“Every act of reading from the
Torah is a new giving of the Torah, a revival of the wondrous stand at the foot
of the flaming mountain. The reading of the Torah is a ‘staging’ of the giving
of the Torah and a renewal of the awesome, sublime experience, The revelational
experience is reenacted whenever the Torah scroll is removed from the ark for
reading in the synagogue,” wrote Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik (adapted from And from There You Shall Seek, Naomi Blum, trans.).
Therefore, he would stand for the entire reading, all year round. That is a
rare custom; most of us make do with standing during the readings of the Song
of the Sea and the Ten Commandments, in order to evoke the feeling of “we were
there.” Not only the standing, but the very reading from a Torah scroll written
on parchment and the entire accompanying ritual were meant to create an
elevated experience. If the purpose of the reading were limited to conveying
information, we would read from a printed book, which would be more accurate,
more convenient, and faster.
The full ritual surrounding the reading of the Torah developed slowly over the centuries,[1] but some important components are based on another formative event in the history of our nation, the precedent-setting reading of the Torah after the first return to Zion, as narrated in the Book of Nehemiah (8:5-6): “Ezra opened the scroll in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people; as he opened it, all the people stood up. Ezra blessed the ETERNAL, the great God, and all the people answered, ‘Amen, Amen.’”
This is the first mention of a
blessing on reading Torah. The text of Ezra’s blessing has not been preserved.
In the Babylonian Talmud, the sages discuss the obligation to recite a blessing
before and after a public reading of the Torah but prescribe a text only for
the blessings on individual Torah study. Faced with the three persuasive
proposals, the Sages chose a clearly Talmudic compromise: say them all.
The first blessing in this
series (on page 25 in Siddur veAni Tefillati) begins as a regular
mitzvah blessing “which we sanctified with his commandments and commandments” but
the ending varies between manuscripts of the Talmud, with a corresponding difference
in prayer customs, even today. In Ashkenazi versions, the ending is “to engage לעסוקin the words of the Torah.” Note the verb “to engage,”
to be actively involved. When we hear, read or study Torah, the mitzvah is to
bring with us all our knowledge, wisdom, life experience and concern.
The well-known blessing “Who chose
us from among all the nations and gave us Torah…. giver of the Torah”
originates in the same paragraph. It was adopted for public reading as early as
the ninth century, in Babylon, and is found in Seder Rav Amram, the
earliest Siddur that survived to our day.
Tractate Soferim, compiled in the Land of
Israel, sometime after the Talmud, states, “An individual who rises early to
read [=study] says the blessing, “Who gave us Torah from heaven and eternal
life from on high….” (13:8).
Some time later, also in the
Land of Israel, midrash Deuteronomy Rabbah was compiled, combining law
and narrative. After stating, “A Jew who ascends to read Torah [in our terminology,
“is given an aliyah”] is not allowed to read prior to blessing,” the Midrash
returns us to Mount Sinai. If any Jew must bless when going up to the Torah,
surely Moses blessed when he went up to receive it. –– May
Moshe ben Amram Halevi and Yocheved stand for the first aliyah! –– Rabbi Elazar asks, “What blessing
did Moses say?” and replies, “Who chose this Torah, and
sanctified and desires those who fulfill [literally, “do”] it.” The Midrash
goes on to emphasize, “And he did not say ‘those who pour over it,’ and he did
not say ‘those who think about it,’ but rather ‘those who do it,’ those who fulfill
words of the Torah” (11:6).
The blessings from Tractate Soferim
and Deuteronomy Rabbah are likely familiar to many of you. Rabbi Tzvi
Graetz presented them in his class on liturgy according to the ancient rite of
the Land of Israel, based on the work of the late Rabbi Simcha Roth and his
father, Rabbi Michael Graetz; some members have adopted themas their practice
when having an aliyah. Over the past two weeks, I corresponded and conversed with
some of them, in order to understand what motivates them. They all responded
similarly: discontent (to put it mildly) with the idea that God has chosen Israel
from all nations. For example:
One of my problems with the God who chooses is that I don’t
think that God can also be the “God of truth and justice,” because when there
is preference, there is no justice. When I had an aliyah I said, “With all
nations,” but that was an evasion, not a statement. When I learned this
blessing, it spoke to me and I was happy to discover that there are other ways
to give thanks for the Torah without appropriating it and without aggrandizing ourselves.
I share this position but also
want to nuance it. With all the problematics of being people that considers itself
as chosen and exalted, we are nonetheless blessing – in one form or another – a
Torah in which God makes a special covenant with Abraham and his descendants.
For me, the crucial point is not the choice but the doing, as the blessing
states, “Who sanctified and desires those who fulfill it.” The important thing
is not only to receive Torah but to enact the righteousness, justice and loving
kindness that it commands.
Similarly, the blessing formulated
by Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan[2] – also
accepted for use at Hod veHadar – “Who has drawn us to God’s work and given us
Torah” highlights the work/service to which we are called.
My perspective also leaves room
for God to make covenants with other peoples. Parents can love more than one
child and know how to assign each one a suitable role. So, too, one God can
relate to many peoples.
Just as Moses ascends a fiery mountain to
receive the Torah, the prophet Isaiah (chapter 8, this week’s Haftarah) beholds
Divinity (and also seraphim) through smoke. He hears the chant, “Holy, holy,
holy,” and then “the voice of my Sovereign saying, ‘Whom shall I send? Who will
go for us?’” The prophet replies, “Here am I; send me.”
After the Kedusha (vision of holiness) comes mission.
May we hear the commanding voice
in the fog and know how to say, “Here am I; send me.”
[2] Apparently based on the Passover Haggadah, “From the beginning, our ancestors were idol worshipers. And now, the Place [of all] has brought us close to His worship” or the holiday musaf service.
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