הלכות תפילין ומזוזה וספר תורה פרק י

Laws of Sefer Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzah and Sefer Torah — Chapter 10: Twenty Things That Invalidate a Sefer Torah and the Honor of a Sefer Torah

Overview of Chapter 10

We are learning Hilchos Sefer Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzah and Sefer Torah, Chapter 10. This is the end of Hilchos Sefer Torah and of the entire Hilchos.

And in total what we’re going to learn is, in this chapter the Rambam goes, the beginning is very interesting, the Rambam makes a quick review, he goes over again a quick review of the important laws of a Sefer Torah, and afterwards one learns about kavod Sefer Torah (honor of a Sefer Torah), what one may or may not do with a Sefer Torah as honor, and how to deal with a Sefer Torah that is no longer being used.

So one can understand it this way, that the chapter is essentially Hilchos Kavod Sefer Torah, but one needs to know what constitutes a Sefer Torah that one honors. There is a great difference in how the Rambam understands between a Sefer Torah and a Chumash.

Halacha 1: Twenty Things That Invalidate a Sefer Torah — The Difference Between Sefer Torah and Chumash

The Words of the Rambam

So the Rambam learns, there is a dispute how to understand, a Chumash means to say that even a Sefer Torah that is missing one of the twenty laws that he’s going to enumerate is called a Chumash, and therefore one is not obligated to honor the Chumash, one doesn’t need to honor it in all the ways that we’re going to learn.

So the Rambam isn’t just learning a review, he can’t simply write at the beginning “there are twenty things in a Sefer Torah.” Apparently it comes in here because these are the things that make the thing that one must honor. Something that is missing one of these things, the Rambam learns that one doesn’t need to honor. Not in this way, or one needs to honor it but not all the laws that we’re going to learn.

Why Does the Rambam List the Twenty Here?

It’s still interesting why the Rambam lists the twenty here. The Rambam could have still said in one line: all those things that were said to invalidate a Sefer Torah, it remains with the sanctity of a Chumash. Okay, it could be, I hear.

No, I understand why it can come in here, because a person can get confused. There are many details, go remember exactly which is me’akev (invalidating) and which is not, and this is l’mitzvah (for the mitzvah). This is the point, that this is what makes a Sefer Torah for the sanctity that is regarding the laws we’re going to learn. This is a special category of Sefer Torah. But we have a weaker category of a book that has all these things but not in the correct ways, that’s called a Chumash.

Remember we learned, Chumash is even such a thing, “these are the Chumashim,” so the Rambam said earlier by a certain invalidation.

Speaker 1: Yes.

Speaker 2: Yes. Yitzchak stand.

Speaker 1: Yes, shh…you found to learn, you’re learning…not relevant, no…you found to learn, yes, say, say, say…you’re learning…

Dispute Among Rishonim: Does a Chumash Have the Sanctity of a Sefer Torah?

It’s interesting, the language in halacha is that one cannot read from a Chumash mipnei kavod hatzibbur (because of the honor of the congregation). The Rambam doesn’t learn this way. No, the Rambam does learn this way, but the Rambam doesn’t say this. The Rambam doesn’t say…

Speaker 2: No, you’re saying Rambam, I’m telling you, I saw the Rambam.

Speaker 1: Could be I made a mistake in this, but let’s…okay, say the Rambam further.

The Language of the Rambam: “Nimtzeis Lamed”

Nimtzeis lamed (you find to learn) that in the previous chapters we learned that twenty things are the total of things that invalidate a Sefer Torah. If one of the twenty things was not done correctly, the book that one writes receives a law like a Chumash from the Chumashim, like a Chumash from the five Chumashim that one learns with the children. That means, when someone succeeds in writing a good Sefer Torah, he keeps it for himself or it’s used for the congregation. And the weaker quality of this is given to the children, one makes Chumashim from it. So, a Sefer Torah that doesn’t have the level of sanctity receives the category of Chumashim.

Yes, he also says to a certain extent to honor the book, he doesn’t say that one must learn with the children. He only says that it has only the total sanctity of a Chumash for the children. “And it doesn’t have the sanctity of a Sefer Torah, and one doesn’t read from it in public.”

So, this is indeed the reason why children learn such Chumashim to begin with, because a book that isn’t good enough that one should read from it in public, is used for the teacher. It’s around, that’s what I mean to say. You have a thing that is indeed a Chumash and one learns from it, you have a thing that is indeed a Chumash, because it’s not a Sefer Torah. Literally, even a Sefer Torah that is the entire Torah, but it’s missing one of the twenty rules, its law is like a Chumash, “and not to say like it, that there is a practical difference” that all the laws apply, and also one doesn’t read from it in public.

Two Approaches to Understanding “Mipnei Kavod Hatzibbur”

It appears that there are like two ways to learn this. Let’s say clearly, there is, and you saw, the Gemara says why don’t we lift the Chumashim in public, so it says in the Gemara, mipnei kavod hatzibbur.

So there is a dispute among Rishonim how to understand this. One can understand it this way, one can understand that a Chumash is essentially holy. From this Gemara one can perhaps learn it out, essentially it has the sanctity of a Sefer Torah. Why? It doesn’t say that one should say “one doesn’t read for the honor of the congregation,” one should say “one doesn’t read when there is an invalid Sefer Torah.” One sees that a person should say… a person would have understood, so other Rishonim understand, that it’s not invalid, it does have, one must indeed stand for it, etc. And only in public one doesn’t read, because it’s not an honor for the congregation.

So a portion of Rishonim learned this way, so the Chinuch brings laws that there are such opinions that say that a Chumash has the sanctity of a Sefer Torah for all matters. You think that a Chumash, we’re talking here about a Chumash that is written on parchment the entire order. But one doesn’t read it in public. So there is such an opinion, and they don’t conduct themselves this way in practice. One doesn’t stand for a Chumash, even when it’s the Chumash. But so stands an opinion in the Rishonim.

