְר‬, and Josiah reads the torah to the entire nation
from young to old (‫) ְוָכל ָהָﬠם ְלִמָקֹּטן ְוַﬠד ָגּדוֹל‬, Ezra reads to men, women, and those who can
understand (‫)ָהֲאָנִשׁים ְוַהָנִּשׁים ְוַהְמִּבי ִנים‬. Whether this is a reference to those who understand Hebrew,
or more likely to older children, the list seems less expansive than that of Deuteronomy and
Kings.

Innovative Techniques

As part of this “Hakhel” ceremony, the story in Nehemiah introduces a number of features to
make the ceremony more effective:

Wooden Tower – Ezra stands on a wooden tower that was built to solve the problem of
acoustics:

This stage, or to use the later Hebrew word bimah, derived from Greek: βημα,[18] served the
additional purpose of giving the people visual contact focusing on the ceremony. It is mentioned
in the Mishnah quoted above as a standard part of the king’s reading.

Showing the Scroll – Ezra opens the Torah scroll in view of all the people, symbolically
indicating that it is an “open book” meant for all the people regardless of gender, age or status.[19]

57
Standing or Silence – As Ezra prepares to read, the people stand up

This translation is the standard interpretation of the verse, found already in the LXX, and in most
modern translations of the Bible, such as NJPS and NRSV. Nevertheless, some traditional
commentaries understand the term as “stopped talking,” i.e., they were silent (see Avraham ibn
Ezra ad loc.). In fact, Ravah bar Rav Huna learns from this verse that it is forbidden to speak during
the synagogue Torah reading ceremony (b. Sotah 39a).

Blessing – After this, he consecrated the act of Torah reading with a blessing.

At his every move, the people responded by various physical gestures of acknowledgment such
as standing, raising their hand, genuflecting and bowing.

Translators

As noted above, Ezra’s reading was aimed at those who understood. This was because the audience
would certainly have included newcomers from Babylon who spoke Aramaic but could not
understand the Hebrew of the Torah. In order to overcome this language barrier, he appointed
groups of Levites as teachers (cf. Ezra 8:15-19), called ‫“ מבינים‬people who understand,” or rather
“who taught,”[20] and who would translate and explain the Torah reading:

58
Of particular note is that Ezra used the term ‫ ִמְקָרא‬innovatively, i.e., “reading (a sacred text)”,
thereby creating the word miqra to mean a biblical text.[21]

Ezra’s Sukkot Reading

Ezra does another public Torah reading, two weeks later, on Sukkot:

This is not presented explicitly as Hakhel, though it does take place at the right time. Ezra reads
from the Torah every day on Sukkot,[23] continuing his campaign of Torah education among the
Judeans.

Precedent for Rabbinic Torah Reading

Ezra’s public Torah reading on the first of the seventh month–Yom Zikaron Teruah (Lev 23:24,
Num 29:1)–and continued on every day of Sukkot seems to be an application of
the hakhel ceremony. This sets a precedent of reading the Torah on the other festival days
including Shabbat, Rosh Hodesh (the new moon), Yom Kippur[24] and the Regalim (the three
pilgrimage festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot).

59
As we have already seen, the ceremony became the model of the synagogue service,[25] which
flourished during the late Second Temple Period. As an extension of this democratic innovation,
overriding sacred space and time, the Rabbis attributed to Ezra the public Torah reading outside
the synagogue on the market days of Monday and Thursday (b. Bava Qama82a).

Hakhel has essentially morphed into the Ezra-inspired weekly torah readings. Yet it hasn’t been
entirely lost. In fact, the biblical Hakhel ceremony has resurfaced in modern Israel where the
practice of hakhel has been renewed, and takes place at the Kotel (Western Wall) at the end of
the sabbatical year.

Footnotes

1. Editor’s note: For another discussion of this text, Marc Z. Brettler, “The Hakhel Ceremony: Who, What, When, and

Where?” TheTorah.com(2014).

2. In the standard printing, between this passage and the blessings and curses, appears the “passage about the king” ( ‫פרשת‬

‫)המלך‬, ostensibly a reference to 17:14-20. This passage would then appear out of order. R. Ovadiah of Bartanura (ad

loc.), who has this text, suggests that this reading out of sequence is in order to avoid interrupting between the two

passages about tithing. In his commentary on the Mishnah (ad loc.), Maimonides seems to have a third text altogether,

without the reference to the second tithing passage (26:12-29) and according to which the king would read straight

from 14:22 until the end of the curses in 28:69, a much longer text than the other options.

