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How Simchat Torah Remade Money: Commentary on Simchat Torah 5785
By Rabbi Jonah Rank, Rosh Yeshivah of Hebrew Seminary
If Shabbat is a time to appreciate nature and to refrain from changing the world we inhabit, then it makes sense for Shabbat to be a time when we hold off on making any new financial commitments. In fact, the Babylonian Talmud presents a teaching in the name of Rav, cited by one Rav Yehudah, suggesting that we should not move money in the slightest during Shabbat:
.מִטָּה שֶׁיִּחֲדָהּ לְמָעוֹת, הִנִּיחַ עָלֶיהָ מָעוֹת — אָסוּר לְטַלְטְלָהּ, לֹא הִנִּיחַ עָלֶיהָ מָעוֹת — מוּתָּר לְטַלְטְלָהּ
If someone has set aside a bed for [keeping] money [on top of it] and has laid [their] money on it, it is prohibited [on Shabbat] to adjust that [bed]. If someone had not laid [their] money on that [bed], it is permitted [on Shabbat] to adjust that bed. (Shabbat 42b.)
Traditionally speaking, with very few exceptions, the laws that the rabbis designated for Shabbat apply to days of Yom Tov such as Simchat Torah. For this reason, the German and Iberian Rabbi Ya’akov ben Asher (c. 1270-c.1340) presumably raised a few eyebrows when he highlighted in his Arba’ah Turim (ארבעה טורים, “The Four Columns”) a tradition of making monetary pledges on Simchat Torah:
ונוהגין באשכנז שהמסיים והמתחיל נודרין נדבות וקוראין לכל מרעיהן ועושין משתה ושמחה וי”ט לסיומה של תורה ולהתחלתה
The custom in Ashkenaz (אשכנז, i.e., Germany and Western Europe) is that whoever finishes [reading the Torah] and whoever begins [the reading of the Torah from the beginning] pledge voluntary gifts. They invite all of their friends and make a party. It is a joy and a Yom Tov for the conclusion of the Torah and for its beginning. (Orach Chayyim [אורח חיים, “Path of Life”] 669.)
The honorees must have committed to these “voluntary gifts” (נדבות, nedavot) on pretty loose terms. From the description above, it seems that the 14th century Jew who finished reading from the end of the Torah and his contemporary who read from the beginning of the Torah threw a party but only later calculated a budget. Though the celebration yielded positive feelings, the planning committee of two worked backwards and, only well after the party ended, made donations to cover their expenditures.
Whether or not all of this finance talk was appropriate for Simchat Torah, the Spanish-born Rabbi Yosef Karo (1488-1575) must have been intrigued when he learned of this practice that could lift the spirits of a community in financial ruin, a reality he must have witnessed when living in Safed in the Land of Israel near the end of his life. In his commentary on Arba’ah Turim, Beyt Yosef (בית יוסף, “The House of Yosef”), Rabbi Karo sought to justify this practice:
ומצאתי עיקרו של מנהג במדרש בתחלת שיר השירים ויבא ירושלים ויעמוד לפני ארון ברית ה’ וכו’ ויעש משתה לכל עבדיו אמר רבי יצחק מכאן שעושין סעודה לגמרה של תורה
I found the principle of this custom in [this] midrash regarding the beginning of the Song of Songs [as recorded in Song of Songs Rabbah 1:9 on Song of Songs 1:1]: “‘[King Solomon] stood before the ark of the covenant of Adonai [and offered whole-burnt sacrifices] and peace offerings and made a drinkfest for all of his servants (I Kings 3:15). Rabbi Yitzchak said, ‘From here, [we learn] that we make a festive meal upon completing the Torah.’” (Orach Chayyim 669.)