The Rambam’s Opinion: A Chumash Is Completely Invalid

The Rambam however learned exactly the opposite. The Rambam learned that a Chumash is completely invalid, it’s not a Sefer Torah at all, it doesn’t have any sanctity of a Sefer Torah.

If so, says the Rambam, why does it say in the Gemara that because of kavod hatzibbur one doesn’t read? Says the Rambam in a responsum, that the Rambam holds, here it says “l’chatchila (initially) one doesn’t read in public,” but this means l’chatchila. But the Rambam says that in truth, if one doesn’t have a Sefer Torah, one may according to all opinions, one may certainly, not according to all opinions, one may according to the opinion of the Rambam read from an invalid Sefer Torah. And a Chumash. And a Chumash, because the Rambam says, either a Chumash or an invalid Sefer Torah, both, no difference.

The Rambam’s Foundation: The Mitzvah of Reading the Torah Is the Mitzvah of Learning Torah

Because the Rambam says that the mitzvah of reading a Sefer Torah is not on the essence of the closing of the Sefer Torah, the mitzvah of reading the Torah is essentially the mitzvah of learning Torah. And the blessing, he says, there were others who said that one may not make a blessing on an invalid Sefer Torah, it’s a blessing in vain. Says the Rambam, what does this mean? And when I learn Chumash in the morning and I make the blessing on the Torah, and when I learn Mishnayos and I don’t make the blessing on the Torah? The blessing on the Torah is not on the Sefer Torah, it’s not an esrog that one makes the blessing on the Sefer Torah. It’s a blessing that one makes on the reading of the Torah. Says the Rambam that one can make a blessing on an invalid one.

The Rambam says that the custom was among all the sages of Spain and others, they would read from an invalid Sefer Torah, not me’akev lishmah (invalidating for its own sake), not the laws of a tallis, because they didn’t have any other, and certainly one should do this, although l’chatchila one doesn’t read in public with Chumashim.

Summary: The Rambam’s Understanding of “One Doesn’t Read in Public”

So the Rambam understood that “one doesn’t read in public,” what it says that it’s not an honor for the congregation, is because essentially one can indeed read from an invalid Sefer Torah. The others assumed that one cannot read in public, it doesn’t have. One doesn’t read l’chatchila in public, one doesn’t have honor. But essentially, like an eruv, certainly it’s better to read from a Torah that is invalid than not to read at all. This is the opinion of the Rambam.

The Twenty Things — List with Explanations

Okay, says the Rambam further, “and these are the twenty things”, the Rambam goes quickly over.

1. Hide of a Non-Kosher Animal

“If it was written on the hide of a non-kosher animal”, against the law of “from the species of a kosher animal.”

2. Hide That Is Not Processed

Or “on a kosher hide that is not processed”, the Rambam said that there must be processing, it must be processed.

3. Processing Not for Its Own Sake

Or “that it was processed but processed not for its own sake”, it says that there must be processing for its own sake.

4. Not in the Place of Writing

Fourth thing in the Rambam, “not in the place of writing”. It was written, the Rambam began that there are measurements, there are laws in parchment, that tefillin must be written on gevil in the place of flesh, I don’t remember the details. He’s talking about a Sefer Torah, a Sefer Torah must be written in the place of writing.

In other words, one always writes on the side of the outside, yes? One cuts on gevil and one writes. Every place has a place of writing, and a side that is not a place of hair. So one must write it on the side of the place of writing. If one writes backwards, if one writes on… this is the place of writing, the place of writing is the gevil, the place of flesh is on the klaf, the place of hair is the outside. As if, can you see the details? It’s like this, if one writes on the place where one uses the hide to write, if one writes on the gevil but not on the correct place, if one writes on the gevil in the place of hair instead of on the klaf in the place of flesh, it’s invalid.

5. Part on Gevil and Part on Klaf

A fifth thing is as we learned in Shulchan Aruch, “that it was written partly on the gevil”, even if half is on the good side and half on the not good side, it’s also invalid.

The fifth thing is as we learned in Shulchan Aruch, “that it was written partly on the gevil and partly on the klaf”, we learned in Shulchan Aruch that a Sefer Torah can be either on gevil or on klaf, but one cannot mix the two things.

6. Duchsustus

Sixth thing is “that it was written on duchsustus”, which we stood then that this is a question for mezuzos but not for a Sefer Torah.

7. Didn’t Rule Lines

Or “that he didn’t rule lines”, he doesn’t make the grid lines.

8. Didn’t Write with Ink

Eight, “that he didn’t write with ink”, he didn’t write with an ink that holds strongly, a black that lasts long.

9. Not for Its Own Sake / Not in the Holy Tongue

Or it’s not written for its own sake, it’s not written in the holy tongue. This is a ninth thing. Even if he would have wanted to, says the Rambam, today one cannot.

10. A Non-Jew or Invalid Person Wrote It

A tenth thing is that a non-Jew or someone who is invalid wrote it, a Jew who is a heretic and the like.

11. Divine Names Without Intent

An eleventh thing is that one wrote the Divine Names without intent. The Rambam says that at least for the Names there must be intent. Not at least, one must have known that one is writing a Name that it’s for the sake of the Name.

12. Missing a Letter

Twelve is what? If a letter is missing or a letter was added.

13. Added a Letter

Thirteen is, a letter was added.

14. Letters Touch Each Other

Fourteen is, the letters touch each other. Yes, then it turns out, it’s called like a Sefer Torah surrounded by gevil, but the letter becomes invalid.

15. Letter Not Clear / Looks Like Another Letter

Fifteen is what? The fifteenth thing is that one letter is not clear and not well written, so much so that one cannot read it, or it looks like another letter. There’s no difference whether this happened because one didn’t write it well, or it became damaged through a… it became torn through a hole or a cut, or the ink became smudged.