3. See my, Literacy in Ancient Israel (Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik, 2012): 246-247 [Hebrew].

4. See Hayim Tadmor, “Treaty and Oath in the Ancient Near East: A Historian’s Approach,” in Humanizing America’s

Iconic Book: Society of Biblical Literature, Centennial Addresses 1980 (eds. Gene M. Tucker and Douglas A. Knight;

Chico: Scholars Press, 1982), 127-152; ibid., “With my Many Chariots I Have Gone up the Heights of

Mountains”: Historical and Literary Studies on Ancient Mesopotamia and Israel (ed. Mordechai Cogan; Jerusalem:

Israel Exploration Society, 2011): 205-236. Tadmor identifies these later Assyrian texts as loyalty oaths rather than

vassal treaties. Editor’s note: See also, Pamela Barmash, “The Introduction of Blessings into our Treaty with

God” TheTorah.com (2015); Deena Grant, “Loving God Beyond the Way You Love

Ashurbanipal,” TheTorah.com (2016); Jon Levenson, “The Shema and the Commandment to Love God in Its Ancient

Near Eastern Context” TheTorah.com (2016).

60
5. See Amnon Altman, The Historical Prologue of the Hittite Vassal Treaties (Bar-Ilan University Press, Ramat-Gan,

2004)

6. Moshe Weinfeld, Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School (Oxford, 1972): 59-157. See also, Tadmor, “Treaty and

Oath” and ibid., With Many Chariots.

7. Gary Beckman, Hittite Diplomatic Texts 2nd ed. (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1999), 91.

8. Fortuitously, that year seems to be the turning point in the 50 year Jubilee cycle that may have been perpetuated in

Priestly circles (see Radaq on Ezek 1:1; and Ezek 40:1 in light of Lev 25:9). If so, then the ceremonial reading ordered

by Josiah might be related to the completion of the Jubilee cycle at this time. See Aaron Demsky, “Who Came First,

Ezra or Nehemiah? The Synchronistic Approach,” Hebrew Union College Annual65 (1994): 12.

9. See discussion in R. Joseph Babad, Minchat Chinuch, 612:2.

10. This is based on Ezra’s Torah reading, see later.

11. Josephus makes no reference to Agrippa performing Hakhel or reading the Torah publicly, though he does describe him

as exceedingly pious (Ant. 19.331):

He scrupulously observed the traditions of his people. He neglected no rite of purification, and no day passed for him

without the prescribed sacrifice.

Agrippa ruled Judea between 41 and 44 CE, during which time there was a sabbatical year.

12. Another version of this story is found in Midrash Tannaim to Deut 17:15:

…‫מעשה באגריפס שמשחוהו ישראל מלך עליהן וכיון שהגיע מוצאי שביעית לקרות המלך בספר תורה עמד הוא וקרא‬

It happened with Agrippa, whom the Israelites anointed as king over themselves, that when the end of the Sabbatical

year came and the king was supposed to read from the Torah scroll he stood up and read and the Sages praised

him….

13. Editor’s note: For other discussions of this text, see Jacob L. Wright,“The Origins of Torah

Study,” TheTorah.com (2015); Marc Z. Brettler, “The Hakhel Ceremony: Who, What, When, and

Where?” TheTorah.com(2014).

14. See Richard Steiner, “The meaning of lbqr’ in Ez:14: on the Relation of Ezra’s Mission to the Persian Legal

Project,” JBL 120 (2001): 623-646

15. Demsky, “Who Came First, Ezra or Nehemiah?”: 1-19. For a fuller treatment of this event see Aaron

Demsky, Literacy in Ancient Israel: 335-340.

16. In Herodian times this area would be enclosed and become the Ezrat Nashim; see the Mishnah quoted above.

61
17. For autumn as the beginning of the natural year in ancient Israel, see my “The Essence of the Hebrew

Calendar,” TheTorah.com (2016).

18. Y. Kutscher, Words and their History (Kiryath Sepher: Jerusalem, 1965), 10 [Hebrew].

19. Compare the synagogue custom of hagbahah, i.e. lifting the torahscroll, either after the reading, or following Ezra’s

lead, before the reading.

