Vayeilech 5776:         The Antidote

By Rabbi Joshua (correctively known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

On the day that Moshe died, he wrote a Torah scroll and gave it to the kohanim. He then commanded the people to convene at the end of the shemitah year, during the festival of Sukkos, to publicly read the Torah before the entire people, men, women, and children. Although the men and women could understand what was read, the very young infants could not. Why did they come? The rabbis explain, to bring reward to those who bring them. As explained by Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk in his Meshech Chochmah, the idea was to give the infants, from an early age, a sense of the majesty of the Torah. This was, in fact, a major reason for this mitzvah of Hakheil, as presented by the Rambam, and explained, by Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky. Beyond the aspect of actually hearing the content of the Torah, the nation was recreating the experience of the revelation of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, which was a major factor in forging the collective character of the nation.

Why was this ceremony held only once every seven years?  Why not every year?  The Abarbanel explains that if it happened too frequently, it would not have the same effect on the people. On a smaller scale, each tribe would regularly study the content of the Torah. However, the commitment to the Torah that would emerge from the dramatic procedure of Hakheil was to occur only once every seven years, to emphasize its special importance and maximize its effect. Rabbi Avraham Gurwitz notes that the confluence of the three factors, the end of shemitah, the festival of Sukkos, and the ascension of the people to the Beis HaMikdash then, as on all three major festivals, are all due to the element of trust in God. Shemitah observance obviously reflects reliance on God to provide one's needs. Ascension to Yerushalayim also involves trust that one's possessions, left behind when going to the Temple, are safe, protected by God. The festival of Sukkos, too, reflects reliance on God, by staying in a temporary dwelling, a Sukkah, for the duration of the festival.  Reliance and trust in God, says Rabbi Gurwitz, is an important factor in the proper study of Torah, so that reading the Torah publicly at this time encourages the people to go back and study it with the proper attitude. However we understand the scheduling of Hakheil, however, we need to understand why it is mentioned here, outside of the context of shemitah, going up to Yerushalayim, or sitting in a sukkah. Why is it mentioned in this parsha?

Perhaps we can answer this question based on the teachings of Rav Aharon Kotler in his Mishnas Rav Aharon. In discussing the section that follows Hakheil, that of the divine punishment of hester panim, in which God's providence is hidden from us, so that His presence among us is not felt, Rav Aharon cites sources which say that this perceived absence of God's presence is the darkest experience one can imagine. However, he says, there is one way to overcome its effect, and that is by studying Torah. By doing so, one can always find God's presence within it. By studying it carefully, one will see that all we are going through was already predicted in the Torah, and this realization will help us discern God's presence among us. Perhaps it is for this reason, at this point in the Torah, prior to the section on hester panim, since it serves as an antidote to that condition.