16. Too Many or Too Few Spaces

A sixteenth thing is that one made too many or too few spaces between letters. This means that when one word looks like it’s divided into two words, or conversely, two words look like one word.

17. Changed the Form of the Sections

A seventeenth thing is that one changed the form of the sections. The form of the sections means petucha setuha, or setuha petucha, and the like.

18. Form of the Song

Or the form of the song, the same thing, one didn’t make the Song at the Sea or the Song of Haazinu, one didn’t make the order as the Rambam calculated.

19. Written Backwards — Song Like Regular Text

Or the nineteenth thing, one wrote backwards, one wrote the entire Torah, and the rest of the Torah he wrote like a song, yes, the opposite. Where it’s not a song he made it like a song.

Summary: The Twenty Are Invalidating, the Rest Are for the Mitzvah

Says the Rambam, all these things invalidate the sanctity of a Sefer Torah. But the rest of the laws that were calculated are for the mitzvah, are a beautification of the mitzvah, or as was said earlier, a mitzvah in the best way. And not to invalidate, except for these which invalidate. Up to here.

Transition to Laws of Honoring a Sefer Torah

Now when one has a kosher Torah, what must one do with it? Says the Rambam in a kosher book, he said that there is an extra sanctity, that a book that doesn’t have this thing doesn’t have an extra sanctity. So it has the extra sanctity.

Laws of Sefer Torah Chapter 10: Twenty Invalidating Things, Honor of Sefer Torah, and Sacred Utensils

Halacha 10 (Continued) — Form of Sections, Song, Sewing of Sheets

Speaker 1:

What does the form of sections mean? It means petucha, setuha. Or the form of the song, the eighteenth thing, he didn’t make the Song at the Sea and the Song of Haazinu he didn’t make according to the order that the Rambam calculated. Or the nineteenth thing, he wrote backwards, he wrote the entire Torah, and the rest of the Torah he wrote like a song, where it’s not a song he made it like a song. Or the sewing of the sheets, it was established that it must also be from the species, sinews sewn, but he didn’t do so, he did sheet by sheet. All these things, these are invalidating, which make that the Torah should have the sanctity of a Sefer Torah.

Says the Rambam, “for all these things are only a mitzvah in the best way, not to invalidate”. The rest of the laws that were calculated are a mitzvah, are a beautification of the mitzvah, or as was said earlier, a mitzvah in the best way, not to invalidate. The twenty are invalidating. Up to here.

Halacha 11 — A Kosher Book Requires Conducting Oneself with Extra Sanctity and Great Honor

Speaker 1:

Now, come and see, when one has a kosher Torah, what must one do with it? Says the Rambam, “a kosher book requires conducting oneself with it with extra sanctity and great honor”. A book that doesn’t have these things doesn’t have extra sanctity, so it has the extra sanctity, “and one conducts oneself with it with extra sanctity and great honor.”

Discussion: What Is the Difference Between Extra Sanctity and Great Honor?

Speaker 1:

What does conduct mean? What is the difference between honor and sanctity? It’s the same thing. Extra sanctity and great honor mean the same thing. One conducts oneself that it’s holy. How does one conduct oneself that it’s holy? One gives it honor. How does one conduct oneself that it’s holy?

My, it’s interesting perhaps to say that extra sanctity means, as it were, the person must be more and more serious, and honor more is more external things, apparently. There is kavod rosh (dignity), it says that when one stands with a Sefer Torah one must have kavod rosh. Okay, maybe, maybe. Yes, yes, the Rambam at the end of Hilchos Sefer Torah has a similar such piece of conclusion, such mussar. Perhaps this is what it means. So extra sanctity means as it were the person’s seriousness, and the great honor is the external display.

Halacha 11 (Continued) — It Is Forbidden to Sell a Sefer Torah

Speaker 1:

“And it is forbidden for a person to sell a Sefer Torah”.

Now the Rambam says another thing.

Speaker 2:

But perhaps for example, a practical thing, the example for the law that we’re now going to learn, one may not sell even if he needs it.

Speaker 1:

No, I mean that this is sanctity. It’s also honor, but it’s not honor like one stands for it. It’s a holy thing. Okay. It’s very valuable to you. I don’t know, I don’t know if there’s a difference.

Says the Rambam, forbidden… because a Sefer Torah is so important and honorable, a person cannot sell a Sefer Torah, even if he’s hungry, he doesn’t have money should he sell it. A Sefer Torah is very important, such a thing that doesn’t go away. Says the Rambam, even if he already has other books, one doesn’t sell any Sefer Torah. Even Yosef alav hashalom said, we are surprised that one should sell an old Sefer Torah to buy a new one, because this is a degradation of the old Sefer Torah. Buy a new one extra. You may not sell any Torahs.

Says the Rambam further, “one never sells a Sefer Torah”. Even if someone is a scribe, he also may not sell any Torah.

Discussion: Older Bachurim Who Write Sifrei Torah to Sell

Speaker 2:

Laws of Sefer Torah – Sanctity of Torah Accessories and Honor of the Sefer Torah

Older bachurim write sifrei Torah and they sell them “ish ish b’damav” (each person according to his means). Just like kollel young men. That is…

Speaker 1:

Ah, that’s what I mean. No, that’s why people… Ah, no, usually a scribe for that… to be able to learn Torah. The scribe is a young man who learns in the morning, in the afternoon he writes a sefer “lilmod Torah ul’damav” (to learn Torah and for his livelihood). It can also be that usually the scribe writes for that, one hires a scribe l’chatchila (from the outset). He writes, he doesn’t sell. Many times… that’s actually part of the mitzvah of writing a sefer Torah, “yishu ish ish b’damav.” I don’t know the halacha, but…

Discussion: What Does “Ein Lo Mah Yochal” and “Lissa Isha” Mean?

