Tag: parshios

  • Who Divided & Named the ‘Parsha-Parshios’ of the Week?

    Including:
    – The Real History of Simchas Torah‘s Creation
    -Why certain Parshios are combined and not others

    September, 2023

                 A young member of my shul approached me during the simchas torah hakafos last year and asked, “Wouldn’t Shavuos be a more apt time to complete our siyum of the Torah?”

         An adult member overheard the question, and I could only guess he had been overwhelmed with the simcha of the day when he offered: “It’s because today is simchas torah! How could we not finish now! Imagine simchas torah without a siyum of the Torah!”

        As soon as he completed his ‘answer’, he realized he was in no state to offer teirutzim.

         Simchas Torah is often misunderstood.

         The history behind how we came to commemorate the completion of the Torah on (the second day of) shemini atzeres is fascinating, beguiling,  and furnishes us with a unique opportunity to appreciate certain rudimentary arrangements of our Torah lives.

    How old is this minhag of simchas torah? Is not this siyum haTorah interfering with our separate Torah obligation of simchas yom tov (based on the rule: ein ma’arvin simcha b’simcha/we don’t intermingle certain simchos)? Why don’t we complete the Torah on a Shabbos, the day we had leined it until now?

    Most saliently, who divided our parshios of the week into the names and partitions with which we are so familiar, and through which this special siyum was created?

         As we clutch and dance with the Torah this yom tov, let’s strive for a keener understanding of the occasion we are commemorating.

    Parshios vs. Parshios

          I once published a lengthy post titled Chapter and Verse, where I explained the halachic and hashkafic history behind a central element of our day-to-day lives as Jews – the Christian-introduced divisions of the ‘chapters/perakim’, as well as their dividing of sefrei melachim, shmuel, divrei hayamim and ezra, each, into two separate books; even naming the ‘second part’ of Ezra into a newly-named sefer called ‘nechemia’ (Cf. Sanhedrin 93b where chazal explain why Nechemia was not to have a sefer named for him!).

        Our mesorah already gave us divisions of our own, called ‘parshios’. These are not to be confused with what we colloquially call the ‘parshas hashavuah’. Rather, these mesorah ‘parshios’ are breaks/spaces found inside sifrei Torah and come to represent a new subject, event, or simply the pause Moshe was given when being taught by Hashem (see Rashi Vayikra 1:1 with Toras Kohanim; neviim and kesuvim also have such breaks).  There are two types of such breaks/spaces in Torah: pesuchos (represented in most standard chumashim with a large letter pei), and setumos (represented in chumashim with a large letter samech).

    A stumah is when the new section continues on the same line as the last, but with a space (of nine-letters); a pesucha is where the new parsha begins on a new line, but with a space of the same size.

        These parshios are significant, and a sefer Torah without them, or if in the wrong place, would be pasul.

    Does This Distinction Really Matter?

         Many are already aware of this, and that our parshios hashavuah have nothing to do with the above. In another post, I discussed the weeks known as ‘shovav”im’ (from shemos–mishpatim) and shared that the parshios hashavuah became universally adopted – along with a yearly Simchas Torah—only about 800 years ago (see megillah 29b and sofrim 16:10, with Rambam, hilchos tefillah 13:1).

          Furthermore, Rav Shlomo Luria (d. 1573) shares that for those in eretz yisroel who were observing a triennial cycle, simchas torah would be celebrated once every three-and-a-half years, and that this syum would veer from city-to-city! (Yam Shel Shlomo, end of bava kama, kuntrus ‘chilukei denim bein bnei e’y u’vein bnei bavel’. See also Otzar Plios HaTorah, emor, p. 931)

       Here is a ubiquitous example of how confusion regarding the above may lead to blunders:

       A well-known Rashi, and a favorite of children’s parsha sheets, is found in the beginning of ‘parshas’ Yisro, where Rashi quotes a chazal listing Yisro’s many names and their meanings. “Yeser [to add]: as Yisro added a parsha of the Torah” (shemos, 18:1)

       This is often erroneously repeated as meaning that Yisro received the zechus to have this parshas hashavua named for him –parshas ‘Yisro’!

