A Thought On Parshas Pinchas
A Thought On Parshas Pinchas
"...u'v'Roshei Chadshei'chem..."
"...and on the first days of your months..." (28:11)
The latter half of our parsha introduces many of the offerings which were brought on festive and holy occasions. One of these, the passage with the Rosh Chodesh korbanos , is quite familiar to us since we read it at least once a month. For that matter, another passage, the Shabbos korbanos, is equally familiar to us but not because we read it every Shabbos. We don't. However, we do read it every Rosh Chodesh in the process of laining the monthly New Moon passage, which is prefaced with mention of the Shabbos offerings.
One might question the reason behind our not including this passage in our weekly Shabbos Torah reading. After all, all of the other days which include a korban mussaf - an additional offering - are commemorated through having their passage appended to the end of the regular laining. Moreover, we also incorporate those verses within the musaf prayers which we say on each of those days. Curiously, on Shabbos, we actually recite those korban musaf verses in our musaf prayer, yet we do not publicly read them during the Torah service which precedes musaf prayers. Why is Shabbos missing its respective korban verses? Why not take out a second Sefer Torah and read from Parshas Pinchas as we do on Rosh Chodesh and on yomim tovim?
Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel queries this as well, and he offers some halachic insights into our tradition. He notes that when Chazal instituted the practice of reading a selection from the prophets, known as haftara, which we continue to observe following the completion of the appropriate Torah portion, they selected a passage from TaNaCh which in some manner echoes some of the messages which were in the Torah reading. On those days when we have additional Torah segments, such as when two or even three Sifrei Torah are brought out, the haftara tends to parallel in some of its message the events or matters which make that special day stand out. Therefore, when we read the final Torah aliya, the maftir, you can generally count on the haftara which follows as being related to whatever verses were read at the close of that maftir.
Now, reasons Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel, if we were to take out a second Sefer Torah every Shabbos in order to append those korban musaf verses to the weekly passage, we would then have to find a selection from TaNaCh which speaks about Shabbos. He suggests that this would be difficult to do, and it would mean that virtually every week (other than those when Shabbos coincided with a yom tov), we would probably end up reading the same haftara. We would not get a broad and appreciable exposure to the other words of our great and holy prophets. For this reason, he suggests, the practice is to side step entirely the notion of reading as maftir the Shabbos musaf verses. Shabbos loses out in favor of maintaining the original intention of exposing our nation to the scriptural haftara selections.
Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel adds that when we happen to have two contiguous parshios on a single Shabbos, as often happens (i.e. Mattos-Masei), we generally select a haftara which echoes something in the second of the two. Another twist is when Shabbos occurs the day before Rosh Chodesh. You may recall that we always read a special haftara known as Machar Chodesh, a passage in the book of Shmuel which centers around an episode which began the day before the New Moon. Now, asks Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel, if the idea behind haftara is to echo the Torah reading or the maftir on days which include a musaf, why would we read Machar Chodesh if it has nothing to do with the parsha and it is read on a day which is not even Rosh Chodesh, just the day preceding Rosh Chodesh?
He suggests that the answer may be that we all need to know when the New Moon (Month) begins and for this reason, that special haftara is used to broadcast this. Finally, he looks at one other twist. Many communities have the custom of reading a special haftara when there is a chosson (bridegroom) present. It is the Sos Tasis passage (Yeshayah 61:10) which depicts the bliss of newlyweds. Why would we insert such a passage since it has nothing to do with the Torah portion being read that Shabbos?
Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel offers a creative explanation: there is a halachic principle stating that gadol kvod ha'brios sh'docheh afilu lo saseh sh'b'Torah - human dignity is so great that it may supercede a Torah prohibition. He reasons that upholding a rabbinic practice is within the Torah imperative of "you shall not deviate from what your teachers instruct." That would include the imperative to read the regular haftara each week. However, a chosson deserves dignified treatment in honoring his special status. This is why we would prioritize him on his special Shabbos in lieu of maintaining the status quo of reading the regular Shabbos haftara. We set aside a standard principle because human dignity such as this is very precious.
With these lessons, our Master Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel establishes himself as a clear as well as broad thinking sage. May we live to merit the return of avodas ha'korbanos. May our people never again suffer tragedy as has befallen us this week. Good Shabbos. D Fox
"...u'v'Roshei Chadshei'chem..."