Speaker 2:

What does that mean, if it only means sending money for the shtreimel, or if a person got married and doesn’t have money to pay rent.

Speaker 1:

I don’t know the halacha, but what does it mean, if it only means sending money for the shtreimel, or if a person got married and doesn’t have money to pay rent. That’s a good question, I don’t know the answer. Everything is orphans. I think when you get married, roughly everything is orphans. Ah, so that opens the door. But what is “l’tzorech nesiah” (for the need of travel)? “Ein lo mah yochal” (he has nothing to eat) is only if you’re single. The entire halacha of “afilu ein lo mah yochal” is a sharp halacha. Even if you don’t have what to eat, but on condition that you’re single beforehand. If you’re married, everything is l’tzorech lissa (for the need to marry). I don’t know. Just lissa means yes, like for the dowry, something that’s part of the marriage. And not so difficult, you understand what I’m saying? Very strange.

Okay, “afilu ein lo mah yochal” I certainly don’t mean when there’s an actual danger. If we’re talking about a concern of hunger, it’s obvious that one may. I don’t mean he doesn’t say properly because yes. Even “ein lo mah yochal” means because until today, today, today, someone who is hungry doesn’t yet mean that he has the mission to do the drastic thing. He says that if when the person has already sold everything from his house for food, he’s now left with one sefer, that’s his last way to get bread, one may not sell it according to halacha, because it’s obviously that one may for pikuach nefesh (danger to life). It’s not reasonable that the sefer Torah, such a precious thing, you should give it away like that. Why? Because “ein li mah yochal” must be somewhat of an exaggeration. Let’s see, there’s a Gemara if one doesn’t have what to eat. It says in the Gemara, it says in Gemara in Ruth Rabbah, “ein li mah yochal.”

He argues, the holy Rav Berel Shapira, he doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have what to eat from hunger, he means to say that he can’t set a table, he can’t make Shabbos as they say.

Speaker 2:

Ah, very good. “Ein li mah yochal” literally, he does have assets, he can sell other things.

Speaker 1:

That’s the point. If it’s the only thing he has, it’s very hard to believe that if the only thing he has is a sefer Torah, he should sell it before the business. “Ein li mah yochal” can only be cash, he has a business, he has a field, but he doesn’t have any things now, which objects does he start to sell? First he says the sefer Torah.

It’s like the holy Klausenberger Rebbe, the first thing when he arrived on the ship from Europe, the first thing he took down was the tefillin. It’s too heavy, one drags oneself from the large assets. One barely took down the suitcase or whatever. The tefillin, yes. Exactly, that’s the meaning apparently. He wants to argue that “ein li mah yochal” doesn’t mean actual pikuach nefesh, it means to say…

No, but I think that “ein li mah yochal” also doesn’t mean to say that he needs to buy a bottle of water with bread for himself to eat now. “Ein li mah yochal” can also mean that he doesn’t have what to prepare a table, that’s why he brings that Mishnah in Beitzah, that he can’t prepare for a meal. He means, he doesn’t have the expansion, not a… Okay, he doesn’t mean that he needs that.

Speaker 2:

No, he doesn’t say for eating. For eating, if he sold the… he’ll have something else.

And why may one yes? To be able to learn Torah with the money?

Speaker 1:

Very good. That is, let’s see, it’s interesting. Learning Torah, because the entire purpose of a sefer Torah is to learn Torah. Torah is so that one should be able to learn Torah. Simple.

Speaker 2:

But shofech dam ha’adam (one who sheds human blood), also why? Because precisely the mitzvah of peru u’revu (be fruitful and multiply) is more than all mitzvos, because that means having a wedding, that means being a person.

Speaker 1:

Yes, even in that there’s only a part above, very good. Even in that it’s only when he doesn’t have something else. But it’s interesting, because I remember in halacha, I think in Shulchan Aruch they bring it, that for pidyon shevuyim (redemption of captives) one may also sell a sefer Torah. The Rambam didn’t have pidyon shevuyim.

Speaker 2:

No, it doesn’t say. We had pidyon shevuyim in the laws of… We had? We haven’t yet had laws of pidyon shevuyim. In the laws of tzedakah it perhaps says?

Speaker 1:

Ah, then it’s a time of pikuach nefesh, then you don’t need to come to that. You’re talking that one should say that by implication, as long as it’s not pikuach nefesh. You understand? Okay.

Halacha 12 — A Sefer Torah That Has Worn Out or Become Invalid

Speaker 1:

Let’s continue. What does one do when a sefer Torah wears out, yes? Sefer Torah she’balah (a sefer Torah that has worn out), it became old, o she’nifsol (or became invalid), it became invalid. Balah can even be lo nifsol, it became old, it’s worn out, it’s not pleasant. Yes. O she’nifsol, one of the invalidations, notno b’chli cheres (one places it in an earthenware vessel), one places it in an earthenware vessel. A sefer Torah must be placed when one can’t fix it, right? If one can fix it, one should fix it. Notno b’chli cheres, one places it in an earthenware vessel, v’kovrin oto etzel talmidei chachamim (and they bury it next to Torah scholars), one buries it next to a talmid chacham, v’zohi genizato (and this is its burial), that’s the honorable way of preserving it. It’s a very beautiful thing, it’s mi nitpal b’mi (who is attached to whom), who gives honor to whom? The talmid chacham is such a tremendously honorable thing, that it’s an honor for the sefer Torah that one places it next to a talmid chacham. Yes? Simple.

