I. The Event
It was as if those fifteen seconds took place in slow motion.
It was the Second Day of Sukkos 5779.
As the gollel began to roll and tighten the atzei chaim, the eitz to the right side of the sefer suddenly become unmoored from its screw.
Within a millisecond, the baal hagbah was heard letting out a shriek as half the sefer rolled away…unto the floor of the beis haknesses.
The gasp heard from all present will never leave my mind. Time stood still.
Everyone was in shock.
There is something instinctive, almost congenital, in the reaction to such an event. Everyone knows, feels, that something must be done to atone for such an event.
I too was shocked.
It was the Second Day of Sukkos – zman simchaseinu – and yet all were depressed. Chazal teach that when Hashem shows us a rain on Sukkos it is a bad sign –what, then, of a sefer Torah that falls!?
Not knowing what to do, I had some siyatta d’shmaya. Right after aleinu I stood before the podium and said the following:
“I will give a shiur in the very near future as to what we need to do, but for now I have a suggestion. In just a few days we will be celebrating the completion of chamisha chumsha Torah on Simchas Torah. We now have another thirteen months until the next siyum. Let us each accepts upon ourselves one parsha to learn. On that same chosen parsha one will also write a Dvar Torah. This way, not only will be making a beautiful siyum next year on Simchas Torah but we will publish a sefer where our original Torah ideas for each parsha will be collected and sent out”
Within five minutes every parsha was taken. During chol hamoed even more wished to be a part of this project.
A tragedy was turned into an opportunity, which the shul then turned into a wonderful kiddush hashem.
So inspired, I quoted then the pasuk in Mishlei which teaches (24:16) “For a righteous man can fall seven times and [still] rise…” Hopefully Hashem too will see our response to what happened which shall eclipse the horrible event itself.
II. Fasting?
Many have likely heard or read that the necessary reaction to witnessing such an event (and, according to some, even if not witnessed, but simply if one belongs to the community) is to fast.
Some even suggest fasting for forty days!
It may be surprising, however, to learn that there is no direct source in the Gemara, or Midrash, nor any mention in the Rambam or Shulchan Aruch to any type of fasting for a dropped Sefer Torah (the same applies to dropped Teffilin not in their encasements).
Therefore, any such response falls into the category of minhag.
This is then a wonderful opportunity to not only discuss the source for this particular widespread minhag, but to examine the concept of minhagim in general.
III. What is a Minhag?
There is an all too common misconception when it comes to what minhagim are. Many may explain that opposed to a Torah law or Rabbinical law, a minhag is defined as being untethered to those first two categories of halacha. Some may even define the term minhag as referring to any custom that a family, community or individual has that relates to Jewish life but that is source-less in our legal cannon.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
All minhagim must have either a self-evident Torah rationale, an real-although minority- halachic view being followed, or be based on a source from chazal (see, e.g. Shu’t Noda B’Yehudah, 2, evh’a, #79 for how we relate this to the ethical will of Rav Yehudah HaChasid; see also Tzava Rav Yehudah Hachasis, Otzar HaPoskim edition).
This should not be interpreted to mean that we must always first discover a minhag’s source. Rather, to inform us that any well-established minhag is assumed to have deep meaning and is rooted in either tanach, mesora, or divrei chazal, or, our reverence for minhag history allows to be confident that such a source does exist.
For this reason, the Chasam Sofer writes (shu’t oh’c #51) that anyone who questions minhagei yisroel needs to have their yichus (pedigree) looked into!
There is even a question in halacha regarding accepting a potential ger who, while willing to accept all of the Torah and toras chazal, yet who at the same time is seemingly unwilling to accept minhagim (see ‘Sefer Minhagim’, Rav Moshe Walter, p. 14).
However, as opposed to a minhag developed to protect one from an issur (e.g. chumros relating to Pesach), the minhag to fast for a fallen sefer Torah demands we discover its source, as the poskim all strive to do.
III. Back to a Fallen Torah
The shailos in these cases abound –What if someone fell with the sefer Torah? What if it fell during hakafos? What if it was a child who dropped it? What if it fell b’oness (beyond one’s control)? What if one opened the aron and a sefer just fell out?
In addition, even in a simple case, the questions are many –Should only the one who dropped it fast? Only the ones who witnessed it? What if it was a pasul sefer Torah? What if –like in our case –it was only a part of a sefer Torah? Etc. etc. etc.
Because of these common complexities, knowing the true source for this minhag becomes more than a curiosity, rather it becomes essential in order to know how to apply the many variable cases.
This minhag is mentioned by the Mishneh Berrura (siman 40:3) and the Magen Avraham (siman 44:5), and dates to at least before the 15th century (Shu’t Mahari Bruna, d. 1480, mentions this minhag).
Famously, Rav Waldenberg (d. 2006) in his shu’t Tzitz Eliezar dedicated a small kuntres (monograph) just to this topic alone (beginning of chelek 5) where he brings virtually every posek and case recorded (see also Shu’t Divrei Yoel, Divrei Chaim, Har Tzvi and many other achronim who discuss this issue).