       This is a misconception. Rather, what chazal meant, is that Yisro’s urging of Moshe to set up court systems ‘shaped’ a new parsha/section/inyan inside the Torah -along with its own breaks before and after it (setuma/pesucha), i.e. the ‘parsha’ of courts!

       Rebbeim certainly teach this accurately, yet some misunderstand or misremember their words.

            There are more examples, but I trust that the reader now appreciates that this distinction between parsha and parsha is substantial.

    Parsha ‘Names’

           Some may now assume the other extreme: the parshios hashavuah, while wisely divided so as to complete the Torah once a year, are capricious in nature.

          Rav Tzadok Hakohen teaches that just as our parents gave us personal names – which form/describe our essence -so too the names we have given and accepted for the weekly parshios carry their essence (Resisei Layla, ois 44).

        In fact, the Chasam Sofer (Drashos, Sukkos, p.52; likuttim Tehillim, p. 157) teaches that one should look at the parshas hashevua to find the answer to personal life-questions. This is especially true of the aliya one may receive (see ‘Melech B’yofiuv’ p. 5). Amazingly, Rav Yair Chayim Bacharach (d. 1702) named his famous sefer ‘Chavos Yair’ based on an aliyah he received (Bamidbar, 32:41)!

            Metzorah, mattos, shemeni and more are not named for their first word (‘v’elah shemos’ is indeed how Rav Saadia Gaon referred to shemos), and these accepted names are to be deemed kodosh.

          While we do find some names of our current weekly parshios already in chazal (e.g. ‘kedoshim’ – zevachim 28a), most names evolved over centuries, many in the days of the geonim (Rav Chaim Kinievsky, Derech Sicha, p. 3; see Yesodei Yeshurin below).

         In fact, we used to divide parshas mishpatim into two parshios on certain years, the latter half with its own name.
    (In a separate post I discuss how certain parshios were chosen to be split or combined on certain years, and why)

         There are some who posit, that our present-day parshios hashevuah were passed down from Moshe or Ezra, and were always seen as the optimal way to read the Torah (see Ohr Zarua, hilchos shabbos, siman 45, Meiri, Kiryas Sefer, maamer 5 perek 1, and Tanchuma Ki Sisa 3; see also sefer ‘Toldos Simchas Torah’).

       Some go further, asserting that the triennial completion of the Torah was a temporary aberration (Rav Reuven Melech Schwartz, Yemei Shovavim).

    Why Sukkos?

      Whatever the history, there is no doubt that great sagacity was applied to our current system. So, we must ask: Why do we choose to finish the Torah at this time of year?

          When I was younger, I would surmise that this was because the luchos rishonos of Shavuos were broken, then we did teshuvah, and on Yom Kippur Hashem forgave us making our kabalas hatorah complete with our receiving the luchos sheniyos. The first ‘available’ day after Yom Kippur to venerate this kabalas hatorah – when all are gathered without additional/special mitzvos of the day – is shemeni atzeres.

          Later, I grasped a far simpler solution and, chasdei Hashem, I now discovered that Rav Gedalya Felder (d. 1991) makes the same point (Yesodei Yeshurin, chelek 4, p. 355-365).

          Chazal share that Ezra obligated us in two specific leinings on two precise Shabbosim of the year -no matter the cycle of Torah reading one may be utilizing. We must read the tochecha found at the end of sefer vayikra (in ‘bechukosei’) before Shavuos, and those found at the end of sefer devarim (in ‘ki savo’) before Rosh Hashana (as to why we today lein these tochechos two Shabbosos before these yomim tovim, see tosfos to megila 31b).

          For those that observed the triennial cycle, then, during these two Shabbosos, they would have likely paused their cycle and instead read these tochechos, returning the next week to their cycle. Or they may have read their regular reading and simply added these special readings as a maftir.

