אמר רב חננאל אמר רב החליף פרשיותיה פסולות אמר אביי לא אמרן
whereas in the other it is to the right of the one that wears them; the reader thus reads them<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' When reading the portions from right to left (Rashi) .');"><sup>27</sup></span> according to their order.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Sc. as they are found in the Torah, and that is, the order as given in the first Baraitha (Rashi) . According to R. Tam's interpretation of the first Baraitha, which states the order from the reader's point of view, the sections occupy the following places: 'Sanctify' is on the extreme right, to the left of it is 'And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee', next to it is 'And it shall come to pass if ye shall hearken diligently', and on the extreme left is 'Hear'.');"><sup>28</sup></span> R'Hananel said in the name of Rab, If a man reversed the order of the Scriptural portions, it is invalid. Abaye said, This is so
Sefer HaChinukh
And [also] that which they said (Menachot 34b) that the order of the [Torah] sections on the parchment is thus - that we first write the section of 'Sanctify your firstborn to me,' and afterwards the section of 'And it shall be when He will bring you,' and afterwards the section of 'Hear Israel,' and afterwards the section of 'And it shall be if you listen.' And those that said that we write the 'beings' in the middle - meaning to say the section of 'And it shall be when He will bring you' and the section of 'And it shall be if you listen' in the middle, the section of 'Sanctify your firstborn to me' at the beginning and the section of 'Hear Israel' at the end - did not properly discern the matter. As behold, it is the common opinion of Rashi and Rambam, may their memory be blessed and Rabbenu Hai that we do not write the 'beings' in the middle, but rather like the order that they are written in the Torah. And the proof is from that which is found in the chapter [entitled] Hakomets in Menachot 34b concerning the order of the tefillin; as they said there that one who reads [them], reads like the order in the Torah. And this text was certainly not found in the [copies of] the books of those people whose opinion was to say that we write the 'beings' in the middle. And regardless, our teachers, may God protect them, agreed now [that it is] like we wrote, that we write them like the order of the sections that are written in the Torah.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
