77:24 Afterwards 1 one should have a fixed time for Torah study. In (one
of) the (Torah) portions about Shabbat it is said: 2 ''And Moses
gathered (the people together).'' Our sages, 3 may their memory be for a
blessing, commented: ''Why does it say in this portion 'gather (the
people)' '' ''and not say this in the rest of the Torah ?'' The Holy
One, Blessed be He, said to Moses: ''Go down and gather together for me
large groups on Shabbat, so that the following generations will (also)
learn after them, to assemble groups each Shabbat and learnTorah
together.'' 4 It was also said: 5 ''The Shabbatot and festivals were not
given to the Jews except to busy (themselves) on them with (the study
of) Torah.'' For many people are preoccupied all the week days with
their work, and they are not free to study Torah regularly. On Shabbat
and festivals when they are freed from their work they can carry out
(the study of) Torah properly. Therefore, workers and businessmen, who
are not regularly engaged in Torah (study) during the week, have a
greater obligation to study Torah on the holy Shabbat day, each one
according to one's ability and potential. 6
1) After eating and sleeping on Shabbat afternoon. 2) Exodus 35:1. 3) Midrash Yalkut Shimoni, Vayakhel. 4) The Midrash ends with Hashem declaring to Moshe that if the Jews do this (that is, learn and teach Torah communally on Shabbat) He will treat it as if they have made Him King in His world. 5) Jerusalem Talmud, Shabbat 15:3. 6) A Midrash quoted by the Tur (see Mishna Berurah 290:5) tells how the Torah said to Hashem: ''When the Jews enter the Land of Israel, this person will be running to his vineyard, this one to his field, what then will become of me?'' Hashem answered: ''I have a partner for you, who's name is Shabbat, and (on that day) they will be free from their work and will thus be able to engage in (the study of) you.'' |
אחר כך קובעים ללמוד תורה בפרשת שבת נאמר ויקהל משה ודרשו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה למה נאמר בפרשה זו ויקהל ולא נאמר כן בכל התורה כולה אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה רד ועשה לי קהלות גדולות בשבת כדי שילמדו הדורות הבאים אחריך להקהיל קהלות בכל שבת וללמד תורה ברבים עוד אמרו לא נתנו שבתות וימים טובים לישראל אלא לעסוק בהם בתורה כי הרבה אנשים טרודים כל ימי החול במלאכתם ואין להם פנאי לעסוק בתורה בקביעות ובשבת ויום טוב שהם פנוין מלאכתם יכולין לעסוק בתורה כראוי לפיכך בעלי מלאכות ובעלי בתים שאינם עוסקים בתורה כל ימי השבוע המה מחוייבים יותר לעסוק בתורה ביום שבת קודש איש איש כפי השגתו ויכלתו |
78:1 When we add on Shabbat,1 we can call a Cohen2 or Levi3 for the
final aliyah.4 Since we have already called up seven men, and also this
is the last to be read. (except for Maftir)5 Similarly, for Maftir we
can call a Cohen or a Levi. Even one Cohen for Acharon and another Cohen
for Maftir may be called, since the (saying of) Kaddish makes an
interruption between the two. On Simchat Torah, when three Torah scrolls
are taken out,6 one can call one Cohen as Chatan Torah,7 another as
Chatan Bereishit,8 and another as Maftir, since each one reads from a
different Torah scroll. However, on a Rosh Hodesh Tevet9 that occurs on
Shabbat, even though we take out also three Torah scrolls, if we want to
read in the first Torah scroll for eight men, we may not call up a Cohen
to be the eighth,10 since we still haven't concluded the reading in this
Torah scroll, and the conclusion is in the second Torah scroll where we
read the Rosh Hodesh portion,11 then we may call him.12 This is the law
on Parashat Shekalim and Parashat HaHodesh that came on Rosh Hodesh.13
1) Being called up to say the blessing which precedes each public reading of a section of the Torah scroll, is called an ''Aliyah''. On Shabbat, the weekly Torah portion is split into 7 sections and a different person is called up to say the blessing before each section is read. It is allowed to split the Torah portion into more than seven sections on Shabbat, and so call up more than seven people. If there is a Cohen in the synagogue, he gets the first aliyah, followed by a Levite. 2) A Cohen or priest is a direct descendant on the male side of Pinchas (the grandson of Aharon). 3) A Levi or Levite is a direct descendant on the male side from the tribe of Levi. The tribe of Levi was chosen to serve G-d in the Sanctuary because they did not take part in the sin of the Golden Calf. 4) The final aliyah is called ''Acharon''. 5) After the reader has read the entire weekly portion (usually completing it with the seventh aliyah), another person is called up and the last few verses of the portion are repeated; this final aliyah is called Maftir. 6) The Festival of Simchat Torah marks the completion of the yearly reading cycle of the Torah scroll (one portion per week). Three scrolls are taken out: one for the completion of the final weekly portion of the Torah, the second for the beginning of the new yearly cycle of reading from Genesis, and the third for reading the section of the Torah describing the sacrifices brought in the Temple on the Festival. 7) The concluding aliyah in the Book of Deuteronomy. 8) The opening aliyah in the Book of Genesis. 9) The first day of the Hebrew month of Tevet. 10) The final aliyah in the first Torah scroll. 11) Describing the sacrifices brought in the Temple on the first day of each month. 12) For the Rosh Hodesh aliyah. 13) During the four weeks leading up to Pesach, we read an extra paragraph from the Torah scroll on Shabbat besides the regular weekly portion - each from a different scroll. One of them is the paragraph describing the obligatory donation of money to the Temple each year, called ''Parshat Shekalim'', and another is a paragraph describing the Mitzvah of sanctifying the new moon, called ''Parshat HaHodesh''. See also Ch. 140. |
כשמוסיפין בשבת יכולין לקרות כהן או לוי לאחרון כיון שכבר השלימו שבעה גברי וגם שהוא האחרון מעיקר הקרואים חוץ מן המפטיר וכן המפטיר יכולין לקרות כהן או לוי ואפילו כהן אחד לאחרון וכהן אחד למפטיר יכולין לקרות כיון שהקדיש מפסיק ביניהם ובשמחת תורה שמוציאין שלשה ספרי תורה יכולין לקרות כהן אחד לחתן תורה ואחד לחתן בראשית ואחד למפטיר כיון שכל אחד קורא בספר תורה אחר אבל בראש חדש טבת שחל להיות בשבת אף על פי שמוציאין גם כן שלשה ספרי תורה אפילו אם רוצים לקרות בספר תורה הראשון שמונה גברי אין רשאי לקרות להכהן שיהיה השמיני כיון שעדיין אין משלימין הקריאה בספר זה והמשלים הוא בספר השני שקורין בו פרשת ראש חדש ואז יכולין לקרותו וכן הדין בשבת שקלים ובפרשת החדש כשהם בראש חדש |
78:2 If we called up an (additional) Cohen or Levi in the middle of the
(7) aliyot1 another (Yisrael) should take the aliyah in his place and he
should wait by the platform. He will be called to Maftir or the final
aliyah, after the rest of the aliyot.
1) By mistake. We don't normally call up a Cohen or Levi after the first two aliyot except for Maftir or Acharon. This is because if a Cohen was called up immediately after another Cohen the congegration may think that the first was disqualified in some way and for that reason we called up the second. | אם קראו לכהן או ללוי באמצע המנין יעלה אחר במקומו והוא ימתין אצל התיבה ויעלה למפטיר או לאחרון לאחר מנין הקרואים |
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