Simchas Torah, post-covid19

Avodah
1

A few days ago, I realized that when this Shabbos passes, we will have
missed hearing the Entire Chumash Vayikra in shul. And there are no
guarantees on how much we'll hear of Chumash Bamidbar. :frowning:

For the purposes of this thread, let's presume that we are back in shul by
Simchas Torah - because if we're not, then the question is moot.

I've seen various views on what to do about all the parshios that we're
missing, and it seems that some shuls will try to make them all up. But
others will not, and my question will apply to them. I am nowhere big
enough to weigh in on the merits of each view. But I will repeat what has
been said many times on these pages: In an "oness" situation, one does not
get punished for failure to do the mitzvah, but he also misses the benefits
it could have provided. (Dissenting views can start a separate thread.)

What will Simchas Torah be like this year? Even if we can be socially close
like in yesteryear, *what* will we celebrate? Usually we celebrate the
completion of learning the entire Torah. If we leave some parshios unread,
what will be the significance of the day?

Of course, I don't mean to cast any questions on the Chag itself, which we
were celebrating for millenia prior to the newfangled idea of the yearly
parsha cycle. I'm just wondering if/how we might have to adjust our minds
and practices.

The vav of Gachon (Vayikra 11:42, Parshas Shmini) is considered the middle
letter of the Torah.
Darosh Darash (Vayikra 10:16, also in Shmini) are considered the middle
words of the Torah.
And Vayikra 13:13, in Parshas Tazria, is considered the middle pasuk of the
Torah.

Most shuls closed their doors about a month before reaching any of these
points. In other words, our Shabbos morning laining has thus far read much
less than one-half of the Torah, no matter how you want to calculate it. If
the shuls reopen in mid-to-late Elul - and certainly if they open in
Tishrei - then Simchas Torah will arrive with us having read less than half
of the Torah. Something to think about.

Akiva Miller

2

What will Simchas Torah be like this year? Even if we can be socially close
like in yesteryear, *what* will we celebrate? Usually we celebrate the
completion of learning the entire Torah. If we leave some parshios unread,
what will be the significance of the day?

RGS and I discussed this.

He said it's a siyum on being ma'avir sedra either way.

I wonder about all the heterim we invoke to have various minhagim on
Simchas Torah. Like reading the Torah at night, in order to justify
taking them out to dance with at night.

Or the absurd number of aliyos, requiring repeating the leining. (Less
odd for Sepharadim.)

Or dancing with sifrei Torah to begin with.

And I too don't mean to cast aspersions on a regular ST.

But....

Is there enough justification left for such dachuq practices?

I wasn't happy with RGS's answer because the whole point is that we're
witnessing the end of what we made a siyum on. Ought we permit going
through such lengths to justify use of sifrei Torah to make a siyum
for learning we did out of chumashim?

Meanwhile, a third person suggested: Yes there is another factor to push
for heter this coming Shemini Atzeres -- the tzibbur needs this Simchas
Torah more than most. For straight psychological terms. And if we don't
firmly return to normal, how many people will normalize things they have
been doing all this time and continue in the post she'as hadechaq period.

Kind of like arguing that a normal ST this year would help shul attendance
in the long run. Or going back to not selling "real chameitz" if that's
what you hold.

I could see it. People forget how quickly something can become ancient
history. So it might depend on how soon after the resumption of minyanim
Simcas Torah will be. OTOH, I expect by then I'll still be wearing my
Shabbos, work and just-around-the-neighborhood face masks. So... we'll
see.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

my question on it, he can.

3

Here's another question: The indvidual obligation of Shmo"s is "lehashlim parshiyosav *im hatzibur*. If the tzibur is not reading the parsha, does the individual obligation still apply?

4

Define "tzibbur". The local miyan (or the local minyan he usually
attends)? Or the community of all minyanim that follow the same minhag
of sedros.

Can we prove whether or not the nursing homes, hospitals, army bases,
etc... all the minyanim that have no motive to halt during a pandemic, are
enough to carry kelal Yisrael forward for shenamyim miqra ve'echad targum?

(Note, I learned about "shemo"s" as an acronym for shenayim miqra from
a chassidishe rebbe in Jr High. Personally, I have only encountered that
acronymn inside the chassidish veldt.)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

5

In Avodah V38n36, RZS asked:

Here's another question: The indvidual obligation of Shmo"s is

"lehashlim parshiyosav *im hatzibur*. If the tzibur is not reading the
parsha, does the individual obligation still apply? <
Fn2 at
https://halachipedia.com/index.php?title=Shnayim_Mikra_V'Echad_Targum
tells me that l'chulei alma, individuals are obligated even when there's no
communal reading.

--Michael via phone

6

.
R' Zev Sero asked:

The indvidual obligation of Shmo"s is "lehashlim parshiyosav
*im hatzibur*. If the tzibur is not reading the parsha, does
the individual obligation still apply?

