Hakhel

Hakhel (Hebrew: הקהל, "assemble") refers to the Biblically-mandated practice of assembling all Jewish men, women and children to hear the reading of the Torah by the king of Israel once every seven years. This ceremony took place at the site of the Temple in Jerusalem during Sukkot in the year following a Shmita year.

According to the Mishna, the mitzvah of Hakhel was performed throughout the years of the Second Temple era and, by inference, during the First Temple era as well. It was discontinued after the destruction of the Temple and the dispersal of the Jewish people from their land. In the twentieth century, however, it was revived by the government of Israel and by groups of Jews in other places on a symbolic basis.

In the Bible

The mitzvah of Hakhel is described in Deuteronomy 31:10-13:

And Moses commanded them, saying: "At the end of seven years, at the time of the sabbatical year, during the Sukkot festival when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place that He shall choose, you shall read this Torah before all Israel, in their hearing. Assemble ("hakhel") the people — the men, the women, the small children, and your stranger who is within your gates — in order that they will hear and they will learn, and they shall fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this Torah. And their children who do not know will hear and will learn to fear the Lord your God, all the days that you live on the land to which you are crossing the Jordan, to possess it."

Observance

According to the Mishna, the ceremony was conducted on the first day of Chol Hamoed Sukkot, the day after the inaugural festival day, on behalf of all the Jews who participated in the pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Trumpets would sound throughout Jerusalem (Tosefta) and a large wooden platform would be erected in the "Ezrat Nashim" (women's forecourt of the Temple). The king would sit on this platform and all in attendance would gather around him. The "chazan haknesset" would hand the "sefer Torah" to the "rosh knesset", who would hand it to the deputy "kohen gadol," who would hand it to the "kohen gadol", who would present it to the king. According to the Sefer Hachinuch, the king would accept the "sefer Torah" while standing, but could sit while he read it aloud.

The king began the reading with the same blessings over the Torah that are recited before every Aliyah La-Torah in synagogues today. Seven additional blessings were recited at the conclusion of the reading.

The reading consisted of the following sections from the Book of Deuteronomy:

# From the beginning of the book through Shema Yisrael (6:4);
# The second paragraph of the Shema (11:13-21);
# "You shall surely tithe" (14:22-27);
# "When you have finish tithing" (26:12-15);
# The section about appointing a king (17:14-20);
# The blessings and curses (28:1-69).

Why children?

Many commentators ask why young children were also required to be present at this assembly. Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah said: “Men would come to learn and women, to listen. Why would children come? To provide a reward for those who brought them” (Chagigah 3a).

Twentieth-century revival

The idea of reviving the mitzvah of Hakhel in modern times was first proposed by Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim (the "Aderes"), who published two pamphlets on the issue, "Zecher leMikdash" and "Dvar Be'ito".

When Rabbi Shmuel Salant was Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, he would gather all the Talmud Torah students in front of the Western Wall on the first day of Chol HaMo'ed Sukkot and read to them the same passages that the king would read at Hakhel.

The first official Israeli ceremony of Hakhel was held during Sukkot of 1945, the year following the sabbatical year. A special service was held in the Yeshurun Synagogue, after which a mass procession moved on to the Western Wall where the Torah portions were read. [http://www.lookstein.org/articles/hakhel.htm] Similar ceremonies presided over by Israel government officials have been held every seven years since. [http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/haazinu/zol.html] The Hakhel ceremony conducted in 1994 was attended by the Chief Rabbis of Israel, the President of Israel, and other dignitaries. The ceremony performed at the Western Wall in 2001 was led by the President of Israel, Moshe Katzav. [http://www.ujc.org/page.html?ArticleID=18388]

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, urged Jews everywhere to conduct large and small Hakhel gatherings in synagogues and private homes to foster greater unity and increase Torah learning, mitzvah observance, and the giving of charity. [http://www.jewish-holiday.com/hakhelpeople.html]

References

* [http://www.lookstein.org/articles/hakhel.htm The Mitzvah of Hakhel by Rabbi Jay Goldmintz]

External links

* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,817136,00.html Time Magazine report on the commemoration of Hakhel in Israel in October 1952]