Mitpachos Sefarim She’balu (Covers of Books That Have Worn Out)

Speaker 1:

The Rambam says further, mitpachos sefarim she’balu (covers of books that have worn out), the little covers of books that have become old, when one places it in the earthenware vessel, doesn’t one need to include the cover? What does one do with the cover? No, there are other things. It could be that the cover has become worn. No, not the cover became worn. Mitpachos of the sefarim she’balu, when one places it in an earthenware vessel… No, no, no, no, no. I’ll go with you to the end. Mitpachos sefarim she’balu, means no simple meaning, and the mitpachos also have sanctity? No essential difference. But mitpachos don’t need to be buried, but mitpachos can be used for other dvarim sheb’mitzvah (things related to mitzvos), what is that? Tachrichin l’met mitzvah (shrouds for a met mitzvah). It’s used for that. Also very beautiful, because one sees that an old sefer Torah with a deceased person have something very close connection. One buries it together with other Jews. A sefer Torah is buried with a talmid chacham who has passed away, and this is used for shrouds for a met mitzvah. It’s used for that.

Speaker 2:

One buries it, but still the next time when a tzaddik dies one places with a sefer Torah.

Speaker 1:

Why not? Something has it, yes. One must wait, perhaps one just goes next to a nice place in the cemetery there where the tzaddikim and the chachamim lie, one places it.

Okay.

Halacha 13 — Tashmishei Kedusha (Accessories of Sanctity)

Speaker 1:

Now we’ll talk that not only the sefer Torah and the mitpachos, that the Torah is sanctity, but also the other vessels that one uses. The Rambam says, tik she’hinichu bo sefer Torah (a case in which one placed a sefer Torah), a tik, a way to carry the sefer Torah, v’chen mitpachos (and likewise covers), the little covers, v’aron o migdal she’manichin bo sefer Torah (and an ark or tower in which one places a sefer Torah), the aron or migdal, there were certain places, aron probably means a lying way, and a migdal means that it stood. There were two types, there was the aron kodesh, and there were places where the sefer Torah lay on an aron lying down. Aron o migdal she’manichin bo sefer Torah, afilu sefer b’toch ha’tik (even a sefer within the case), or even the migdal outside of the aron? I don’t know clearly. The aron is the… Okay. I think there was shidah teivah u’migdal, and the Gemara means such a dresser, a tall beautiful one, and an aron is a lying one, also a box, yes. Continue.

He says, afilu sefer b’toch ha’tik, that means it doesn’t lie directly, the Torah lies in a tik, in the migdal, it doesn’t touch as if the sefer, yes. V’chen ha’kiseh she’hinichu alav sefer Torah (and likewise the chair on which one placed a sefer Torah), even a little bench on which one places the sefer Torah, v’hinichu alav sefer Torah (and one placed on it a sefer Torah), one actually placed, not just that one… ha’kol (all), all these things get the status of tashmishei kedusha hen, therefore v’asur l’zorkan (are accessories of sanctity, and it’s forbidden to throw them away), one may not disgrace them by throwing them away. She’balu o she’yishbaru (when they wear out or break), when one no longer uses them, u’gnizin (and they are buried) one should put them away, be buried.

Bimah and Luchos — Not Tashmishei Kedusha

Speaker 1:

The Rambam says, all these things are only what I enumerated, aval (but), there are next levels, there is the bimah she’omed aleha ba’al ha’sefer (the platform on which the one holding the sefer stands), a bimah on which the person who holds the sefer sits on the bimah, o ha’luchos she’kotvim bahen l’tinokos l’hitlamed (or the tablets on which one writes for children to learn), or the alef-beis, luchos means from a sefer,

Laws of Sefer Torah – Tashmishei Kedusha and Honor of Sefer Torah

Halacha 4: Bimah, Luchos for Children – Have No Sanctity

The Rambam says, all these things that I enumerated, but there are next levels, there is the bimah she’omed aleha ha’ochez et ha’sefer (the platform on which the one holding the sefer stands), a bimah on which the person who holds the sefer sits on the bimah, o ha’luchos she’kotvim aleihem l’tinokos lilmod (or the tablets on which one writes for children to learn), or the alef-beis, luchos means the alef-beis that’s written on it, perhaps on it stands verses from the Chumash. Luchos she’kotvim aleihem l’tinokos lilmod, ein bahem kedusha (tablets on which one writes for children to learn, have no sanctity), because that is already, one also uses it somewhat for sanctity, it’s a bit of tashmishei kedusha, but tashmishei kedusha can’t go so far.

Dispute Between Rambam and Ra’avad in Interpretation of “Luchos”

Yes, the Ra’avad disagrees here, he says that luchos doesn’t mean luchos that one writes, luchos means like a board, a blackboard that one writes on, or a tablet, such a thing. The Ra’avad says that luchos is the place where the reader or the maftir stands on. The Ra’avad says that it does have kedushas beis ha’knesses (sanctity of the synagogue), but not kedushas tashmishei sefer Torah. The level is not Torah, because it’s obviously another level less. I think the Rambam disagrees on this halacha.

Ein bahem kedusha (they have no sanctity), that means not tashmishei kedusha, and one doesn’t need to bury them when one finishes when they’re no longer in use.

Rimonei Kesef V’zahav – Tashmishei Kedusha

The Rambam says further, rimonei kesef v’zahav v’chayotza bahen (finials of silver and gold and the like), the crowns or rimonim of silver and gold that one makes for the beauty of the sefer Torah, and the same thing that one still uses, thank God, to this day, these are also tashmishei kedusha v’asur l’hotzi’an l’chol, ela im machru otam liknos b’dmeihem sefer Torah o chumash (are accessories of sanctity and it’s forbidden to take them out for secular use, unless one sold them to buy with their value a sefer Torah or Chumash).

One may yes, if it’s also not the level tashmishei kedusha, a sefer Torah one may not sell to buy a lower level, but to sell this, yes, a tashmish sefer Torah one may yes. Apparently the same thing, one will see with curtains beforehand, one must have books. It could be that even it’s not l’chatchila, and this is yes even the rimonim, selling the rimon or the crown, rimon is the Jewish crowns, yes, the pieces that one places. This he can perhaps l’chatchila buy to sell even to buy a Chumash, yes? That is sefer Torah to Chumash. Because that is a more stringent sanctity. Certainly a Chumash is holier than a crown of a sefer Torah. That’s how it comes out.