In truth, Rabbi Karo seems to have mixed up which text he presumed to be the logic undergirding a Simchat Torah party. In the midrashic commentary Song of Songs Rabbah from around the 7th century C.E., the teaching attributed here to Rabbi Yitzchak in fact comes in the name of Rabbi El’azar. That being said, the similarly dated Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:1 credits Rabbi Yitzchak with the teaching Rabbi Karo cited and more convincingly connects divine revelation and biblical wisdom with both voluntary offerings and hosting a party through three narratives:
דברי קהלת בן דוד מלך בירושלם, זה שאמר הכתוב ברוח הקדש ע”י שלמה מלך ישראל, (משלי כ”ב) חזית איש מהיר במלאכתו לפני מלכים יתיצב, מעשה בר’ חנינא בן דוסא שראה בני עירו מעלין נדרים ונדבות לירושלים, אמר הכל מעלין לירושלים נדרים ונדבות ואני איני מעלה דבר, מה עשה יצא למדברה של עירו וראה שם אבן אחת ושבבה וסיתתה ומירקה, ואמר הרי עלי להעלותה לירושלים, בקש לשכור לו פועלים, נזדמנו לו חמשה בני אדם, אמר להן מעלין לי אתם אבן זו לירושלים, אמרו לו תן לנו חמשה סלעים ואנו מעלים אותה לירושלם, בקש ליתן להם ולא נמצא בידו דבר לשעה, הניחוהו והלכו להם, זימן לו הקב”ה חמשה מלאכים בדמות בני אדם, אמר להם אתם מעלין לי אבן זו, אמרו לו תן לנו חמשה סלעים ואנו מעלין לך אבנך לירושלים, ובלבד שתתן ידך ואצבעך עמנו, נתן ידו ואצבעו עמהם ונמצאו עומדים בירושלים, בקש ליתן להם שכרן ולא מצאן, נכנס ללשכת הגזית ושאל בשבילם, אמרו לו דומה שמלאכי השרת העלו אבנך לירושלים, וקראו עליו המקרא הזה, חזית איש מהיר במלאכתו לפני מלכים יתיצב, קרי ביה לפני מלאכים יתיצב
א”ר סימון בשם ר’ שמעון בן חלפתא לבלווטוס שהיה גדל בפלטין של מלכים, אמר לו המלך שאל מה אתן לך, אמר אותו בלווטוס, אם שואל אני כסף וזהב או מרגליות טובות הוא נותן לי, בגדים הוא נותן לי, אלא אני שואל בתו והכל ינתן לי בכלל בתו, כך (מ”א =מלכים א’= ג’) בגבעון נראה ה’ אל שלמה בחלום הלילה ויאמר אלהים שאל מה אתן לך, אמר שלמה אם אני שואל כסף וזהב ומרגליות הוא נותן לי, אלא הריני שואל את החכמה והכל בכלל, הה”ד (שם /מלכים א’ ג’/) ונתת לעבדך לב שומע, אמר לו הקב”ה החכמה שאלת ולא שאלת לך עושר וכבוד ונפש אויביך, לפיכך החכמה והמדע נתון לך ועל ידי כן גם עושר ונכסים וכבוד אתן לך מיד
(שם /מלכים א’ ג’/) ויקץ שלמה והנה חלום, א”ר יצחק חלום עומד על כנו, צפור מצויץ ויודע על מה מצויץ, חמור נוהק ויודע על מה נוהק, מיד (שם /מלכים א’ ג’/) ויבא ירושלם ויעמד לפני ה’ ויעל עולות ושלמים ויעש משתה לכל עבדיו, א”ר יצחק מכאן שעושין סעודה לגמרה של תורה, מיד שרתה עליו רוח הקודש, ואמר שלשה ספרים הללו, משלי, ושיר השירים, וקהלת, הה”ד דברי קהלת בן דוד
“These are the words of Kohelet (קהלת, “Ecclesiastes”) the son of David, King of Jerusalem” (Ecclesiastes 1:1). This is [the meaning of] when Scripture said, through the holy spirit [transmitted] by Solomon King of Israel [when he wrote], “You have seen a person who is well-paced in their work; let such [a person] stand before sovereigns!” (Proverbs 22:29). A story is told of Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa, who saw the people of his city bringing pledges and nedavot up to Jerusalem. That [sage, Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa,] said, “Everybody is bringing pledges and nedavot up to Jerusalem, but I’m not bringing up anything!” What did he do? He went to the desert [surrounding] his city and saw there a [large] rock. He chipped at it and chiseled it and scalded it. He said, “Behold, it is upon me to bring that [large rock] up to Jerusalem.” He sought to hire some workers for himself. He assembled five people. He said to them, “You are bringing that [large] rock up to Jerusalem for me.” Those [five prospective contractors] said to him, “Give us five sela-stones [as payment], and we bring it up to Jerusalem.” He sought to give them [money,] but no [such] thing was found in his hand at that moment. They left him and went their way. The Holy Blessed One summoned for that [sage, Rabbi Channina ben Dosa,] five angels in the likeness of humans. That [sage, Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa,] said to them, “You are bringing this [large] rock up for me.” They said to him, “Give us five sela-stones [as payment], and we bring your rock up to Jerusalem, so long as you, with us, give your hand and your finger [for the task].” He gave alongside them his hand—and his finger!—and those [six figures] were found standing in Jerusalem! That [sage, Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa,] sought to give them their payment, but he did not find them. He entered the Chamber of the Hewn [at the Temple in Jerusalem], and asked for those [whom he had enlisted to carry the rock]. Those [people already at the Chamber of the Hewn] said to him, “It appears that angels of the [sacred] service brought your stone up to Jerusalem.” Those [people already at the Chamber of the Hewn] recited for him this [part of] Scripture: “You have seen a person who is well-paced in their work; let such [a person] stand before melakhim [מלכים, ‘sovereigns’]!” (Proverbs 22:29). [Instead,] this [Scriptural excerpt] should be read as “[You have seen a person who is well-paced in their work;] let such [a person] stand before mal’akhim [מלאכים, ‘angels]!”
