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Mar 1, 2012
Turning The Shul Into A Circus For Zachor
On Rosh Hashana there is an obligation to blow the shofar. This obligation is taken very seriously. The problem is that there are so many customs as to how the shofar should be blown, who is to say "my" way of blowing is the "right" way by which to fulfill my obligation - perhaps a different custom is more authentic.
This is such an issue that I have seen in many places how after davening is concluded a group of people will go off to the side and blow the shofar according to different customs of how the shofar should be blown - just in case one of the other customs is right and "my" custom is wrong, this would ensure that I have heard or blown the proper shofar anyway.
A similar obligation is upon us this Shabbos with the reading of Parshat Zachor. And also with the reading of Zachor, there are a number of different customs and opinions as to what the proper way to read it is. Personally I have never seen, unlike by the shofar blowing, a shul or yeshiva take out the Torah after davening and have someone re-read Zachor according to the many different customs and opinions.
It seems, though, that in some places they do just that. Some people will take out the Torah again after davening and read according to different traditions and customs. And some might even take out different types of Torahs, to read from both sefardi and ashkenazi torahs perhaps, to read from different torahs written by different scribes - all for the purpose of raising the percentages of successfully fulfilling the obligation.
Rav Zeini, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Hesder Ohr V'yishua in Haifa, spoke against the custom of doing just that - taking out additional Torahs and reading according to different customs and opinions. Rav Zeini said the desire to fulfill the mitzva in the most accurate way has led to intolerable phenomena, due to lack of understanding of the essence of the mitzva. Rav Zeini says that sometimes one after the other tens of people will re-read the parsha of Zachor, each according to his custom of how to read the cantillations and pronunciations to the point that it turns the shul into a circus... it says in Megillah that in the future the theaters and circuses will be turned into batei knesset - not that the batei knesset will be turned into circuses. (source: Srugim, and see original article for more on this topic)
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This is such an issue that I have seen in many places how after davening is concluded a group of people will go off to the side and blow the shofar according to different customs of how the shofar should be blown - just in case one of the other customs is right and "my" custom is wrong, this would ensure that I have heard or blown the proper shofar anyway.
A similar obligation is upon us this Shabbos with the reading of Parshat Zachor. And also with the reading of Zachor, there are a number of different customs and opinions as to what the proper way to read it is. Personally I have never seen, unlike by the shofar blowing, a shul or yeshiva take out the Torah after davening and have someone re-read Zachor according to the many different customs and opinions.
It seems, though, that in some places they do just that. Some people will take out the Torah again after davening and read according to different traditions and customs. And some might even take out different types of Torahs, to read from both sefardi and ashkenazi torahs perhaps, to read from different torahs written by different scribes - all for the purpose of raising the percentages of successfully fulfilling the obligation.
Rav Zeini, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Hesder Ohr V'yishua in Haifa, spoke against the custom of doing just that - taking out additional Torahs and reading according to different customs and opinions. Rav Zeini said the desire to fulfill the mitzva in the most accurate way has led to intolerable phenomena, due to lack of understanding of the essence of the mitzva. Rav Zeini says that sometimes one after the other tens of people will re-read the parsha of Zachor, each according to his custom of how to read the cantillations and pronunciations to the point that it turns the shul into a circus... it says in Megillah that in the future the theaters and circuses will be turned into batei knesset - not that the batei knesset will be turned into circuses. (source: Srugim, and see original article for more on this topic)
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Personally, I've experienced both extremes. I am familiar with (and prefer) shuls which read once, as they usually would, pronouncing זכר the proper way as per the mesorah.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, when I was in yeshiva some years ago, it would be read many, many times, by numerous guys using a variety of accents and trope styles. And of course, each rendition would include both the correct and incorrect pronunciations of זכר.
I would agree that, for example, following the regular reading (in my yeshiva's case Israeli Ashkenazi) with such variants as Israeli faking Ashkenazis, American Ashkenazis, Teimani, faked chassidish/old Polish, Teimani, various Sepharadic countries' readings, etc., is quite a circus.
I believe that this trend exists in at least some batei din for chalitza as well, to which perhaps one could apply the prohibition כל אלמנה ויתום לא תענון.
ReplyDeleteRMF addresses chalitza in a teshuva and concludes that all popular pronunciations have a status of leshon hakodesh and are OK for chalitza. By the way, Zachor unlike Chalitza is not one of the mitzvos listed in the mishna in sota requiring leshon hakodesh.
Some people seem to think that "a sepharadi cannot be yotze with askenazic reading". I don't know where that notion comes from. Some ashkenazim who normally use modern Israeli pronunciation for zachor insist on ashkenazic reading. Some people perhaps are trying everything hoping to read like Moshe Rabbeinu might have read. Is there some advantage to that over a pronunciation that people are familiar with and can understand? Maybe yes and maybe no, but since no one can be certain how Moshe Rabbeinu read I think it is futile.
Reportedly, the Brisker Rav read kerias shema a second time in sephardic pronunciation.