Halacha 5: Hierarchy of Sanctity – Placing Books One on Another

Very good. Mutar l’haniach sefer (it’s permitted to place a book)… Another matter of honor of sefer Torah, the Rambam says that one may place one sefer Torah on another, v’af al pi she’ein halacha l’ma’aseh (and even though there’s no practical halacha), incidentally Chumashim, it’s certain that one may place a sefer Torah on Chumashim.

He says further, u’manichin chumashim (and one places Chumashim), Chumashim one may not place on a sefer Torah. A sefer Torah one may place on Chumashim, and Chumashim one may place… there’s a hierarchy of sanctity. Chumashim one places on Nevi’im and Kesuvim, but Nevi’im and Kesuvim one doesn’t place on Chumashim, and not Chumashim on sifrei Torah.

Kisvei Ha’kodesh, Halachos V’aggados – Forbidden to Throw Away

V’chol kisvei ha’kodesh afilu halachos v’aggados (and all holy writings even halachos and aggados), the Rambam tells us a new halacha, all kisvei ha’kodesh, that means anything that one has written dvarim sheb’kedusha (matters of sanctity), that means even halachos v’aggados, not specifically Tanach, asur l’zorkan (it’s forbidden to throw them away).

Halachos v’aggados means the Gemara?

Yes, halachos, aggados, yes, midrashim and Gemara. Asur l’zorkan.

Rambam, halachos, what not?

Yes, asur l’zorkan. Yes. But he doesn’t say what one must do.

I see, earlier it was not to throw away, but to bury. One must bury them or what, whatever l’gnoz means. Here he doesn’t say clearly.

Kameia of Kisvei Ha’kodesh

The Rambam says, ha’kameia she’yesh bo me’inyanim shel kisvei ha’kodesh (an amulet that has in it matters of holy writings), amulets of kisvei ha’kodesh, that means something that’s similar to tefillin, I don’t mean tefillin, but an amulet that one has inserted kisvei ha’kodesh, ein lecha reshus l’hikanes bo l’veis ha’kisei (you have no permission to enter with it to the bathroom), and take no room v’chufehu b’or (and cover it with leather), but what is covered with leather.

Discussion: What Is a Kameia of Writing?

Yes, I already know, may one make such an amulet at all according to the Rambam, but if one has.

Why is it not tefillin?

No, because it’s the same thing as by mezuzah, that it’s a tablet of metal. But an amulet that we’re not talking about an amulet l’zikaron (for remembrance), not any amulet l’mazikin l’shmira (against demons for protection).

Rambam? Kameia. I mean a kameia, kameia, kameia l’zikaron. You’re the one that invented that kind of kameia. I know that tefillin exists, but in the Gemara they talk about this. Such an amulet, I’m just saying, usually when one says kameia it means… Every person has this thing, and people have such a ring that has a picture of his grandmother, which that’s not a kameia of writing. But problem, I heard that this is the heter (permission). And this is the tefillin with kameia of writing, this is all nice reasoning. And the people, when it says kameia in the Gemara, it means something that protects, it heals from something. Is one insertion of a Rebbe’s writing, which the writing has sanctity. And he said in the laws of tefillin whether one may enter.

Ah, he said one may not enter with the writing into the bathroom. And if one must enter, the second one should hold it outside. And yes.

Halacha 6: Lo Yochaz Adam Sefer Torah – Bathroom, Bathhouse, Cemetery

Here we turn further, sefer Torah, the way of holding a sefer Torah. Lo yochaz adam sefer Torah! (A person should not hold a sefer Torah!) Lo yochaz. If regarding going into the bathroom, as I cut by to the bathhouse, to the cemetery, from the sefer Torah, even if and from mitpachos and placed with inside tied to him, even if it’s rolled up and nicely put away, even in the case, even in the dwelling, even with the cover with all the things, still everything. One says one cannot bathroom and bathhouse and cemetery. He tells you a cemetery. It seems that it wanted a question if we only need a cemetery, what does one do? One doesn’t need a cemetery. The and the and the, one doesn’t need, but one doesn’t need to enter, what may not by itself! V’lo yikra bo ad she’yarchik arba amos min ha’kever o min ha’mes (and one should not read in it until he distances four cubits from the grave or from the deceased)… Ah, on all three he says. The one who only needs the Rebbes are. One still needs to make his mouth high.

Dispute of Rishonim: What Does “Lo Yochaz Arom” Mean?

V’lo yochaz sefer Torah k’she’hu arom (and one should not hold a sefer Torah when he is naked), one may not grasp a sefer Torah when the sefer Torah is not… so is one opinion, it’s more it could be that the Rambam means literally, similar to the bathhouse. That the person… a person, when he is naked, should not grasp a sefer Torah. Which sounds more from the context in the Rambam that he’s talking one must, and the Gemara which clearly that one may not hold a sefer Torah naked, there are both opinions of the Rishonim, and Rashi says that it means that one may not touch the sefer Torah without any cloth, or one should lift it with the atzei chayim (wooden rollers), not directly with the Torah, or… The word k’she’hu arom makes it make sense that one is talking about the person, it wouldn’t make sense a k’she’hu arom with a sefer Torah, when does the sefer look naked… I don’t know that by sefer is in a grave, I don’t know that, but it should be clearer, usually k’she’hu arom, he’s talking here about a bathhouse with a… yes… sounds that here, right, not would stand the tablets a sefer naked, also arom is a funny expression, right, when the Torah has no cover one doesn’t say arom, because the parchment, yes… sounds more that from the simple plain meaning of the Rambam, that it’s talking about the person is naked, so sounds is more, also he’s talking in the next piece, he’s talking about a bed, I mean the context is not touching the Torah. Yes…

Laws of the Sefer Torah — Honor of the Place, Conduct Before the Sefer, and Completion of the Sefer

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Law: Mitzvah to Designate a Place for the Sefer Torah — “Excessively”

Speaker 1:

But the Rambam says, “It is a mitzvah to designate a place for the Sefer Torah”. He says that, he brings there a concept, I said it, that for this reason one places bells on the Torah, the bells, so that one should hear just like the Kohen Gadol, “and his sound shall be heard”, one should hear that the Torah is coming, so one should stand up. “And his sound shall be heard when he enters the sanctuary”.