Rabbi Simon in the name of Rabbi Shim’on ben Chalafta said [something] to Plautus (בלווטוס, Blavatus), who had grown up in the palace[s] of [Roman] sovereigns. The [Roman] sovereign said to that [man, Plautus], “Ask for something; I’ll give [it] to you.” That Plautus said, “If I ask for silver or gold or nice pearls, he gives me! Clothes? He gives me! But I am asking for his daughter so that everything can be given to me, subsumed within his daughter!” [Solomon demonstrated, however, that the greatest gift is not within the physical world as] such: “At Giv’on, Adonai appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said [to him], ‘Ask for something. I will give it [to you]’” (I Kings 3:5). Solomon said, “If I ask for silver or gold or pearls, that [God] gives [it] to me! But, behold, I am asking for wisdom, for everything is subsumed [within it].” This is as written [in Solomon’s request to God in I Kings 3:9], “You shall give Your servant a listening heart.” The Holy Blessed One said to that [king, Solomon,] “You have asked for wisdom, but you have not asked for wealth, respect, or the [cessation of] the soul[s] of your enemies. Therefore wisdom and knowledge are given to you, and through this [gift], so too will I give you wealth and possessions and honor immediately.”
“Solomon awoke; behold, it was a dream!” (I Kings 3:15). Rabbi Yitzchak said, “A dream stands upon its base[, such that there is truth we can understand in our dreams]. A bird tweets, and one knows what the bird tweets. A donkey brays, and one knows what the donkey brays.” Immediately, “that [king, Solomon,] came to Jerusalem” and stood before Adonai. “He offered whole-burnt sacrifices and peace offerings and made a drinkfest for all of his servants.” Rabbi Yitzchak said, “From here, [we learn] that we make a festive meal upon completing the Torah.” Immediately, the spirit of the Holy One rested upon that [king, Solomon,] and he spoke [the words] of these three books [of the Bible]: Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes.
Rabbi Karo appears to have read this passage as proof that, because Solomon’s post-sacrificial party for his underlings led to the divine inspiration that guided his hand in the authorship of three Biblical books, Simchat Torah is a time for us to celebrate the joys that emerge from piety, generosity, and wisdom. Piety, generosity, and wisdom, of course stand in contrast with the goals of Plautus (perhaps molded in the rabbinic imagination after the 3rd-2nd century B.C.E. poet and playwright Titus Maccius Plautus), whose Roman worldview declared that materialist opulence was second only to the gift of sensuality. In a non-theistic world, the greatest gift ignored the possibility that human joy could come from any divine influence. On the other hand, Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa’s neighbors gifted nedavot that emphasized that, even if we wish to pay others to do our hard and holy work, we must always be ready not just to lift a finger but also to lend our hand.
The motivational messages that Solomon’s party and Simchat Torah parties communicated seemed to override any queasiness that the rabbis had had when it came to acknowledging money on Shabbat or Yom Tov. In his commentary Darkhey Mosheh (דרכי משה, “The Paths of Mosheh”) on Arba’ah Turim, the Polish Rabbi Mosheh Isserles (1530-1572) attested:
עכשיו אלא קורין כל הנדרים שבתורה בליל שמחת תורה וקונין הנדרים ונותנין למי שקונה מי שבירך אחר שעלה לס”ת:
Now, we read all of the [passages pertaining to] pledges that are in the Torah on the night of Simchat Torah, and [we] purchase [the privilege to be called to the Torah during the recitation of the passages pertaining to these] pledges. [We] give to anyone who has purchased [such an honor] a [personalized blessing of] ‘Mi SheBerakh’ (מי שברך, “May the One who has blessed [etc.]”) after they have had an aliyyah to the Torah scroll. (Orach Chayyim 669.)
In Isserles’ day, the two people honored to stand by the Torah as one finished reading the Torah and one began reading the Torah anew stood alongside every other Jew who was willing to make the sort of donation that grants donors a few minutes next to the Torah scroll. By the end of the millennium though, many communities became accustomed to all Jews being called to the Torah on Simchat Torah owing some sort of contribution. The Eastern European Rabbi Yisra’el Me’ir Kagan (1838-1933) observed in his Mishnah Berurah (משנה ברורה, “Elucidated Mishnah”) 669:7:
ובימינו המנהג שכל העולים נודרים נדבות צרכי בהמ”ד ולהחזיק לומדי תורה
In our time, the custom is that all those who go up [to the Torah for an aliyyah] pledge nedavot [for] the needs of the House of Study and to support those who study Torah.
