Significance

Why is Today Significant?

By David Cohen in honor of his bar mitzvah, with the able assistance of Rabbi Joel M. Finkelstein

Were you ever in a Synagogue when suddenly a young child screams out and cries, interrupting the whole service? There are two schools of thought about the role of children in a synagogue. Some argue that young children should not be brought to a synagogue during a services because they will cry, yell, scream, pull the rabbi’s beard, and most importantly disrupt the service. That is only one of the possible positions for this case. Another position is that young children should be brought to the service to have a sense of the beauty of Synagogue life and of Judaism and to build a repertoire of Jewish experiences. In this week’s parasha, Vayeilech, the Torah states that you MUST bring young children to the holy temple a minimum of once every seven years. Elsewhere, the Torah states that all male children who can walk to Jerusalem must go with their fathers at least 3 times a year for Pesach, Shavuot, and Succot. At least periodically, the Torah believes that children do have a place even in the holy temple in Jerusalem, the Beit Hamikdash.

Regarding the once every seven year ceremony, the torah states, "Hakel et-ha-am ha-anashim vehanashim vehataph vegeracha asher besharecha lema-an yishme-oo oolmaan yilmidoo veya-re-oo et-adoni eloheychem; veshameroo la-asot et-kol-devrei hatorah hazot."

"Gather the people together, men, women, and children, and the stranger that is within your gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your G-d, and observe to do all the words of this torah." The word taf implies young children and babies, and even one who hops, skips, and jumps. It is specifically these little trouble makers whom the Torah requires to bring to the holy sanctuary. How are we to understand this strange requirement to bring even the smallest tots to this solemn Torah ceremony?

1. Perhaps the Torah’s purpose in bringing children to the holy temple that day is to try to give subliminal messages (hey, maybe I could be president one day, too) subliminal messages about Judaism to the young children. Today, some parents will play classical music such as Bach or Beethoven to give their kids a sense of grace and harmony. In Judaism, there is a case like that in the Jerusalem Talmud; Many years ago, Rabbi Yehoshuah’s teacher praised Rabbi Yehoshuah’s mother. Why, you ask, did he praise his mother and not the Rabbi himself? Here is the answer: When Rabbi Yehoshuah was born, it is said that his mother kept him in his crib in the beit hamidrash, the house of Talmud study, until he got older. Rabbi Yehoshuah’s teacher praises his mother for giving him an early start at Judaism. One could suggest that at the gathering known as Hakel, we bring the children to try to give subliminal messages about Judaism to the young children.

2. We want everyone to be there. At Sinai, everybody was there, men, and women and children. One of the main purposes of Hakel is to recreate the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, which is referred to as yom hakahal, the day of gathering. We gather the Jews together after the Sabbatical year on Succoth. Actually, if we had a Temple in Jerusalem, it would be done this coming Succoth. On the shmitah year, you don’t work the land. In the Sinai desert, you couldn’t work the land either. At Sinai, everyone was together. If someone isn’t there that means that it wasn’t really like Sinai. That may be why children would go to the holy temple. The children represent everyone being present. If the kids stay at home, it’s just not the whole family, and I definitely agree with that point. This also explains why Moshe gave this as his second to last commandment before he died because he wanted to perpetuate his legacy, the legacy of giving the torah at Sinai. By reading it every seven years, we will continue the legacy of Moses and of Sinai.

3. The third answer we can give as to why the children were included is that it is like a stadium because G-d wanted to give a stadium-like feeling. At a stadium there are numerous kids, adults, women, infants, etc… there for one main reason. To watch people do something. Everyone is into it. Whether it is basketball or baseball, everyone there is very excited about what is going on. Otherwise there wouldn’t be 25,000 people there.

At Hakhel, everyone comes, babies, children, women, adults, men etc… to watch someone read the Torah. The Sefer Hachinuch writes that when everyone will gather for the reading of the Torah at Hakhel, everyone will ask "what is the big deal?" The answer will be this is the essence of what we are all about and value of the torah. That’s why there is all this fuss. That’s why there are so many thousands of people here. Like a stadium where people come to love baseball or other sports, the beit hamikdash, the holy temple would be a place in which people would come to desire torah, and get really excited about the Torah.

4. One day when the Rabbi and I were in a lesson, he told me a story about him and his son: The Rabbi was studying the torah with his son, Asher, one day and they were on the section which discusses Abraham. When he told one of the many stories to his son, his son was amazed! He never heard that story before. When the Rabbi saw how amazed his son was, he realized that he was doing two things; A. Passing on the gift of torah to a child whose mind is fresh, and B. becoming even more excited about the torah himself. This relates to my torah portion because at Hakel, the kids learn something fresh about the torah, so they are brought. When the adults see how excited the kids are, they too get more enthused about the Torah. Through the fresh eyes of the young, it becomes fresh even for the adults.

My Hafotrah also stresses the importance of gathering everyone together, because it talks about gathering the crowd together for a fast. The rabbis say that "ein tefilato shel adam nishmaat ela im hatzibbur," (Berachot 8a), that prayer is most effective when done in a crowd.

On Yom Kippur, which will be in only a few days, everyone gathers together because fasting and praying is more effective in a crowd. That is how my haftorah and Yom Kippur tie in to each other. In the days of the holy temple, the crowd was so large, that by the time sunrise came, the entire sanctuary was filled with Jews.

Application

Today is like Sinai for two of the previously stated reasons.

It is like a stadium. My Grandpa Marvin is here, Grandma Ruth, my cousins, even my sister is here since I’m in a good mood. Everyone is here for one main purpose, to see me become a Bar-Mitzva.
This is a fresh experience for me. When my Father became a Bar-Mitzva, he felt the same way I do now. After his Bar-Mizva he saw other Bar-Mitzva’s like any other Bar-Mizva. But now its mine so he feels very excited about it again. I am helping my family and hopefully, each one of you, regain the excitement of Sinai, of Hakhel, of their own Bar and Bat Mitzvah’s.

Another way in which today is like hakhel is that I was prepared by my parents for me to reach this day. Just as a parent brings the child to Hakhel in Jerusalem to be initiated as a Jew, so have my parents educated me in the Jewish way all these years, to this day.

How do we know that today is an important day? How do we know it matters that I now have the opportunity to do all the Mitzvot like all my ancestors before me? The answer lies in your presence here today, in the fanfare and fuss made over me. All this shows that I matter, the Torah matters, and the connection of this Jew and the Torah matter. Thank you all for making this modern day pilgrimage to my Bar mitzvah, for gathering together to make this day so special and memorable for me and my family.