The Sefer Torah should be placed in a beautiful place, an honored place. The mitzvah, he continues, now it’s more like more perhaps more a… “This is my God and I will glorify Him”. It is a mitzvah to designate a place for the Sefer Torah, and to honor that place and to glorify it excessively, excessively. How much should one glorify the place? More than normal. Not more than enough, even more. Excessively. The Rambam uses the language “excessively”.

Novel Point: The Language “Excessively” and the Story with Reb Nachum Sorotzkin

Apparently for this the famous Gerrer Rebbe, Reb Nachum Sorotzkin is known that he made a Sefer Torah of gold, and many people complained, young men don’t have what to eat, what… He said “excessively”. He held how much is “excessively”? No one has yet fulfilled “excessively”. If Reb Sorotzkin hears, one should tell him that perhaps it’s already time to stop and make “excessively”. It can’t be, “excessively” doesn’t stop. But also Rashi, Rashi’s father, who composed there the word, it’s “excessively”.

But remember, the Rambam uses the language “excessively” on other things, not only on this. “Excessively” means very very much.

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Law: The Words on the Tablets of the Covenant — Connection to the Aron Kodesh

Speaker 1:

Okay. Yes, and the Rambam says, the words, yes, the words that are on the tablets of the covenant, they are what are in every single sefer. In other words, we call the place where we put the Sefer Torah an Aron Kodesh. Aron Kodesh was the tablets of the covenant. The Rambam doesn’t bring this language, the Rambam calls it a heichal, or a migdal, or a teivah, aron. But we call it an aron, and one sees that apparently everyone understands that the tablets are placed in an aron, and one places it in a golden aron, there was a whole procedure with this. So it’s like one honors and makes a… Apparently this would be the “designate for it a place”. A person could say, a Torah, what is the place of an Aron Kodesh? Aron Kodesh is normally a beautiful thing. The Rambam says, no. The Aron Kodesh, the tablets had a special place, where one places them in a special box with the whole thing. In the same way one conducts oneself with every sefer, that this is the vessel that the aron is. And it makes sense. Why was the aron? To hold the Ten Commandments, the Torah. The Torah is the entire Torah, it’s the same thing as yours.

Digression: The Ten Commandments in Prayer

There is the law about saying the Ten Commandments every day, the Gemara in Berachos speaks about this, and you bring it here. But we don’t say it. We don’t say it. Ah, but one sees here some connection between… Ah, it’s simple. It was made that every day one recites Krias Shema in different ways. One said the Ten Commandments, it’s simple that one looked at it like something also a foundation of the Torah that one must constantly remember. And here it says something like… We actually don’t say it, but every Sefer Torah has some connection with the tablets of the covenant. I don’t know, there’s something more here. Therefore one makes on the Aron Kodesh a picture of the tablets. I don’t know.

Novel Point: Source for Aron Kodesh

Okay, now he says, I feel that this is the point. Because if not, where is the source that one makes an aron for the Sefer Torah, an Aron Kodesh? What is the connection? The answer is, it’s like the tablets. This is the thing that one learns from the tablets. Okay, now, there are other commentators, more. So he brings, so he says, he brings a proof that he said like us. “Designate for it a place”, and this is the thing that one learns from the tablets.

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Law: Conduct Before a Sefer Torah — Don’t Spit, Don’t Expose, etc.

Speaker 1:

Okay, now, an interesting thing. “A person should not spit in front of a Sefer Torah”. Now, the laws of conduct are like before a Sefer Torah. Now, all the laws that we learned until now were essentially… Ah, we already learned a bit of such laws, that the Sefer Torah itself, the object of the Torah, now one learns, the entire place where the Sefer Torah is also gets such a… like an important person. Before him one doesn’t do disgraceful things. Yes? “Don’t spit” — one doesn’t spit. “Don’t expose one’s nakedness before it” — it shouldn’t be exposed at all, not covered, not dressed. “To stretch out one’s legs” — another thing. What does stretching out the legs mean? It’s such “manspreading” it’s called, yes? It should be, yes, it shouldn’t be any… not honorable like that.

“Don’t place it on one’s head like a burden” — one shouldn’t carry the Sefer Torah on one’s head. “Don’t turn one’s back to the Sefer Torah” — one shouldn’t walk with one’s back to the Sefer Torah, “unless it is ten tefachim higher than him”. If the Torah is higher than him. No, he didn’t mean that the Torah is on a… when the Torah is on a platform, on a bimah, hagbah is… It’s not that they become important, they learned on other things.

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Law: Carrying a Sefer Torah from Place to Place

Speaker 1:

What does one do when someone goes around with a Sefer Torah? The Rambam says laws about this. “One doesn’t transport a Sefer Torah from place to place while riding”. It’s a problem, you need to give it honor, and it’s a second thing, you need to guard it, it could be stolen.

“Rather one places it in one’s bosom against one’s heart when riding on an animal and traveling”. In other words, like one conducts oneself, yes, ideally, one holds a Torah like this against one’s heart, like one holds something that one loves very much, yes, that’s the idea, it’s much honor. Yes, one sees even when one travels, one takes a Torah in a car or on a bus, also ideally, if one can’t… then one holds it, yes.