Rabbi Kagan counted Simchat Torah as just one of many holy days on the Jewish calendar when receiving an honor came with a price tag. Explaining his understanding of what constituted “the [passages pertaining to] pledges in the Torah” (הנדרים שבתורה, hannedarim shebbattorah), Rabbi Kagan wrote in Mishnah Berurah 669:15:
הם הפרשיות שרגילין למוכרן בכל השנה בפני עצמן ונודרין עליהן כגון פרשת ויתן לך פרשת המלאך פרשת ויכולו פרשת יברכך פרשת מה טובו שאלו נקראו נדרים
These are the passages that we commonly sell throughout the year on their own, and people pledge [to pay] for them [after Shabbat or Yom Tov has ended], such as [the readings including] the passage of [Isaac’s blessing to Jacob, beginning] “May [God] give you [of the dew of heaven and from the fat of the land]” (Genesis 27:28); the passage of [Jacob’s blessing to Joseph, including] “[May] the Messenger who redeems [me from all evil bless the youth]” (Genesis 48:16); the passage of [the Torah’s first mention of Shabbat, when] “[the heavens and the earth and their celestial hosts] were completed” (Genesis 2:1); the passage of [the Priestly Blessing, including] “May Adonai bless you” (Numbers 6:24); [and] the passage of [Balaam’s blessing to the Israelite people, including] “How good are your tents” (Numbers 24:5). Thus, these are called Nedarim (נדרים, “Pledges”).
Though many exciting readings occasioned donation pledges in Rabbi Kagan’s own synagogue, such a practice in fact pales compared to several contemporary synagogues that commonly assign a cost to every aliyyah year-round. When I attended a Persian synagogue in Los Angeles about a decade ago, I was impressed by the generosity (if not overwhelmed by the competitiveness amidst the community’s generosity) when every single aliyyah to the Torah was auctioned off to the highest bidder. Until the whole congregation had finally heard a resolution to the debate (taking place in Hebrew) over which Jew would be paying the greatest multiple of $18 for the honor of standing next to the Torah during the next aliyyah, the Torah reading could not proceed. Given that no special Torah readings or observances had rendered that Shabbat any holier than any other Shabbat of the year, I imagine that Bet Avraham in Woodland Hills has fundraised very satisfactorily for many years.
If the sole purpose of money is opulence, then the Talmudic sages who wanted us not to touch any dormant money got it right. But if those sages lived such ascetic lives that they divorced money from the possibility of upholding a cause as sacred as sustaining institutions and students who bring Judaism to life, then we may read these old texts with a Simchat Torah-flavored grain of salt. Some centuries ago, a Jewish poet whose name we no longer know grew deeply interested in Proverbs 3:13-15: “אַשְׁרֵ֣י אָ֭דָם מָצָ֣א חׇכְמָ֑ה… כִּ֤י ט֣וֹב סַ֭חְרָהּ מִסְּחַר־כָּ֑סֶף… יְקָ֣רָה הִ֭יא מִפְּנִינִ֑ים” (“A person who has found wisdom is on an upright path… for its value is greater than the value of silver… it is dearer than rubies.”) This poet adapted these words and composed a piyyut (פיוט, prayer-“poem”) recited now for centuries by Ashkenazic Jews on Simchat Torah. This sacred poem begins:
שִׂישׂוּ וְשִׂמְחוּ בְּשִׂמְחַת תּוֹרָה
וּתְנוּ כָּבוֹד לַתּוֹרָה
כִּי טוֹב סַחְרָהּ מִכָּל סְחוֹרָה
מִפָּז וּמִפְּנִינִים יְקָרָה
נָגִיל וְנָשִׂישׂ בְּזֹֹאת הַתּוֹרָה
כִּי הִיא לָנוּ עֹז וְאוֹרָה
Rejoice and be happy on Simchat Torah.
Give honor to the Torah.
For its value is greater than any value;
It is dearer than gold and rubies.
Let us be glad and rejoice with this Torah,
For it is our strength and our light.
Light and life are invaluable. If the Torah guides us into the lives our futures hold, then Simchat Torah allows us to subvert our understanding of money’s value or purpose. Through a deep connection to the Torah, life becomes so rich that, even if we pledge money and later give money, we are not exactly dealing with money on Shabbat or Yom Tov; we are committing to a future of taking hold of Torah and life itself.
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