20. This passage (Neh 8:3, 7) includes two usages of this hiphel form: the intransitive, i.e., “people who understand” and

the transitive/causative: “giving understanding” or “making known,” i.e., to teach.

21. This was pointed out to me in the 1960s by my late teacher Prof. Gerson D. Cohen. Moreover, it seems that Ezra had in

mind the term ‫( מקרא)י( קדש‬Lev. 23; Numb. 29) “Sacred convocation(s)”, i.e., holidays that are so-called in the festival

calendars in Leviticus and Numbers.

22. With this chapter in mind, Yehezkel Kaufmann called Tishrei, the month in which these festivals fall, the “month of

Torah.” See Yehezkel Kaufmann, Toldot Ha’emunah Hayisraelit vol. 8 (Mossad Bialik: Jerusalem,1957): 324f

[Hebrew].

23. Perhaps this is because he is reading the entire Pentateuch, which would take much more time than reading only

Deuteronomy (or select parts of Deuteronomy, as the Rabbis define the mitzvah).

24. See m. Yoma 7:1; b. Yoma 68b-69b

25. It is noteworthy that in the Septuagint to Neh. 8:1, the word ‫ ויאספו‬is translated συνήχθησαν, the aorist passive of the

verb συνάγω, “I assemble,” from which “synagogue” is derived.

62
David Flatto writes:17

17
Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities. Volume 20. Issue 1 Article 3. The King and I: The Separation of Powers in Early Hebraic
Political Theory.
https://www.fordham.edu/download/downloads/id/15344/crown_and_the_courts_-_institute_on_religion_cle_materials.pdf

63
64
65
66
67
 Sinai, from the Copenhagen Haggadah, 1739, by Uri Feibush

A REVIVAL OF THE ANCIENT ASSEMBLY OF HAKHEL

Gersion Appel writes:18

18
Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought, Vol. 2, No. 1 (FALL 1959),

68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
Shmita: 5712 Monday, Oct. 20, 1952

Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard and gather in the
fruit thereof;

But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou
shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy "vineyard.

—Leviticus 25:3-4

When the kingdom of Israel was governed by the Law, farmers scrupulously deserted their fields
at the end of each six-year period. Throughout the sabbatical year, called shmita, the whole land
lay fallow. The ancient Jews ate only meat and the grain they had stored, trusting in the Lord's
bounty to see them through their man-made drought.

The year 1951 (by Hebrew count 5712) was the first shmita to come round after Israel gained its
independence. But with a partly Socialist government and a farming population that is generally
far from Orthodox in its religious views, Israel's modern Orthodox rabbinate was hard put to
observe the Law. To avoid flouting it openly, the rabbis technically "sold" the entire territory of

77
Israel to an obliging Arab named Mahmoud. Mahmoud gave the rabbis power of attorney, which
enabled them to "sell"the state back to themselves, at the close of the sabbatical year.

This device satisfied some Orthodox Jews, but not the strictly observant. In a handful of Orthodox
settlements, hungry farmers stoically watched their idle fields and the fruit rotting on their trees.
To vary their meat diet, some Orthodox city dwellers furtively bought apples and tomatoes from
Arab hawkers, determined not to purchase produce grown by Jews.

Last week the shmita was over. Ten thousand pilgrims, most of them newly arrived immigrants
from the Middle East, marched to the top of Mt. Zion, where they celebrated the end of the seventh
year—the ceremony of Hakhel—for the first time since King Agrippa presided over the rites in 42
A.D. This year, since none of the Israeli government leaders is strictly Orthodox, the head of the
state was represented by Jerusalem's chief cantor, who read the Torah from the top of a truck. As
he finished, old men blew on the double ram's-horn. Pilgrims wearing rich prayer shawls cried out
in jubilation, dancing and clapping their hands to the jangling of tambourines.

The next morning Orthodox farmers went out to the land once more to plow their weed-choked
fields and prune the tangled vines. There were relatively few of them who had made the sacrifice
which the Law called for. Israeli government statisticians estimated the total loss in produce at less
than £30,000 ($84,000).

The Rambam in Hilchot Chagigah [3:7] refers to Hakhel as "Yom Hakhel" [The Day of Hakhel].

