Mesorat%20hashas for Sotah 81:25

ואי כתב רחמנא בחג הסוכות הוה אמינא אפי' יו"ט אחרון כתב רחמנא בבוא כל ישראל

I.E., THE END OF THE SEVENTH,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The years were arranged in Cycles of seven, the seventh being 'the year of release' (Deut. XV, 1ff). ');">²²</span> THEY ERECT A WOODEN DAIS IN THE TEMPLE COURT, UPON WHICH HE SITS; AS IT IS SAID, AT THE END OF EVERY SEVEN YEARS, IN THE SET TIME etc.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deut. XXXI, 10. ');">²³</span> THE SYNAGOGUE-ATTENDANT<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Hazzan. There is no certainty either in regard to the original function or rank of the Hazzan. Here he appears as second to the synagogue president; v. n. 5.] ');">²⁴</span> TAKES A TORAH-SCROLL AND HANDS IT TO THE SYNAGOGUE PRESIDENT,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [ [H]. Identified with the [G], the officer who administered the external affairs of the Synagogue; v. Krauss, Synagogale Altertumer pp. 116ff and JE II, 86.] ');">²⁵</span> AND THE SYNAGOGUE-PRESIDENT HANDS IT TO THE [HIGH PRIEST'S] DEPUTY. HE HANDS IT TO THE HIGH PRIEST WHO HANDS IT TO THE KING. THE KING STANDS AND RECEIVES IT, BUT READS SITTING. KING AGRIPPA<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Agrippa I. His reading occurred in the year 41 C.E. [Others ascribe this incident to Agrippa II. V. Derenbourg. op. cit. p. 217, and Buchler, Priester und der Cultus pp. 12ff.] ');">²⁶</span> STOOD AND RECEIVED IT AND READ STANDING, FOR WHICH ACT THE SAGES PRAISED HIM. WHEN HE REACHED, THOU MAYEST NOT PUT A FOREIGNER OVER THEE,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. XVII, 15. ');">²⁷</span> HIS EYES RAN WITH TEARS.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Because on his father's side he was not of Jewish descent. ');">²⁸</span> THEY SAID TO HIM, 'FEAR NOT, AGRIPPA, THOU ART OUR BROTHER, THOU ART OUR BROTHER!' [THE KING] READS FROM THE BEGINNING OF DEUTERONOMY UP TO THE <i>SHEMA'</i>,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., down to ibid. VI, 4. ');">²⁹</span> THE SHEMA', AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IF YE HEARKEN,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. Xl. 13-25. ');">³⁰</span> THOU SHALT SURELY TITHE,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. XIV, 22ff. ');">³¹</span> WHEN THOU HAST MADE AN END OF TITHING,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. XXVI, 12ff. ');">³²</span> THE PORTION OF THE KING,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. XVII, 14ff. ');">³³</span> AND THE BLESSINGS AND CURSES, UNTIL HE FINISHES ALL THE SECTION. THE KING PRONOUNCES THE SAME BENEDICTIONS AS THE HIGH PRIEST, EXCEPT THAT HE SUBSTITUTES ONE FOR THE FESTIVALS INSTEAD OF ONE FOR THE PARDON OF SIN. <b><i>GEMARA</i></b>. Does it enter your mind [that the Mishnah means] the eighth [day of the Festival]! — Read 'the eighth [year].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The word should have the feminine form, not masculine as in the Mishnah, to make it clear that the year and not the day is intended. ');">³⁴</span> But why all this?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Viz., the elaborate description of the time when the reading takes place as it is given in Deut. XXXI. 10. ');">³⁵</span> — It is all necessary; for if the All-Merciful had only written 'at the end', I might have thought that the reckoning was to be from then<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' From the fortieth year after the Exodus. ');">³⁶</span> although they had not observed a year of release;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The observance only began seven years after the land had been divided among the Israelites. ');">³⁷</span> therefore the All-Merciful wrote in 'the year of release', If the All-Merciful had only written 'the year of release', I might have thought that this means the end of the year of release;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., before the eighth year. ');">³⁸</span> therefore the All-Merciful wrote 'in the set time.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The word for 'set time' usually denotes a festival; hence it refers to a festival in the eighth year. ');">³⁹</span> If He had only written 'in the set time�, I might have thought that this means at the New Year festival; therefore the All-Merciful wrote 'in the feast of tabernacles'. And if the All-Merciful had only written 'in the feast of tabernacles', I might have thought that this means on the last day of the festival; therefore the All-Merciful wrote 'when all Israel is come'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deut. XXXI, 11. referring to the pilgrimage to the Sanctuary which was on the first day. ');">⁴⁰</span>

Explore mesorat%20hashas for Sotah 81:25. In-depth commentary and analysis from classical Jewish sources.