MEDINA & HALACHA BY RABBI SHIMSHON HAKOHEN NADEL Mara D'atra, Kehilat Zichron Yosef, Har Nof OU Israel Faculty
Making Up Missed Torah Readings
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s the State of Israel begins to ease restrictions - and synagogues prepare to open their doors one very practical question that arises is: Will synagogues have to make up all of the Torah portions missed during their closure? This is not the first time in Jewish History the question has been raised. Writing in the 13th Century, the Or Zarua, Rav Yitzchak of Vienna, records an incident that took place in Cologne, Germany, where the community missed the Torah reading of Parashat Emor. The Or Zarua cites approvingly Rav Eliezer Ben Shimon, who ruled that in addition to reading Behar the following week, the community should also read Emor, making up the parasha they missed. The reason given: “For in the days of Moshe Rabbeinu it was enacted to read from the Torah according to its parshiyot, and complete it each and every year, in order to make heard to the Nation the Mitzvot and Chukim.” He
explains that a parasha can be read on an alternative date, as often a parasha is moved if Shabbat coincides with a festival, for example. We don’t push it off entirely, but instead make it up at a later date (Or Zarua, Vol. 2, Hilchot Shabbat 45; See also Sefer HaAgudah, Megillah 30). The Rema (Orach Chayim 135:2) cites the Or Zarua, and rules that if a community did not read a parasha one week, they must make it up the following week. There is, however, a dispute among poskim as to how to interpret and apply the ruling of the Or Zarua. Is the Or Zarua’s intent that each and every missed parasha be made up - even if multiple weeks are missed? Or, is his ruling limited to only one missed parasha? Writing two centuries later, Maharam Mintz assumes that the above ruling of the Or Zarua is limited to making up only one parasha, with a maximum of reading two parshiyot in one week. He relates an incident that took place in Worms on Shabbat Vayakhel-Pekudei, a ‘double parasha.’ As the Gabbai called up the Oleh for 7th Aliyah, a fight broke out between two men which lasted for two hours! Most of the attendees got OU ISRAEL CENTER
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