In Deuteronomy 31; 10-12 Moses conveys the Torah’s 612th commandment: “…at the end of every seven years… on the Festival of Sukkot. When all Israel comes to appear before the Lord, your G-d, in the place that He shall choose, you shall read this Torah before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people the men, women, and the little ones, and your stranger… so that they may hear, and so that they may learn; and revere the Lord your G-d and observe to perform all the words of this Torah.”
This in-depth mini-series focuses on the page in Masechet Sotah that records the teachings of our Sages about this rare Mitzvah. The Talmud (and its multi-layered commentaries) richly define and elucidate the details that govern the fulfillment of this enigmatic biblical commandment.
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Series on Hakhel, Part Five. Tractate Sotah, Chapter Seven, Page 41a
MAKING TIME ~ Dissecting Scripture to Determine the Date of Hakhel!
In the fifth Episode we begin studying the Gemara which analyzes the Mishna. Our first focus is on a seeming grammatical inaccuracy in the language it uses — that could potentially point to the wrong date for the unique Septennial Assembly Reading.
Scrolling through the specific Torah verse conveying the day in which the Hakhel Assembly Mitzvah should be held we encounter a surprising biblical anomaly. For all the clear instructions, the exact time still seems unclear.
Why the circuitous language, and what is added by multiple methods of identification, and shouldn’t G-d have it conveyed things more directly and clearly?
Discover the fascinating bigger picture, and see what else comes to light when we fully decipher these pregnant words?
This is the Fifth Episode in our unique Hakhel mini- series.
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