          However, for our current yearly cycle of parshios, it not only works out perfectly with this gezeira of Ezra, but it seems to have been arranged around it! We place bechukosei before Shavous, and ki savo before Rosh Hashana, and everything falls where it falls -including our yearly completion happening right after sukkos.

         There are many questions we have yet to answer, such as why do not why to make this siyum on the Shabbos following shemini atzeres, why this isn’t a concern of ein maavirin, who introduced the positions where we stop for aliyos, who decided which parshios are sometimes combined, and how we developed various fascinating minhagim on simchas torah.

           These and more will, iy”H be discussed for next year’s Sukkos issue. May it be in yerushalim habenuyah!

    1. The Great Parsha Conundrum: A Hiccup in Our Calendar

      The Great Parsha Conundrum: A Hiccup in Our Calendar

      Why We Combine Only Certain Parshios

      “Why did you vote for that candidate?” I asked.

      I was curious. The shul in question was looking for a rav and brought in three well-known talmidei chachamim for probahs.

      One of the members of the board –a friend –was giving me updates throughout the process, so as to discuss the proper procedures of those three complicated shabbosim.

      It was time for the vote and he volunteered that he was voting for Rav X.

      At risk of avak lashon harah, I wondered what maaleh he saw in this particular rav (without sharing perceived chasronos of his or the others, hence the risk of avak lashon harah).

      He explained, “Well, they were all fantastic, however, my decision was easy. On the Friday night of this particular rav’s prabah, most of the shul lined up to wish the candidate a gut Shabbos…”

      I’ve been in this situation before, and it is always a strenuous pressure. Everyone shares with you their name, you respond with questions (e.g. “Oh, are you related to so-and-so?” etc.). There is simply no way to remember all of these brief –and sometimes intimate- rapid exchanges that you had. By the next day your mind is mush; an amalgam of thousands of bits of info.

      He continued. “So, when it was my turn I was brief. But my teenage son asked him a quick kashah on the parsha –something that has long bothered him. We then quickly shuffled off. The next day, as we were waking to shalosh seudos the candidate walked over to my son. ‘I found that the Netziv asks your question’ he said. He then proceeded to give over the Netziv’s answer as well as an answer of his own.

      “If someone, during such an significant 24-hour period of their life –and one of the busiest –took time to look-up and answer a young man’s shailah, well, that is the rav for me.”

      I could not agree more. We have said often in this space that one of the great maalos of rabbanus is not just the interesting questions one receives –as we all hear great kashos from time to time – but the necessity to at least give effort in finding answers.

      This year is a great example of this. There is a question which I would venture every reader has had in their back of their mind this year (and previous similar years), and even if ever verbalized rarely took the time to search for an answer.

      I do not have that ‘luxury’.

      This morning, after shachris, a young member asked me this question.

      Whenever the 22nd of Nissan fall on Shabbos a strange situation is created. In eretz yisroel it is just a regular Shabbos, although issru chag, and they read the parshas hashavuah. For us in chutz l’aretz, it is acharon shel pesach, which has its own special kriah. Meaning, the next week we read the parsha they had read the Shabbos before.

      We are out of sync!

      This continues so that the week you are reading this article, if you are in chutz l’aretz the parsha is Emor, and if you are in eretz yisroel, the parsha is Bahar!

      (This can happen due to Shavuos as well, see Biur HaGr’a and Biur Halacha siman 428 s.v. bamidbar for all the ways the parshios can fall out each year, and why. See also Shaarei Yitzchak end of klal 11. See Magen Avraham ad loc. sif katan 6 and Mishna Berrura 10).

      The questions become numerous. For instance, my father and other bnei eretz yisroel who were here for Pesach will soon be returning to eretz yisroel. They will be one parsha behind! What to do in such a case is a matter of great discussion, and the reader is advised to see Yom Tov Sheni K’Hilchoso, pages 138-141).

