By Rabbi Berach Steinfeld
In Bamidbar 19:2 we see that the Torah tells us Zos Chukas – HaTorah. We will therefore discuss the inyan of writing a Sefer Torah. The Gemara in Menachos 30a says that when one buys a Sefer Torah it is as if he grabbed a mitzvah from the street. On the other hand, if a person writes a Sefer Torah, it is counted as if he accepted it from Har Sinai.
The Rambam in Hilchos Sefer Torah 7 writes that everyone has a mitzvah to write a Sefer Torah, as the posuk says “ve’ata” you should write this shira of Ha’azinu for yourselves. Since a person can’t write the Torah partially, one must therefore write the complete Torah in order to have Shiras Ha’azinu written. Rashi, in Devarim 31:19, also writes that this posuk is going on the Shira, but since we can’t write only the Shira, one needs to write the whole Torah.
The Sha’agas Aryeh in siman 34 asks, what would happen if a Torah rotted and all you had left was Shiras Ha’azinu? Would it still be considered having a Torah? Does it mean that one needs the rest of the Torah in order to write Shiras Ha’azinu, and so long as you had it originally, that would suffice? Does it mean that once we need the whole Torah in order to be yotzei, you need the entire Torah? In addition, he asks on the Rambam the following question. We see that one is allowed to write each Chumash separately, as seen in Gittin 60b, so why can’t we just write the parsha of Ha’azinu?
The Gemara in Sanhedrin 21b says that if one inherited a Torah from his parents it would not be enough to fulfill this mitzvah, but rather, he would have to write his own Torah. Why would it not suffice to have a Torah via inheritance?
The Sha’agas Aryeh in siman 35 asks regarding the Rambam that says women are exempt from writing a Sefer Torah, despite the fact that this is not a mitzvas asseh she’hazman gerama, why should women be exempt from the mitzvah?
The Sha’agas Aryeh in siman 36 asks, in today’s day and age, where we don’t have the knowledge of which words are malei and which words are chaseir, why would we write a Sefer Torah, if it is not kosher to begin with?
The Chasam Sofer in the Teshuvos Yoreh Deah 254 asks on the Rambam, shouldn’t a person be able to write parts of the Torah, as we find that mezuzah and tefillin don’t contain all of Torah in them?
The Gemara in Megilah 3a says that when Yehoshua was next to Yericho, he saw a malach with an outstretched sword ready to kill him. The malach scolded him for not bringing the Korban Tamid and for bittul Torah. Yehoshua asked him, “Ha’lanu – to us, or le’tzareinu – to our oppressors?” The malach answered, “Ata basi.” I came for the “now.” Tosfos explains the exchange as follows: Yehoshua asked the malach, “Ha’lanu?” because of Torah tziva – lanu or L’tzareinu, the korbanos that are brought to protect us from our oppressors? The malach responded, “Ata basi,” I came for the posuk of ve’ata kisvu – lachem. I came for bittul Torah. The Ponovezher Rov asks, “Why does the malach switch from the posuk of Torah tziva- lanu to Ve’ata kisvu- lachem?
We will answer all these questions next week Iy”h
May we all be zocheh to write and learn the Torah properly!
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