Rav Hutner points out that if we take away the vowels of 'Yom Hakhel' it is precisely the
same letters as 'Yom HaKahal' [the Day of the Congregation] which the Torah repeatedly uses
[Devarim 9:10, 10:4, 18:16] to refer to the the standing at Mt. Sinai.

At the root of the term "Hakhel" that the Torah employs to describe this mitzva is the word "kahal."
The word kahal is one of several words the Torah uses when discussing various groupings of
the Jewish people. The Malbim and Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch have inculcated within us the
view, that there are no synonyms in Hebrew. It is, therefore, axiomatic, that if the Torah chooses
to base the description of this mitzva on the word kahal, that the mitzva be specifically to recreate
a kahal.

In Devarim 4:10, Moshe Rabbeinu relates that HaShem had commanded him
to gather the nation for the giving of the Torah. In Devarim 9:10, Moshe calls the day of the giving
of the Torah: "Yom Ha'Kahal." Obviously, the event of Hakhel is meant to be a re-enactment of
the giving of the Torah.

This clearly connect the Hakhel to Shavuot. Yet, there is much more to connects these two dates.

78
Rav Hutner says that the essence of the ceremony of Hakhel is supposed to be the reenactment of
the standing at Mt. Sinai. It is the reenactment of the giving of the Torah. The Accepting of the
Torah is THE seminal event in Jewish History. We are to reenact the giving of the Torah
every seven years in order to impress upon the people the importance of what Torah means to
the Jewish People. We want the people to feel as though they have experienced another “giving of
the Torah”.

An even more ambitious attempt to relate the content of the hakhel reading to the standing at
Mt. Sinai theme is undertaken by Menachem Kasdan, in an article on this topic in the journal
Gesher[6], where he detects a parallel between this reading and the process of conversion. In the
Hilchot Isurei Bi’a section of Mishneh Torah[7], Maimonides outlines the procedure for dealing
with a prospective convert. He writes that the Jewish court first attempts dissuading the Gentile,
describing to him the persecution historically suffered by the Jewish people, and the hostility and
discrimination with which it is often been treated by other nations.

If the prospective convert persists, he is informed of the basic tenets of the Jewish faith,
particularly the oneness of HaShem and the absolute rejection of pagan beliefs. From there the
court proceeds to present the Gentile a sampling of Jewish law, particularly agricultural
obligations, such as the required tithes and gifts to the poor. Finally, he is to read the section to
which we referred earlier, in which Moshe promises blessing should the people obey the Torah,
and calamity should they neglect their religious duties.

A careful look at the sections read at hakhel, as outlined by Maimonides[8], reveals a general
correspondence between these sections and the court’s response to a prospective proselyte.
The hakhel reading begins with the opening chapters of the Book of Devarim, which tell of some
of Benei Yisrael’s experiences during their travels in the wilderness. Strong emphasis is placed in
these chapters on the hostility displayed towards them by the nations they
encountered, Amalek, Edom, the Emorites, and the empire of Bashan. These chapters thus perhaps
correspond to the court’s warning to the prospective convert of the animosity historically suffered
by the Jewish people.

The next sections read at hakhel are the first two chapters of the Shema service, which, of course,
deal with the fundamental Jewish belief of HaShem’s oneness and the
disastrous consequences of idolatry.

From there the king skips to the section of “Aser Te’aser,” which begins with the laws of tithing
and kind treatment to the underprivileged.

The king continues with the next several chapters, which introduces numerous mitzvot from across
the spectrum of Halacha, and concludes with the section of the blessings and curses that Moshe
promises will befall the people as a result of their obedience or betrayal, respectively.

Quite possibly, then, the hakhel reading reflects this ceremony’s role as a formal reentry into
the covenant with the Almighty. As Maimonides writes a chapter earlier in Hilchot Isurei Bi’a, the
conversion process is modeled after the process underwent by Benei Yisrael at the time of

79
the Exodus from Egypt and at Sinai. A proselyte enters the covenant through a procedure similar
to the process required when that covenant was established initially. At hakhel, we reenact
the standing at Mt. Sinai in order to “convert”, to reaffirm and renew our commitment to
the covenant with HaShem. The king’s reading of selected portions of the Book
of Devarim therefore correspond to the Jewish court’s warnings and instructions to a
prospective convert[9].