      But there is a deeper, non-halachik question that this creates, and it was this that the young man this morning wished to know. Why do we wait so long to get back in sync? Amazingly, it is not until the month of Av–the parshios of Mattos-Massei –that we catch up! That week, in eretz yisroel they lein only Massei while we lein both.

      His question is a great one.

      There certainly are sooner candidates, for example, this year, chutz l’aretz could have easily merged Achrei Mos and Kedoshim and we would have been caught the very first week! Another sooner candidate is the potential double parsha of Behar–Bechukosei as is done in non-leap years.

      In addition, when the 22nd of Nissan falls on Shabbos in non-leap years, we could also easily merge in chutz l’aretz Tazria–Metzorah.

      Why then do we wait all the way till the summer? It seems that we are going out of our way to stay out of sync for some time.

      Strange.

      To get an understanding of all of this, we first have to unpack the history of the parshios.

      Historically, finishing the Torah once a year was not a universal custom, with some communities completing it only once every three years-three and a half (see Megilla 29b).

      Still in the year 1170 there were two shuls in Egypt –one that leined what we know today as the parshios of the week, and the other that read at a third that pace (Masoas Binyamin M’Toledo, Adler edition, p. 63)!

      Yes, this means that the latter group did not have ‘Simchas Torah’! (See Toldos Simchas Torah, ch. 1)

      At some point, around 800 years ago, everyone began to complete the Torah cycle once every year.

      The system still went through certain revisions, for instance the Avudaram gives us one double parsha that we no longer observe –Shelach–Korach!

      In fact, the Chida quotes from the Rosh that “The purpose of the divisions of parshios is simply so as to finish the Torah once every year. Each leader of every community separates and combines the parshios as he sees fit, for these are not halachos rather minhag (shu’t Chaim Shaal, Chazah HaTenufa; Kitzur Teshuvos HaRosh 54. See also shu’t Ohr Zarua 2:45 for an interesting communal case where he echoes the same point as the Rosh).

      However, certainly at our point in history we are obliged to follow minhag yisroel.

      With the above in mind our question is only stronger –why don’t we just combine an earlier set of parshios instead of waiting till the month of Av to become in sync?

      Before providing an answer, one more piece of history is critical.

      Have you ever wondered why we start from Bereishis at Sukkos time? Would it not make more sense to create a yearly cycle that began and ended on Shavuos?

      Imagine dancing with the Torah on the very day of nesinas hatorah (sh’baal peh, see Gittin 60)!

      The answer comes from a chazal (Megilla 31b) where we are taught that Ezra established that we read the kelolos found in Vayikra before Shavous and those found in Devarim before Rosh Hashana, so that the new years (Shavuos is the new year for the fruits of trees) can commence with the curses behind them.

      Meaning, even those that only finished the Torah once every three years would stop at these times of year to lein Bechukosei and Ki Savo.

      Now, if one pauses to think about it, one will recognize that with our one-year cycle that starts on Sukkos it works out anyway to read those parshios at their designated times! Meaning, we set our weekly schedule to fit the takana of Ezra!

      With all of this in mind we get an answeras to why we wait so long to be in sync with eretz yisreol.

      The Maharit (d.1639) in a teshuva (2:4) asks this question. He first quotes the above gemara about takanas Ezra, and reminds us that we follow the view of Tosfos (s.v. kelolos) to lein the kelolos two shabbosim before those yomim tovim, so that we have a buffer of one stam parsha in-between.

      Now we can understand why we wait so long to join eretz yisroel. Because of the way Pesach fell this year they will be leining the kelolos with a two week buffer before Shavous. While they have no choice in the matter, we certainly do not wish to join them in being so distant from the takana of Ezra!

      There are other explanations to this issue –and even some who do split earlier parshios in eretz yisroel (see shu’t Mishpetei Yisroel 3:58), but we chose this answer here for with it one learns so much about the history of krias haTorah! And so, I answered the young man…thankfully I already have the job!