R' Micha Berger responded:

Define "tzibbur". The local minyan (or the local minyan he
usually attends)? Or the community of all minyanim that follow
the same minhag of sedros.

Can we prove whether or not the nursing homes, hospitals, army
bases, etc... all the minyanim that have no motive to halt
during a pandemic, are enough to carry kelal Yisrael forward
for shenamyim miqra ve'echad targum?

My wild guess is that "HAtzibur" refers to the minyan that one usually
attends, similar to Tefilas Tal, for which the nursing homes et al did not
suffice (at least not according to Rav Schachter).

RMB added:

(Note, I learned about "shemo"s" as an acronym for shenayim
miqra from a chassidishe rebbe in Jr High. Personally, I have
only encountered that acronymn inside the chassidish veldt.)

And at the very end of Aruch Hashulchan O"C 285:1, quoting the Levush.

R' Michael Popper wrote:

Fn2 at

https://halachipedia.com/index.php?title=Shnayim_Mikra_V'Echad_Targum

tells me that l'chulei alma, individuals are obligated even when
there's no communal reading.

No. Halachipedia's words are "that there's an obligation of Shenayim Mikra
even for someone who heard Torah reading in shul." That's pretty much the
same as the words of both Rambam Tefilah 13:25 and Mechaber 285:1 - "Even
though one hears the whole Torah each week b'tzibur, he must read it to
himself each week."

One could easily interpret it to mean "Even though he hears it b'tzibur,
and certainly if he doesn't hear it b'tzibur," but it's NOT explicit in the
text. One could just as easily say that "Yashlim adam parshiyosav im
hatzibur" would not apply if there's no tzibur reading it.

It is worthwhile to note that Halachipedia points to an interesting Hagahos
Maimoniyos on Rambam Tefila 13:25. He quotes the Raavan as holding that
Shemo"s applies ONLY to those who live in villages and don't go to the shul
to hear the parsha. The Raavan understood "IM hatzibur" to mean that those
yechidim should be reading the parsha at home at the *same time* as it is
being read in shul, but the Hagahos Maimoniyos disagreed.

Akiva Miller

7

(Replying onlist after clearing my thoughts w/ RAMiller offlist.)
In Avodah V38n38, RAMiller responded to me:

Fn2 at

https://halachipedia.com/index.php?title=Shnayim_Mikra_V'Echad_Targum

tells me that *l'chulei alma*, individuals are obligated even when
there's no communal reading.

No. Halachipedia's words are "that there's an obligation of Shenayim

Mikra even for someone who heard Torah reading in shul." That's pretty much
the same as the words of both Rambam Tefilah 13:25 and Mechaber 285:1 -
"Even though one hears the whole Torah each week b'tzibur, he must read it
to himself each week."

One could easily interpret it to mean "Even though he hears it b'tzibur,

and certainly if he doesn't hear it b'tzibur," but it's NOT explicit in the
text. One could just as easily say that "Yashlim adam parshiyosav im
hatzibur" would not apply if there's no tzibur reading it.

It is worthwhile to note that Halachipedia points to an interesting

Hagahos Maimoniyos on Rambam Tefila 13:25. He quotes the Raavan as holding
that Shemo"s applies ONLY to those who live in villages and don't go to the
shul to hear the parsha. The Raavan understood "IM hatzibur" to mean that
those yechidim should be reading the parsha at home at the *same time* as
it is being read in shul, but the Hagahos Maimoniyos disagreed.
Please have a look at the Hagahos yourself (
https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=9713&st=&pgnum=197, start at the
6th narrow line); or, if you wish, BY 285:1b (at
https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=14265&st=&pgnum=475, it's
*d'h'* "aval"
and start at the 2nd wide line). The RaAVaN
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliezer_ben_Nathan&gt; holds that BT
B'rachos "l'olam yashlim" does not apply when someone hears the *sedra* read
at a *minyan* but rather only applies to someone who has no Shabbos-morning
*minyan* to attend [so *yashlim* at the time that a Torah reading is
occurring] -- that has been our pandemic-related situation! -- and the
Hagahos argues that "yashlim" applies to that someone whether or not he can
attend a *minyan* that Shabbos (i.e. not only when he has no *minyan* but
also when he does), so sounds to me like l'chulei alma, all someones are
obligated l'hashlim when they cannot attend a *minyan*. Does that help, or
do you still disagree? Thanks.
(RAMiller responded, "Thank you for pushing me to review this. It seems
that I had missed the Hagahos's words 'b'chol inyan', explicitly meaning
whether there's a tzibur or not.")

Gut Chodesh and Yuntef!
and all the best from
*Michael Poppers* * Elizabeth, NJ, USA