Shalom Friends;
This week, our Parshat HaShevua Ha’azinu is sponsored by Rabbi Joel and Shelly Padowitz and dedicated for a full and complete Refuah Shleima for Joel’s Grandfather, Yissachar ben Hindl. To the Padowitz family, many thanks for your sponsorship and for your continued kindnesses.
You can celebrate a Simcha — a birth, a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, a Chassuna or other Simcha event in your life, or commemorate a Yahrtzeit of a loved one, or for whatever other reason by sponsoring a Parshat HaShevua.
Please forward to your relatives and friends and encourage them to sponsor a Parshat HaShevua. And please be in contact with me with any questions, or for further details.
Best Regards,
Moshe Burt
olehchadash@yahoo.com
skype: mark.burt3
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This author has written in the past of posukim in one Parshat which seem to mirror or correlate with posukim, or with the overriding theme of another Parshat. One notable example of this phenomena is found in the connection between a posuk in Parshat Ki Tisa and and opening posukim of Parshat Pinchas:
“You shall anoint Aaron and his sons and sanctify them as Kohanim to Me.” (Sefer Shemot, Perek 30, posuk 30)
…Pinchas, ben Elazar, son of Aaron HaKohen, turned back My wrath from upon B’nei Yisrael, when he zealously avenged Me among them…. Therefore, say: Behold! I give him My covenant of peace. And it should be for him and his offspring after him a covenant of eternal Kehunah because he took vengeance for Keilokei [his Lord], and he atoned for B’nei Yisrael.” (Sefer Bamidbar, Perek 25, posukim 11-13. The above citations of posukim from both Parshiyot are rendered to English in the Artscroll Stone Chumash)
This author views the correlation of the posukim of both Parshiyot as evoking the various scholarly discussions regarding when and how Pinchas came to the Kehunah.
We seem to find a similar correlation between posukim in Parshat Vayakhel and Parshat Vayeilech — both Parshiyot seem to allude to, or directly address the Mitzvah of Hakhel.
In Parshat Vayakhel, Moshe speaks to the entire B’nei Yisrael explaining the importance of observing Shabbos by way of describing actions prohibited on Shabbos through correlation with the labors necessary to construct the Mishkan, as well as urging the B’nei Yisrael to donate materials needed for the Mishkan’s construction.
In our Parshat Vayeilech, Torah records that Moshe commands a convening of Hakhel:
“At the end of seven years, at the time of the Shemittah [Sabbatical] year, during the Succot festival, when all Yisrael comes to appear before Hashem, Keilokim, …you shall read this Torah [from the beginning of Sefer Devarim (Sefer Devarim, Perek 6, posuk 9) through to the end of Shema (ibid, Perek 11,posukim 13-21) and ibid, Perek 14, posukim 22 through Perek 28, posuk 69 concluding in Parshat Ki Tavo] before all of Israel, in their ears.” (Sefer Devarim, Perek 31, posukim 10-11)
Hakhel is the convening of the entire nation; men, women and children — from the wealthiest to the most itinerant woodchopper, to the Ger:
…So that they may hear and so that they may learn and fear Hashem and guard to do all the words of Torah. (Sefer Devarim, Perek 31, posuk 12)
Sefer Shem Mishmuel, written by Rabbi Shmuel Bornstein, z”l, the Rebbe of Sochaczev, as rendered into English by Rabbi Zvi Belovski beautifully explains why Israel’s reigning king’s role in reading Hakhel is crucial (page 425):
The Rambam notes that the king is a central focus for Klal Yisrael, a product of their communal needs — like the heart within a body:
His heart is the heart of all Klal Yisrael… (Rambam, Yad, Hilchos Melachim 3:6)
Since the king is the heart of the people, it must be he who reads from the Torah at Hakhel. For Hakhel… is a very special moment in Jewish national observance. It is the time when Klal Yisrael re-connects to their source by internalizing the most basic messages of the Torah. It is therefore fitting that the “heart” of the people should activate this re-connection, for just as the physical heart pumps blood through the whole body, so too does the spiritual heart — the king –infuse his entire nation with the ideas of the Torah.
This author has noted over the years that the concept of the Hakhel learned back in Philadelphia, back in the “Old Country,” was that even infants, those not even yet cognizant of language would be touched by this communal gathering and be affected by the enunciation of Halachot. The Artscroll Stone Chumash notes on Hakhel (Commentary on Sefer Devarim, Perek 31, posuk 12):
The time to inculcate values in children is from their earliest youth, and especially by the example of the parents and others who sincerely strive for the ideals they preach…. Thus, for bringing their children to Hakhel, parents deserved to be rewarded, for they demonstrated that the Torah was precious to them.
Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, in his sefer “Unlocking The Torah Text,” Sefer Devarim (page 347-349) provides commentary on Hakhel:
Every seven years, the people will assemble in force, young and old alike to participate in the Mitzvah of Hakhel, to witness its most powerful political figure pledging allegiance to Hashem and His law through the public teaching of Torah…. designed to root the Torah text in the hearts and minds of the nation.
….He commands the Mitzvah of Hakhel, the public reading of the Torah in the presence of the entire nation, thereby injecting the community into the realm of textual study, often seen only in personal terms.
Hashem’s message to the nation through these Mitzvot could not be clearer: Community and individuals must work together, hand in hand.
[Rabbi Goldin, interpreting Hashem’s message] I command you… to periodically gather… as a community — young and old, men and women. Inject the Mitzvah of Torah study, most often seen in personal terms, into the public sphere. Let the most powerful among you read the text, an act that will underscore your responsibility to build a society based on the dictates of Torah law. Cherish and sustain that communal structure. Recognize its essential role in the analysis, practice and transmission of the law.
Recognize the personal obligation that each of us bears for the continuity of [Torah] thought and idea. Touch again on lesson… taught you on so many occasions and in so many ways: unity does not connote uniformity. Your handwriting is your own. The scrolls you “write” will be identical in content, but will vary in style. The flavor of your personal observance, the contributions that you make to [Yiddishkeit, spiritual] thought, the teachings that you share with your children will all enter the flow of your nation’s journey and will help shape your people’s character. Each of you is cherished and each of you can make a unique contribution to the whole..
These commandments strike the balance between individual and community — a balance that will be crucial throughout the rich, enduring journey of an eternal people.
We yearn for the time of the building of the Third and Permanent Beit HaMikdash, Torah-true governance with the Moshiach convening Hakhel, speedily in our days.
May we, the B’nei Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently settled and be made totally whole — be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them and that the twice expelled families of Amona be restored to their rebuilt homes, at government expense; both due to alt-leftist-agendized, supreme court legalized Yassamnik gunpoint. May our dear brother Jonathan Pollard be liberated and truly free — only upon his return home to Israel, and that the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem, as should the remains of the two chayalim from the Gaza War of four years ago. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V’Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and prevent Chas V’Challila the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel’s and Judaism’s destruction and eradication. May we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nai Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Ki Karov Yom Hashem Al’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bimhayrah b’yamainu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Good Shabbos Shuva! May You, All of My Brothers, Sisters, be Sealed, for another Year of Life… Now and Always!
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Moshe Burt is an Oleh, writer and commentator on news and events in Eretz Yisrael. He is the founder and director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network and lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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