Today’s daf TB Sukkah 55 and the preceding couple dappim have been spending a lot of time concerning the Temple service in Jerusalem on the holiday of Sukkot. Sukkot is a seven day holiday as it is written in the Torah “Say to the Israelite people: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month there shall be the Feast of Booths to the LORD, [to last] seven days. The first day shall be a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations; seven days you shall bring offerings by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall observe a sacred occasion and bring an offering by fire to the LORD; it is a solemn gathering: you shall not work at your occupations.” (Leviticus 23:34-37)
Because of historical circumstances
which I have explained earlier, the Jews in the Diaspora weren’t sure when
exactly the first day of Sukkot was. Because of this doubt (ספיקא דיומא), the
Diaspora Jewish community added a second day of Yom Tov. If the first day of the holiday was in fact the holiday,
they celebrated it on time and didn’t lose anything by celebrating it again on the
next day. The reverse was true. If the second day of Yom Tov was in fact the holiday, they celebrated on time and didn’t
lose anything by celebrating it on the previous day. Today Jews living in
Israel only celebrate one day of Yom Tov
and Orthodox and traditional Conservative Jews celebrate two days of Yom Tov. Even though the calendar was
fixed in Rava’s and Abaye’s generation, the Diaspora custom of celebrating two
days remained entrenched, until the liberal streams of Judaism started making
changes.
A technical problem arises for us Jews who
live in the Diaspora. If we have a different Torah reading each day of Hol Hamoed, the second day of Yom Tov throws a monkeywrench into the
works. Our first day of Hol Hamoed could be the third day of Sukkot.
What should the correct Torah reading be for each day of Hol Hamoed? The Gemara provides three possible solutions.
“Apropos the psalms recited during
the Festival, the Gemara asks: And we, outside Eretz Yisrael, who
have two days of Festival due to the uncertainty, as well as uncertainty
with regard to each of the intermediate days, how do we conduct ourselves
with regard to the mention of the additional offerings in the additional prayer
of the Festival during the intermediate days, and with regard to Torah reading
on those days? Abaye said: Mention of the second day will be
superseded. Since the first of the intermediate days outside Eretz Yisrael
is the third day of the Festival in Eretz Yisrael, the additional offering for
the third day alone is mentioned, and the offerings for the fourth day on the
fourth day, etc. No mention is made of the second day outside Eretz Yisrael.
“Rava said: Mention of the seventh day will
be superseded. On the first of the intermediate days outside Eretz Yisrael,
the third day of the Festival, the passage beginning “And on the second day”
(Numbers 29:17) is mentioned in the additional Amida prayer and read in
the Torah, and on each succeeding day the succeeding passage is mentioned and
read. There is no mention of the seventh day on the eighth day, as that is no
longer Sukkot but rather the Eighth Day of Assembly. The Gemara notes: A
baraita was taught in accordance with the opinion of Rava: And
if Shabbat occurs on any of the intermediate days of the Festival, the song
of the seventh day of Sukkot: “All the foundations of the earth are
moved,” is superseded.
“The Gemara cites a third opinion: Ameimar
instituted in his city of Neharde’a that during the intermediate
days, one repeats the second of the additional offerings that he
mentioned the day before and adds the additional offerings of the subsequent
day. On the first of the intermediate days in the Diaspora, one mentions the
additional offerings of both the second and third days of Sukkot. On the
second of the intermediate days, one repeats the verses of the third day of Sukkot
and adds the verses of the fourth day.” (Sefaria.org translation)
We Ashkanazi Jews follow what Ameimar
instituted in his city of Neharde’a as codified by the Rem”a. Joseph Karo, the author of the Shulkhan Arukh represents the Sephardic
tradition and the Rem”a, Rabbi Moses Issereles, adds the Ashkenazi tradition. “On Hol Hamoed, we take out a Torah scroll
and read four sections about the sacrifices of the holiday from Pinchas (Numbers
29:17-34-gg). On the first day of Hol
Hamoed, the first reading is "On the second day," the second
reading is "On the third day," the third reading is "On the
third day" again, and the fourth reading, reflecting the doubtfulness of
the day, is "On the second day...And on the third day." We read this
way all the other days. Rem"a: There are those who say that the first
two read the doubtful day portions, the third reads tomorrow's section, and the
fourth goes back and reads both doubtful day portions that were read by the
first two readers, and this is our practice. On the seventh day, the first
reading is "On the fifth day," the second is "On the sixth
day," The third is "On the "On the seventh day," and the fourth
is "On the sixth day...and on the seventh day." This is our practice
(Rash"i in the name of his teachers, Mahari"v, Minhagim). In
Israel, where there is no doubt about the day, they only read the sacrifice of
the day. On the second day, which is the first day of Hol Hamoed, the first reading is "On the second day" and
the three next readers read the same section. This is done for the rest of the
days.” (Sulkhan
Arukh, Orekh Hayim,
663:1, Sefaria.org translation)
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