Rabbi Mordechai Zaks, in his discussion of this topic[10], suggests that the Shmita year generates
a sense of national unity that is indispensable for experiencing the revelation at Har Sinai. In one of
the most famous passages in his Torah commentary, Rashi[11] cites the Midrash’s comment that
Benei Yisrael encamped at Sinai “as one person, with one heart.” Benei Yisrael’s collective
acceptance of the Torah and the establishment of a national covenant with the Almighty require a
unity of mind and purpose. During the Shmita year, all agricultural activity is forbidden, and
landowners must temporarily forfeit ownership over their fields. In effect, then, during
the Shmita year, there is no economic competition or even any economic classes. Everyone shares
precisely the same assets and fate, withdrawing from agricultural work and spending a year
engaged in more spiritual endeavors. The social harmony and elimination of commercial rivalry is
a necessary prerequisite to the standing at Mt. Sinai experience which the hakhel ceremony is
intended to replicate.

Maimonides[12] also understands Hakhel as a re-acceptance of the Covenant at Sinai. Hakhel is

also linked to Succoth (the Feast of Tabernacles), the most universal of our holidays which
concludes the Rosh Hashanah festival period. Hakhel involves not only the Children of Israel but
the entire Bnai Noach world as well, the strangers as well as the uncircumcised.

Maimonides indicates that the hakhel ceremony serves as a kind of reenactment of the giving of
the Torah at Har Sinai, the divine revelation at Sinai. Amidst his discussion of
the laws of hakhel in his Mishneh Torah[18], he writes:

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[8]
Hilchot Chagigah 3:3
[9]
http://www.maimonidesheritage.org//ContentFolder/4/Vayelekh.pdf
[10]
in the journal Torah She-be-al Peh, vol. 2, p. 73
[11]
Shemot 19:2
[12]
Laws of Hagiga, chapter III, 1-7, MAIMONIDES
[13]
Vayikra Rabbah 30:12
[14]
Succah 11b
[15]
Chagigah 14b
[16]
The Rambam, Hilchot Beit HaBechirah 6:15, writes that sacrifices of lesser sanctity and Maaser Sheni (foods that must
be eaten within Yerushalayim) can be eaten in Yerushalayim if there is no wall because when it was first sanctified it was sanctified
for all time to come. Nevertheless a) its sanctification came about because of the wall and b) the full state of holiness exists only
when the wall is intact. Note the Responsa of the Maharit, Chosen Mishpat 37; Minchas Chinuch, Mitzvah 362.
[17]
Hilchot Chagigah 3:6
[18]
Hilchot Chagigah 3:6

Mei HaShiloach, Volume I, Deuteronomy, Vayeilech 1

“And Moshe went and spoke these words ….” (Devarim, 31:1)

The verse says specifically “and Moshe went” and “going,” halicha, signifies being
disturbed.37Perhaps because when one is disturbed by something he may be inclined to move his

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place. It was difficult for him to understand how man could fix the deficiency imprinted on the
root of his soul from the day of his birth passed on from his mother and father, for his mother
conceived him in sin.38This phrase is borrowed from Tehilim 51:7.

The idea needs investigation. Was he not conceived in the mitzvah of pru u’vru, [be fruitful and
multiply]? Yet this is something that is very easily contaminated because of its great holiness. So
this statement, especially when someone on the level of David haMelech says it about himself, is
quite revealing of the human predicament. It seems here that along with the fixings needed for
physical union, he is also talking about everything inherited from our parents that needs fixing.

However, when the commandment to gather the people was said to him (Devarim, 31:12, “Gather
the people, the parents, the children … that they may learn, and fear God”), it was intimated to
Moshe that man may fix the sin he is born with, which comes from his root and the root of his
parents. Then joy filled his being, as it is written (Yirmiya, 4:1), “If Israel will return … return
unto Me.” When a man commits a transgression, God forbid, then in his mind he is ashamed before
his friend. Even though his friend does not know about it, he is anyhow uncomfortable because he
feels that his friend is better than he is. This is not teshuva shleimah, complete return to the Torah.
This is why the prophet said, “you shall return to Me,” meaning that one should rather be ashamed
before God so as not to do something that God did not command.

God commanded 613 mitzvot, and each one is advice to Israel as to how one may remove the evil
desires rooted in his heart, rooted there due to the impurity of mortal existence. This is as it says
in the Gemara (Kiddushin, 40b), “[Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Tsaddok said: What is a Tsaddik
compared to in this world? A tree that exists in a place that is wholly pure,] yet part of it turns to
a place of impurity.”