In 1969, Rav Yechezkel Grubner, famed rav of Detroit (d. 2009), wrote to Rav Moshe Feinstein (Igros Moshe oh’c 3:3) regarding his views relating to this issue.
It is a remarkable teshuvah (responsa).
Rav Moshe was a unique posek (halachic decider) who did not often research other achronim (later authorities), so to have Rav Grubner send Rav Moshe the sources that many other achronim marshal to back-up this minhag is fascinating. Rav Moshe dissects each potential source and shows how it would affect the halacha of this minhag.
What follows are the fascinating sources that Rav Grubner provides, and Rav Moshe’s response to them.
- The Mishpitei Shmuel (Rav Shmuel Kalei, Greece, d. 1585) is the earliest to suggest a source. The gemara (Moed Kattan 26a) teaches us the halacha of rending our garments on certain occasions. One of these times is after witnessing the destruction of a sefer Torah. This is a source that proves a special reaction when it comes to a dishonorable event to a sefer Torah, thereby allowing us to develop a minhag of fasting for when it falls.
Rav Moshe seems to accept this source as the most authoritative. However, Rav Moshe points out that according to many, this gemara is referring to a dishonorable act done intentionally and in spite. Therefore, fasting for an accidental fallen Torah should not be a minhag!
However, Rav Moshe explains that according to Rashi’s reading ad loc. –where even accidental dishonor would activate the clause of the gemara –our minhag fits perfectly.
- The Kappos Temarim (Rav Moshe ben Chavib, d. 1696) brings a different source, where chazal teach (Sukkah 41b) that one should not daven while holding sifrei kodesh (ostensibly, lest they fall).
Rav Moshe is initially troubled by this source. “Do we really need a source that one must be careful not to drop a Torah?!” he asks. Rather we are looking for a source that allows us to have a unique reaction to such a tragic event!
Rav Moshe suggests that perhaps the Kappos Temarim’s proof was from the fact that such a far- fetched fear –and one not found when, say, holding a Lulav that could become pasul if dropped –is even a factor. After all, how many would daven with such kavana as to risk dropping a Torah? Perhaps then what the Kappos Temarim is demonstrating is that finding such an implausible concern by a Torah is proof to allowing us a strong response if dropped.
Nevertheless, Rav Moshe explains why it is difficult today to rely on this being the source. He also adds, that should indeed this be the source, the application to today’s minhag would mean that only when someone is negligent (like the case of someone who started to daven while holding a Torah, which he should have realized was a risk) would there be a need to fast, but not when something happens beyond one’s control.
- The pasuk (Devarim 27:26) states at the end of the arrurim (curses) “asher lo yakum es divrei hatorah hazos”, which chazal (Yerushalmi, Sota 7:4) understand to be referring to the gabbei who did not make sure that the actual sefer Torah was well protected from falling (!). This is how Ramban too understands this pasuk.
Rav Moshe points out that while a beautiful source it would mean that only the person from whose hands the Torah fell would need to fast.
- Chazal (Taanis 16a, and previous Mishnah) teach us the procedure for a communal fast. Aside for the kehilla (community) going out into the street to daven to Hashem, they are also tasked with bringing their aron with them. The gemara wonders what would be purpose of bringing out the aron, and explains “we had a kli tzenua (the Torah within the aron) in our shul and we shamed it with our aveiros”. We see here a clear correlation between fasting and our reverence for our own sifrei Torah.
Rav Moshe points out that such a source, while wonderful, would have the application to our minhag that the entire community fast. It may even mean that even those who were not there at its falling would also need to fast.
Although Rav Moshe concludes that fasting is the proper minhag, each case is unique and questions of who fasts and when should always be brought before a rav. In addition, many poskim today suggest giving tzedaka, or repairing the sifrei Torah in lieu of a fast (e.g. Tzitz Eliezar, Minchas Asher, Piskei Teshuvos), for a number of reasons.
IV. Signs and Responses
How should a community view such an event? What type of sign, if any, should this be seen as?
Rav Efraim Oshry (d. 2003) was the last full time rav at Beis Medresh Hagdol, the shul founded in 1852 in New York by Rav Ash.
A talmud in the Slobadka yeshiva, Rav Oshry soon rose to prominence, and was the rav of the Kovna Ghetto while it was occupied by the Nazis y’s.
There, he received countless heart wrenching shailos that, along with his responses, he recorded and buried in the ground. After the war he retrieved these notes and published them in a volume under the name of ‘Shailos V’Teshuvos Mimamkim’ –‘Questions and Answers ‘From the Depths’’.
In a recent article regarding this same topic of a fallen sefer Torah that many readers have shared with me (see also Rav Daniel Feldman’s Bina L’Ittim), the prolific Rabbi Ari Zivotofsky recounts the following from shu’t Mimiakim.
“Rav Ephraim Oshry, z”tl, discusses a case in the Kovno Ghetto where the accursed Nazis slaughtered dogs and cats in the shul, and then forced Jews to tear apart sifrei Torah with which to cover the rotting carcasses. Rav Oshry ruled that those who witnessed the event should
tear keriyah, but there is no need for anybody to fast, particularly considering the malnutrition and ill health of those in the ghetto. Rav Oshry did view the event as a call from Above for teshuvah.”