“Whoever sits before a Sefer Torah”, it’s like this, if one can’t, one can also place it on a bench, as it says here on the side. As it said before, the bench on which one places the Sefer Torah. Yes, but you can also say, you shouldn’t place it in the trunk, don’t put it in the back, except if it’s necessary because of thieves and the like. It’s a matter of honor, one gives much respect.

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Law: Sitting Before a Sefer Torah — With Gravity, Awe and Fear

Speaker 1:

Now the Rambam also brings the concept of ethics, something more like an etiquette thing, yes. “Whoever sits before a Sefer Torah”, everyone who sits before a Sefer Torah, he apparently means when one reads the Torah, yes, when a Sefer Torah lies in the Aron Kodesh, when one opens it for the Torah reading, “should sit with gravity, with awe and fear”. Gravity, we use it also for Krias Shema. Yes, gravity, with awe and fear, the seriousness. Because it, because it, the Torah, the Torah is testimony for all who come into the world. As it says, there where it says that the Sefer Torah is a song, so it is for testimony.

Explanation: “For All Who Come Into the World” — The Chida’s Comment

Yes, good. The mitzvah of writing a Sefer Torah says, the mitzvah is “and write for yourselves this song for testimony”. Then it says the verse “and it shall be for Me as testimony”. What is the testimony here? The Chida noted that the Rambam says “for all who come into the world”, he doesn’t say “for all Israel” or for the pious Jews, but “for all who come into the world” it is testimony. And what is the testimony? That for what he doesn’t see, or all things, because all Torah matters are in the Torah. It’s the witness that testifies about Jews for all who come into the world. This is like the greatest guardian of the Jews, or the witness for the Jews, that the Jews are the main people. He doesn’t say here, he doesn’t say here, he doesn’t say here.

Discussion: What is the Content of the Testimony?

It could be that the question is what the content, he doesn’t say what the content of the testimony is. What does it mean that it’s a witness? Or the importance of it is that everyone believes in the truth of the testimony. It could be all true things that are in the Torah, the Torah is testimony on all the things that are in it, something like that. What’s in us? Everything. Parts belong to this person, parts to that person, but generally one must look at what it says in other places that explains what the witness is. I remember that in Perush HaMishnayos at the beginning it says that the testimony is simply that the letters of the Torah that one places in the aron is testimony that one can achieve from it, right? This is like a… It’s interesting, when a judge takes testimony it also says that one must sit with gravity, with awe and fear. Not about the testimony. Gravity was said, no? Yes, when it’s about the judgment, when it says “and the two men shall stand”, they must stand, stand what? Stand at the judgment. Yes, I don’t know.

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Law: One Should Glorify the Sefer Torah According to One’s Ability

Speaker 1:

And a person should honor the Sefer Torah according to his ability, as much as one can. Further, according to his ability means, here he doesn’t say “excessively”. No, very good. According to his ability is both upward and stringently. As much as you can, not more and not less. If you can’t more, you can’t more, but if you can more, you should do according to your ability.

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Law: Whoever Fulfills This Mitzvah Is As If He Received It From Mount Sinai

Speaker 1:

The Sages said, “and whoever fulfills this mitzvah”, so the Rambam says here, meaning to say the Sefer Torah, “is as if he received it from Mount Sinai”. And he brings here that in Perush HaMishnayos, there’s a note, the Perush HaMishnayos says the Rambam there, in Maseches Sofrim that this includes three other things. The love of Torah means, first of all, the main thing, a people honors the mitzvos of Torah. The second thing is honoring the sages who are the masters of the Torah, the Torah scholars. And the third thing is the books that were composed in it. It appears that the Rambam means here the third thing, honoring the books.

Novel Point: The Rambam’s Change from the Mishnah

And he says an interesting thing, that in the Mishnah in Avos it first says “beloved” and ends with “desecrates”. But the Rambam wanted to conclude with something good, so he reversed it. He could have said “beloved by people”. Where, interesting. The Rambam is not particular to copy exactly. What does that mean? He wanted to have the language, the idea.

Discussion: “Beloved by People” — A Segulah for Honor

“Mighty and beloved by people” is an interesting thing, because is it a blessing that people will honor him? Yes, because… It’s a very good thing that people should honor him. Because it’s an interesting thing, because it reminds me of that a Sefer Torah is buried next to a… or next to the body of a Torah scholar who honors the Torah. Ah, his body. His body of the person. “His body” apparently means “he”. Because it doesn’t say “his body” alone, it says “his soul”. Honor doesn’t go to the body, it’s for the person. But perhaps it’s… In short, whoever gives respect to a Torah, one respects him. And not, one doesn’t respect him.

How does that work? Presumably because he follows it. Presumably also that one should honor the books and the sages is also so that one should take it seriously, and one should follow it, and one should do what it says in it, and think with the stones. I mean that one who honors the Sefer Torah, automatically he will also learn it. That means, he will guard it and so on, he will learn it. He will honor him as a Torah scholar. Yes, but perhaps even less, even he doesn’t know. It’s a segulah for honor. Whoever wants a segulah for honor, should kiss the Torah more. He should give more honor to the Torah.

But Rashi understands it simply like our lesson. Further, this is the greatest honor for the Torah, this is that all the prophets prophesied for those who give money for the Torah scholars. Done.

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Conclusion: “Blessed is the Merciful One Who Helped Us”

Speaker 1:

Yes, until here the Laws of Sefer Torah. Blessed is the Merciful One who helped us. Someone asked me a question. Who asked me the question? Ah, on Shabbos my friend Ari asked me, that it’s very strange, the Rambam is very particular to write everything in the holy language, and every law ends with a piece in Aramaic, “Blessed is the Merciful One who helped us”. The Holy One Blessed Be He, the Omnipresent Blessed Be He, very interesting why such language appears in the Rambam, and the Rambam didn’t write it at the end of every law. If someone knows why, he can tell us.