So therefore, God gave man advice as to how he may remove himself from desires, such as the
mitzvah of tsitsit, which reminds man to have the fear of God, and tefillin, which teaches of the
tekifut (unbridled strength) of Kedusha, a notion previously explained (see above, Devarim,
17:13). Yet, in response to the evil attributes that are imprinted in man from the day of his birth
derived from the root of his father and mother, as the prophet said (Yesahya, 48:8), “For I knew
that you would surely act treacherously, and you were called a sinner from the womb,” we received
the section of “gather your people” (Devarim, 31:12). This is as it says in the Gemara (Chagiga,
3a), “Why did the infants also come? To reward those who brought them.”

This means, by means of the longing of the father and mother to bring words of Torah into the ears
of the infant—even though he does not understand anything at all. An example of this is found in
the Talmud Yerushalmi (Yevamot, 1:6), “See who teaches knowledge. Rabbi Yehoshua’s mother
would bring him in his cradle into the house of study so that his ears would absorb Words of
Torah.” This shows how it is possible to fix even the attributes imprinted in man from his mother’s
womb. This longing on the part of the parents is called “serving the Torah is greater than studying
it,” for by means of this he may heal what came before. This is “[to reward] those who brought
them,” meaning that even the father and mother are also fixed by this, since it fixes what came

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before, namely the desire of the father and mother at the moment of conception, and then it follows
that he was clean regarding his mother. When Moshe Rabeynu understood this, he was filled with
simcha (joy).

The Meaning of Hakhel

Rav Zvi Leshem

In Parshat Vayelech, we read about the mitzvah of Hakhel, in which, on the Sukkot after Shemittah
[the Sabbatical year], all of Am Yisrael, men, women, and children, gather in the Temple, where
the king reads portions of the Torah to the public. All of the people reaccept the covenant in a
ceremony that some commentators describe as a reenactment of the giving of the Torah. If this is
the case, why is Hakhel held on Sukkot? Surely Shavuot would have been more appropriate.

The Mai Hashiloach gives a fascinating answer. At the end of the Shemittah year, during which
everyone has dedicated themselves to spiritual pursuits, there may be a natural tendency to jump
on the tractor, get to work in the field and … forget what one learned during Shemittah. The Torah
gives us the mitzvah of Hakhel, precisely when the demands of making a living may cause us to

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forget the spiritual lessons that took a year to learn. Hakhel reminds us that the work we are setting
out to do must also be dedicated to heaven.

Similarly, says the Mai Hashiloach, we are accustomed to continue seudah shlishit [the third
Shabbat meal] into the night after Shabbat ends, in case we rush immediately into our weekday
activities and forget the spiritual lessons we internalized during Shabbat. For the same reason, the
Psalm of the day on Sunday includes the words, "The earth and all of its fullness belong to
Hashem." When we recite this psalm we are reminded that while we do make Havdalah and
separate between Shabbat and the week, our weekdays must also be days of holiness. Rav
Soloveitchik wrote in Al Hateshuvah that while there are plenty of Jews who are shomer Shabbos,
there are not enough Jews that are shomer erev Shabbos!

This important message, of bringing the holiness of Shabbat into the week through seudah shlishit,
and bringing the holiness of the Yamim Noraim into Sukkot, the Time of our Rejoicing, and the
entire year through the mitzvah of Hakhel needs to be internalized, giving meaning to our daily
lives.

Hakhel

Rabbi J. Hershy Worch writes:19

I was once in a Hasidic Shul on the other side of the world, very early in the morning; a Beis
Hamidrash I had never seen before. As there was some time to go before Shacharis would begin,
I took a Gemara from the shelf and started learning. After 15 or 20 minutes I thought, ‘Coffee!
This needs coffee,’ and went and helped myself to the doings in the corner at the back of the room.
I was sitting back down with my Styrofoam cup, making a quiet Bracha and taking a sip, when an
old man leaned over me, saying, ‘When we get paid, we get paid for the coffee, as well, you know.’

I’ve been thinking about it for almost 30 years.

On one extreme end of the spectrum is the shouting-voice, ‘Bitul Teira! How can you break off
learning to go make yourself a cup of coffee? How could you have even become aware of a craving
for caffeine had you been truly, deeply immersed in the Gemara?’

