Parashat Bechukotai - Avoiding the Tochocho - Can you?

Rabbi Avraham Genachovsky (1936-2013) was the Rosh Yeshiva (Dean) of Yeshivas Kochav MiYaakov, the Tchebiner Yeshiva in Jerusalem.

In a sefer which is a collection of his hanahgos, there is a sha'ala that took place in front of him.

It was in an uber yor when bechukotai is read on it's own.

It was a Mon or Thursday leining.

The leining kept to the rule of a minimum of 10 verses (11 here) and each person got at least 3 verses. - 3,4,4.

The Ba'al Koreh by mistake didn't stop at Sheni but went straight through to the end of the Yisroel leining at Komemiyius. This meant that the shlishi would have to be 32 verses of the tochocho as verse 14 is the start of it.

What should they do?

Just to complicate matters - we don't usually call up someone for the tochocho - it is usually left to the Ba'al Koreh or if no other options the gabbay takes it. In this case the BK was a Cohen.

Also no one wants to listen to 32 verses on a weekday - half of the kehilla had their tefillin off and were edging towards the door. However you are not supposed to cut up the tochocho leining.

The Agan HaSar quotes another sefer called Siach Halacha by Rav Sternfeld who discusses all the options.

1. Start the tochocho and stop after 3 verses - no good - all or nothing.

So when Hashem gives you a mapoloh - you need to listen all the way through!

In a book about the minhagim of the Steipler Gaon it says that when he did shnayim mikra ve'echad targum - even there he would not stop in the middle of the tochocho.

The Ramo said said that we don't call up anyone by name for the aliya but instead mi sheyirtzeh - what does that mean?

There was an old minhag in Europe to give an oni the aliya in exchange for tzedakah.

There is an old joke about an oni that was called up in the minyan for the tochocho. Then someone went to a Kiddush in a second minyan and the same Oni got called up there as well. The he went to a yahrtzeit kiddush and the same guy got called up for a third time. The person said to him - "whats going on - that's the third time I've seen you called up to which he replied. "From one tochocho I cam't make a living"

In practice nowadays we don't do this. We ask someone before and if he says yes we call him up with his name - you can't call him up on he spot by his name and surprise him with the tochocho.

The Maharil (the originator of most ashkenazic minhagim brought by the Ramo) says that this Aliya is taken by the Shammas who is paid for eventualities like this - it's all part of his job.

However if you do get called up you shouldn't refuse. Not taking an Aliya can be gorem a shortening of your days in this world. Taking the tochocho won't cause you any problem as you are protected as a performer of a mitzvah.

In the dirshu edition of the Mishna Berura he mentions an interesting Halacha,

If you hate the Baal Koreh and you are called up for the tochocho -

The Ramo mentions it and says you shouldn't take the Aliya. - chashash sacana. He may be wishing the tochocho on you.

The Mishna Berura explains why but brings a Gra who disagrees.

Back to our sha'ala - can't you just re-read the Levi section?

We do carry out some repetition in leining, Rosh Chodesh we repeat the last verse of Rishon at the start of Sheni, on Chanukah we go over old ground (but on different days), Chol HaMoed Succos (on same day - for the revi'i we repeat the Rishon) ?

However this is also against Halacha in SA.

On 5 days Chol hamoed succot their is no choice. You want to read .for the real actual day and the day after because of sefeika deyuma (different minhag in Israel as they have no safeik) - however each day has 3 verses so you have to read 3 days, Then in the fourth Aliya you don't want to talk about non-relevant days so you go back to the ikar yom....

So its Ok to repeat if you add on at least another three verses to the one you repeat. You can quote old ground as long as you cover new ground.

maybe you could skip the first 29 verses of the tochocho and pick up later on at a more jolly section?

You can't skip under normal circumstances. However you can if it is within the same inyan - like Aharon did on Yom Kippur. He skipped sefer from Vayikra (Acharei Mot - YK Avoda) to Bamidbar (Pinchas - offerings for YK) and he said it by heart so as not to do Tircha detzibura.

So that was put in front of Rav Ganochovsky that one could possibly skip to the end of the tochocho. It is still within the same inyan i.e. tochocho but it is the last three verse and they are optimistic.

However he wouldn't allow it in that case. However he said he would allow it if it had been a Shabbat Mincha because leining all 32 verses would make them late for shalosh seudos which would have slipped into shkia time.

Rav Ganochovsky's biography tells a ma'aseh about his hanhagos . In 2010 Ki Tavo they were leining the Tochocho. The BK was a Cohen, He agreed to take the Aliya. as no-one would take it. He was very makpid on leining the tochocho and every word had to be just right and concentrated on.

The book described how a child standing at the bimah was asked to move away (in case of deleterious effects).

Another time he was on a bus and he was doing Shnayim Mikra ve'Echad Targum when someone came and sat opposite. He moved way to another seat so that he shouldn't say it directly in front of him.

When it a sha'ala of kavod HaTorah however, he was willing to take the Aliya.

The brother of the Maharal (he was a chavuta with the Rama) behaved similarly and he wrote in his book Sefer Hachayim that people are frightened to take the Aliya of Tochocho. What is it that they are afraid of. People are frightened of a zeman kitrug i.e. when they are looking at all the sins that are listed in the Tochocho they may come to look at you and bring up your record - you may be found lacking. But if there is no-one to take the Aliya then it is a bezayon and you must do it.

He quotes that the Maharshal behaved simialarly.. He then tells a story about a kehilla in Andvard where a sefer sat unused for a few hours before someone volunteered. A zaken chacham commented that they wouldn't be surprised if a as punishment for this, the community would be destroyed. That year it happened that the yeshiva closed and the kehilla folded.

He told one more story about a larger shul in Lodz with 400 yidden davening there. They were all killed by the Nazis except for one survivor. People asked if he had done something special to deserve being saved. He said that the regular Ba'al Koreh wasn't in the city that year - no one wanted the Aliya -he volunteered.