Shabbos Parashas Vayeilech - 5776

Shabbos Parashas Vayeilech - 5776

Rabbi Hal Miller

Moshe commanded them, saying, "At the end of seven years, at the time of the

Shemittah year, during the Succos festival, when all Israel comes to appear before

Hashem, your G-d, in the place that He will choose, you shall read this Torah before

all Israel, in their ears. [Devarim 31:10-11]

We have an opportunity to do something special in a couple weeks. This is a

mitzvah that only occurs once every seven years. Of course, Hakhel is a commandment

primarily to the king, so at this point when we have no king, we kind of have to wing it. But

is that really the case?

Who does this commandment apply to? Does it apply today? Exactly what does the

commandment entail?

Common understanding is as Rashi puts it, "The king would read". But is it correct to

make a jump from that statement to saying that the commandment only applies to the

king? Perhaps someone else could do the reading in the king's absence.

Rambam writes that this commandment "is to gather together all the people of Israel at

the conclusion of every Shemittah year, and to read to them certain parashiyos of the

Torah." He doesn't tell us who does the gathering nor who does the reading. Ramban's

comments have to do with those to whom it is read, the people, and the reasons why

the people need this learning session.

Sefer HaChinuch lists this as commandment number 612, and describes it as, "The

precept to assemble the entire people to hear the Torah read after the seventh year."

He concentrates on the reasons and the listeners, explaining that the key is the assembly

of all the people, and the fact that they are getting some structured learning. However,

in the end, he adds, "Among the laws is that it was the king who had the obligation to

read aloud" although he does not specify where he learns this from.

The purpose seems agreed upon, to strengthen people's belief and arouse them to

perform mitzvos. These purposes apply today. The idea of gathering all the Jewish

people into one spot to hear one person read is a bit farfetched at the moment, even

though technically possible. The idea of getting all the Jewish people to agree to do

anything is probably beyond reason at this point, but if we limit it to those who care

enough to want to participate, we could understand the command as being implemented

in all of our synagogues when we read the same parsha together every week. None of

this takes a king.

If we had a king, would we even then be able to get all the Jewish people into one spot

to listen? Short of the coming of our Messiah, probably not. Thus, we could say that the

command will only apply in Messianic times. Or we could say that it applies now in a

somewhat altered form, meaning dispersed. In any event, the command reflects

something we need to be doing, even if we aren't quite sure how to make it happen.

Given that we have just concluded a Shemittah year, this is the time when this mitzvah

applies. Specifically, the first day of Chol HaMoed Succos is the time for this reading.

That's just a couple weeks off. Maybe we'd better figure this out and be ready.