On the opposite end of the spectrum is a cubic meter of earth in Brazil out of which grows a coffee
bush, full of life, whose every atom dances in ecstasy at being a part of the Babylonian Talmud…
Is this what Reb Shimon meant when he said, ‫ ְגּדוָֹלה ִשׁמּוָּשׁהּ ֶשׁל תּוָֹרה יוֵֹתר ִמִלּמּוָּדהּ‬- Service of Torah
is greater than its study? (Berachot 7b)

19
Personal communication

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The Kotzker rebbe heaped scorn on those Hasidim who used to boast, ‘My rebbe doesn’t even
taste the taste of his food. He swallows it without taking any pleasure from it whatsoever.’ Or
another who would claim, ‘My rebbe pours salt all over his food so as to spoil its taste, so as not
to enjoy any pleasure in eating.’

‘In P’shischa we were taught,’ the Kotzker explained to his Hasidim, ‘the proper Avoda - Worship
of God while eating is to chew every single mouthful until there is no taste left in it before
swallowing a morsel of food.’

After the Holy Yid of P’shischa passed away, his widow told the rebbes, ‘I would tell you about
my husband’s worship during our sexual union, but I am afraid of ‫ – ֵליָצֵני ַהדּוֹר‬the scoffers of the
world.’

If the Holy Yid applied his rule of tasting food to the pleasure of mating, one can only imagine the
challenges of being in the moment and experiencing his body.

In the Mei HaShiloach, the Izbicy, who was also one of the P’shischa rebbes applied all this to our
Gemara. The verse says, ‘Assemble the people, the men and the women and the infants.’ Nu, if
men assemble to learn, and the women to listen, why assemble the infants? The answer is: to
reward those who bring them - ‫ְכֵּדי ִליֵתּן ָשָׂכר ִלְמִביֵאיֶהן‬.

The Hebrew word, ‫ – ִלְמִביֵאיֶהן‬To Those Who Bring Them, is a double-entendre. ‫ ביאה‬- Bi’a -
Coming, is also a rabbinic euphemism for sexual intercourse. The Talmud is now understood;
‘Why had children to be brought to this gathering, but to reward those whose lust brought those
children into the world.’

Unlike animals whose sexual behavior is dictated by hormonal and pheromonal changes over
which they have no control, human sexuality is driven by human thought, over which we do very
much have control.

At the core of ‫ ביאה‬- Bi’a - Coming is an almost narcissistic self-centeredness and self-absorption
that hardly anyone has ever managed to harness to good purpose. Maybe the biblical character
Joseph, among others with his level of self- awareness and self-control, have achieved a certain
mastery, but for us, what hope is there of turning that moment of complete self-absorption into
something holy?

In other words, how do we fix that basic flaw in us, about which the prophet says, ‘I called you a
sinner from the womb’? (Isa. 48:8)

Moses worried about this: How does a man fix those character defects which are already rooted in
his nature at birth, inherited from a father and mother, about whom it says, ‘In iniquity was I
formed and in sin my mother grew hot with me?’ (Ps. 51:7)

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The answer is this. A woman gets a certain geshmack out of taking her child to school to learn
Torah, and a man gets a certain thrill out of taking his child to Shul. Well, let’s examine that
sensation.

What’s my thrill in bringing my child to shul? Is it to show off to my neighbor that I’m a parent,
too, or am I being present before God? Am I bringing this child of mine to God?

If I can only be present to God in this moment, says the Izbicy, I will have fixed the moment of
orgasm in which I thought I was completely and entirely fixated on my own pleasure.
The pleasure of bringing my child to Shul is the completion of that pleasure I took in his or her
conception.
Pleasure fixes pleasure. This is the essence of the Izbicy Torah. And then, suddenly, not only do
the parents who brought their child to the Temple to attend the Hakhel ceremony receive their
reward for doing the Mitzva of Hakhel, but they receive a reward for the pleasure they experienced
all those years previously when making that child - ‫ְכֵּדי ִליֵתּן ָשָׂכר ִלְמִביֵאיֶהן‬.
As that man told me, ‘When we get paid, we get paid for the coffee, as well, you know.’
When Moses realized all this his heart lifted in joy, and he began dancing, it was Simchat Torah
in the desert!

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