Indeed, the Mahari Bruna (d.1480) that we quoted above mentions that a fallen sefer Torah should be seen as a clear sign from shomyaim that we need to do teshuva.
I would add –and perhaps this can be an additional source to the ones mentioned above– that when was the very first time a dvar kodesh (holy object) fell to the ground?
It was by the shibrei haluchos. After Moshe rabeinu witnessed the chet ha’egel (the sin of the golden calf), he smashed the first tablets to the ground. And, what was the date of that event? Shivaser b’tamuz –a fast day!
Perhaps then, just like that event was a clear sign for us to do teshuva, so too any future event where sifrei kodesh fall should be seen in the same light.
There are many suggestions as to why such an event is seen as a call to teshuva.
Some suggest that the mere fact that one’s eyes witnessed such an ignoble event occur to a holy object, this alone can effect one’s neshama. Meaning, it is not so much that sins caused the event to happen in the first place, rather that the witnessing of the event itself demands teshuvah.
This is one of the reasons why some poskim tell people with not-yet-frum relatives who wish to come for a meal on Shabbos, that even if there is an allowance for them to be invited although they may drive (a topic for another time) they mustn’t park in the driveway. Our children shall become accustomed to witnessing our embracing of all Jews, yet, and at the same time, must not see us embrace their (forbidden) actions.
Others suggest similarly, that as opposed to thinking that this that a fallen Torah was allowed to happen in the first place as a sign, rather, the mere zilzul sefer Torah that we witnessed demands our fasting.
An allusion to this can be found in chazal (Yerushalmi, Moed Kattan 3:7) where the death of a Talmud chacham is compared to a sefer torah. “Said Rav (after such a death), ‘I did not taste any food (i.e. I fasted) the rest of the day””
However, many posit that our reaction is not simply a reaction to the event alone, rather the fact that Hashem allowed it to happen in the first place is indeed a sign from shomayim of our need to do teshuva.
I would add to this, that the one time we are demanded to destroy sifrei kodesh is the by the mei sotah when a parsha of the Torah is destroyed in water. There, perhaps like here, is a time of sin and of teshuva.
Naturally, it is this last view that most who are witness to such an event, instinctively, seem to assume as the basis.
V. Final Thoughts and the Title of this Book
Immediately following the fallen sefer Torah on yom tov, many members approached me with their take on why this happened.
“This is because of those that come late to davening” “This is due to those who I can’t get to stop talking during chazaras hashatz”
“This is because the rav allowed/disallowed X”
The next day I mentioned some of these suggestions, and explained that they all had one thing in common –‘It was not my sin that caused this, rather the sin of the other!’
I pointed out from chazal (Sanhedrin 20a) that one of the greatest generations was that of R’ Yehudah bar Ilay where six men would be able to share one tallis.
Rav Elyah Lopian wonders how that would even be physically possible. He explains that it is true that when each person takes and pulls for himself then six people could not share one tallis, however, when each person tries to give some of the tallis to the other, when they pull it toward their friend, and visa versa, indeed many could share one tallis.
In a similar vain, if instead of finding out why the sin(s) of the ‘other’ is responsible for this tragedy, and instead each person would seek to discover what they could improve in themselves then we could be confident in offering to Hashem the teshuva He is looking for.
I wish to conclude with an amazing story that is recorded by Rav Paysach Krohn.
Several years ago a shul was looking to purchase a new sefer Torah. After the Shabbos of the announcement for collection of funds for this endeavor, an elderly gentleman approached the rav with an envelope filled with enough cash to pay for the entire project.
This elderly individual was not well-off and so, naturally, the rav asked for an explanation.
The older man explained how he was a survivor from the camps.
He was getting sick and the Nazi’s had taken away his shoes, leading to a risk to his life as he worked outside. He begged one of the officers for a pair of boots.
Surprisingly, the Nazi agreed, and more, said he will make him a custom pair!
The next day the Nazi presented his gift, leather boots made…from ripped sections of a sefer Torah.
“I had no choice, it was sakanas nefashos. But with every step I took I promised Hashem that if I ever make it out alive I will pay back the kavod sefer Torah by writing a new sefer. I did survive, and every day or week or month since liberation, when possible, I would put aside a little money; a little here, a little there. Now finally I have enough to purchase the entire sefer Torah and have kapara”!
Some times things happen beyond our control and the only remaining test is how we choose to react to it.
Our response was the study of Torah and the support for our sifrei Torah’s upkeep.
For these reasons I have chosen the title ‘Sefer Simchateinu’. First, the event happened on Sukkos –our time of gladness. Instead of sullying our Yom Tov joy we brought more of the light of Torah into our lives. Also, we completed this project a year later, again during zman simchaseinu.
We should feel very proud as a community!
For those who wish to add to these Divrei Torah, it is not too late!
Whether it is a Parsha already ‘taken’, one left blank, or a promise unfulfilled, we will welcome any addition to this wonderful new Sefer!
May Hashem protect the nation that protects His Torah.
Shul Chronicles 
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