"...and on the first days of your months..." (28:11)
The latter half of our parsha introduces many of the offerings which were brought on festive and holy occasions. One of these, the passage with the Rosh Chodesh korbanos , is quite familiar to us since we read it at least once a month. For that matter, another passage, the Shabbos korbanos, is equally familiar to us but not because we read it every Shabbos. We don't. However, we do read it every Rosh Chodesh in the process of laining the monthly New Moon passage, which is prefaced with mention of the Shabbos offerings.
One might question the reason behind our not including this passage in our weekly Shabbos Torah reading. After all, all of the other days which include a korban mussaf - an additional offering - are commemorated through having their passage appended to the end of the regular laining. Moreover, we also incorporate those verses within the musaf prayers which we say on each of those days. Curiously, on Shabbos, we actually recite those korban musaf verses in our musaf prayer, yet we do not publicly read them during the Torah service which precedes musaf prayers. Why is Shabbos missing its respective korban verses? Why not take out a second Sefer Torah and read from Parshas Pinchas as we do on Rosh Chodesh and on yomim tovim?
Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel queries this as well, and he offers some halachic insights into our tradition. He notes that when Chazal instituted the practice of reading a selection from the prophets, known as haftara, which we continue to observe following the completion of the appropriate Torah portion, they selected a passage from TaNaCh which in some manner echoes some of the messages which were in the Torah reading. On those days when we have additional Torah segments, such as when two or even three Sifrei Torah are brought out, the haftara tends to parallel in some of its message the events or matters which make that special day stand out. Therefore, when we read the final Torah aliya, the maftir, you can generally count on the haftara which follows as being related to whatever verses were read at the close of that maftir.
Now, reasons Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel, if we were to take out a second Sefer Torah every Shabbos in order to append those korban musaf verses to the weekly passage, we would then have to find a selection from TaNaCh which speaks about Shabbos. He suggests that this would be difficult to do, and it would mean that virtually every week (other than those when Shabbos coincided with a yom tov), we would probably end up reading the same haftara. We would not get a broad and appreciable exposure to the other words of our great and holy prophets. For this reason, he suggests, the practice is to side step entirely the notion of reading as maftir the Shabbos musaf verses. Shabbos loses out in favor of maintaining the original intention of exposing our nation to the scriptural haftara selections.
Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel adds that when we happen to have two contiguous parshios on a single Shabbos, as often happens (i.e. Mattos-Masei), we generally select a haftara which echoes something in the second of the two. Another twist is when Shabbos occurs the day before Rosh Chodesh. You may recall that we always read a special haftara known as Machar Chodesh, a passage in the book of Shmuel which centers around an episode which began the day before the New Moon. Now, asks Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel, if the idea behind haftara is to echo the Torah reading or the maftir on days which include a musaf, why would we read Machar Chodesh if it has nothing to do with the parsha and it is read on a day which is not even Rosh Chodesh, just the day preceding Rosh Chodesh?
He suggests that the answer may be that we all need to know when the New Moon (Month) begins and for this reason, that special haftara is used to broadcast this. Finally, he looks at one other twist. Many communities have the custom of reading a special haftara when there is a chosson (bridegroom) present. It is the Sos Tasis passage (Yeshayah 61:10) which depicts the bliss of newlyweds. Why would we insert such a passage since it has nothing to do with the Torah portion being read that Shabbos?
Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel offers a creative explanation: there is a halachic principle stating that gadol kvod ha'brios sh'docheh afilu lo saseh sh'b'Torah - human dignity is so great that it may supercede a Torah prohibition. He reasons that upholding a rabbinic practice is within the Torah imperative of "you shall not deviate from what your teachers instruct." That would include the imperative to read the regular haftara each week. However, a chosson deserves dignified treatment in honoring his special status. This is why we would prioritize him on his special Shabbos in lieu of maintaining the status quo of reading the regular Shabbos haftara. We set aside a standard principle because human dignity such as this is very precious.
With these lessons, our Master Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel establishes himself as a clear as well as broad thinking sage. May we live to merit the return of avodas ha'korbanos. May our people never again suffer tragedy as has befallen us this week. Good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 9:51 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home