A Sedra That Skips & Mitzvah #613

Parshat Vayeilech & Yom Kippur

We’ve discussed the different scenarios for how the sedras of the week can fall out at this time of year, but let’s look at them again from the perspective of Parshat Vayeilech.

Parshat Nitzavim is always read on the last Shabbat of the year – the Shabbat right before Rosh Hashanah. Sometimes, it’s read then on its own; sometimes it is combined with Vayeilech. This means that Vayeilech is sometimes read on the last Shabbat of the year, and sometimes it is read on the first Shabbat, as it is this new year of 5786. (Actually, when Rosh Hashanah is Shabbat and Sunday, then Vayeilech is read on the second Shabbat of the year.)

As we noted, Nitzavim and Vayeilech are combined in 60.46% of years (when Rosh Hashanah begins on Thursday or Shabbat) and read separately in 39.54% of years (when Rosh Hashanah begins on Monday or Tuesday).

Now here’s the interesting trivia about Vayeilech: Because it can fall out on the last Shabbat of the year or the first Shabbat of the year, the following situation can occur.

Take this just concluded year, 5785. Rosh Hashanah was on Thursday and Friday (October 3-4). That means that Nitzavim and Vayeilech were read on the last Shabbat of 5784. The day after Rosh Hashanah 5785 was Shabbat Shuva and the sedra we read was Ha’azinu. On the last Shabbat of 5785, we read only Nitzavim. Rosh Hashanah 5786 was observed this past Tuesday and Wednesday (September 23-24). Thus, the first Shabbat of 5786, we’re reading Vayeilech on Shabbat Shuva.

Do you realize what that meant for 5785? We read all the sedras of the Torah during the year – except for Vayeilech! Actually, since we read the beginning of Vayeilech at Mincha on Shabbat – the first 13 pesukim – it was only the last 17 pesukim of Vayeilech that weren’t read at all during 5785. This happens almost 30% of the time.

But do not fret on Vayeilech’s behalf. There are years when Vayeilech is read twice – once at the beginning and once at the end of the year. And this happens almost 30% of the time.

That makes Vayeilech different from all other sedras in almost 60% of years.

And then there are years when Vayeilech is read once, like all the other sedras. Sometimes it’s at the beginning of the year (almost 10% of the time) and sometimes it’s only at year’s-end (a bit more than 30% of the time).

If that wasn’t enough to explain why Vayeilech is different from all other sedras, look at its stats.

Vayeilech has only 30 pesukim, making it the shortest sedra in the Torah, pasuk-wise.

At the same time, Vayeilech has the longest pesukim in all of the Torah – averaging more than 18 words (more than 70 letters) per pasuk. The Torah’s average is 13.7 words and 52.14 letters per pasuk. Just for contrast, Mas’ei’s pesukim average 11 words and 44 letters per pasuk.

Alas, the longer pesukim in Vayeilech only allow it to leave last place by one slot. Because of its word and letter totals and the number of lines it is written on in a Sefer Torah, it beats out Vezot HaBeracha – but that’s it. Vezot HaBeracha has 41 pesukim, but only 512 words and 1,989 letters.

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Hak-hel is a septennial event (that’s once in seven years – just in case you didn’t figure that out) taking place in the year following a Shemittah year, on the first day of Chol HaMoed Sukkot, when all men, women, and children are commanded to come to the azara (courtyard) of the Beit HaMikdash to witness the reading of parts of the Book of Devarim by the King of Israel. Hak-hel is the most famous exception to the rule that women are exempt from time-related positive mitzvot. (There are other exceptions.)

Hak-hel was (and will be again) a major event meant to unify the people and the Shevatim (tribes) to which they belonged. It also honors the Torah before all of Israel. It was conducted with great pomp and ceremony. The Torah mitzvah applies only when we have both a king and the Beit HaMikdash.

Mitzvah #613, very appropriately, is the mitzvah to write a Sefer Torah. The highest form of fulfilling this mitzvah would be to actually write your own Sefer Torah. Second to that is commissioning a sofer to write a Sefer Torah on your behalf. Even writing and/or commissioning a word or a letter in a Sefer Torah is a fulfillment of the mitzvah to write a Sefer Torah.

Sources point out that the Torah does not only say to write a Sefer Torah, but it gives a reason for writing it – “Velamdah et Bnei Yisrael…” And teach it to the people of Israel... From this our Sages teach that in our time, when learning and teaching Torah is done with various texts, then it is also in the spirit of this mitzvah to acquire sifrei kodesh (holy books) with intent to learn and teach from them.

Rabbeinu Asher (a.k.a. the Rosh, Rabbi Asher ben Yechiel, 1250?-1327) presents a novel twist on the mitzvah of writing a Sefer Torah. He says that since the Torah scroll has ceased its function as the text for learning and in our time is used instead for public reading, while sacred texts – Chumashim, Mishna, Gemara, Rambam, Shulchan Aruch, etc. – are used for Torah learning, the main fulfillment of the mitzvah to write a Sefer Torah is the building of a Torah library (in order to learn from it). And if a person is also privileged to write or commission a Sefer Torah, that’s good too.

So, the next time you buy a sefer – a Gemara with English translation and commentaries or a book on the Laws of Shabbat, and so on and so forth – have in mind that you are fulfilling the mitzvah to write a Sefer Torah, Mitzvah #613 of the Torah. And, of course, learn from it and teach others, if you can.

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The number most associated with Yom Kippur is five. Every weekday of the year, we daven three times a day. On Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, and Yamim Tovim, we have four davenings. Only on Yom Kippur do we have five – Maariv (a.k.a. Arvit), Shacharit, Mussaf, Mincha, and Ne’ilah.

The other notable five of Yom Kippur are the Inuyim, the afflictions that are obligatory on the 10^th of the seventh month, i.e., Tishrei: not eating or drinking, not washing or bathing (except for cleaning away actual dirt), no use of lotions or cosmetics (unscented deodorant is permitted), no wearing of leather shoes, and no marital relations.

Within the davening, Viduy, the formal verbal confession (which should be supplemented by our own sincere words – in any language) includes the 24 terms of sinning (some specific and some general categories) – Ashamnu, Bagadnu, etc. – as well as the 44 Al Cheits (for the sins we have committed before You) plus another set of V’al HaChataim. Vidui is an important component of the teshuvah process. Sometimes it is the culmination of the process (following the realization that we have sinned, stopping that sinful act or behavior, regret for the past violations, and acceptance for the future not to repeat the sin). But sometimes, Vidui, or even a word or line therein, can be the trigger for the teshuvah process. Saying the name of a sin, and/or reading a footnote or comment about it, can lead to the realization that we have teshuvah to do.

To be sure, one feels trepidation during the Days of Awe and on Yom Kippur particularly. But there is also a special joy mixed with the awe and fear of the day – the joy or realization that G-d wants our repentance; He does not want to punish us.

Shabbat Shalom, G’mar chatima tova, and Shana tova u’metuka. May this new year of 5786 be a peaceful, healthy, prosperous year for the People of Israel as a whole and for each individual as well.