16 Sep TRAPPED BY THE SERMON

Many rabbis use the
High Holiday sermons
as an opportunity to
showcase their talents
and to showcase crucial
ideas and themes.
Considering the large
crowd, rabbis may spend
months preparing just
the right combination of information and
inspiration. In other words, it’s a big deal.
Some congregants enjoy the sermon. Others
flee the room. Some envy those who escape
and feel trapped themselves.
Rav Yaakov Reischer (Shevus Ya’akov 1:28)
addressed a question by someone who felt
trapped. One Rosh Hashanah morning, an
elderly felt a bit ill. His family encouraged
him to hear the shofar at home early, make
kiddush, eat and then go to shul (we can leave
for a different time the question of whether
you may not eat before hearing shofar — this
man would not). However, this man refused
and even vowed not to eat until after shul was
over. Unfortunately, that year the rabbi spoke
at the very end of services and extended his
sermon for almost two hours. Was the old man
required by his vow to wait for all that extra
time or could he slip out to make kiddush and
eat?
Of course, health trumps all other
considerations. But if that is not a concern,

Rav Reischer concludes that the time for shul
continues until it ends completely, including
any extended speech by the rabbi. Rav
Reischer quotes Rosh Hashanah (28b) that a
kohen is never done with blessing people even
after he finishes the three blessings because
if another congregation needs him, he must
recite another three blessings. Rather, a zeman
mitzvah, its time, continues throughout the
eligible time even if the act has finished as
long as something can be added. From there
he deduces that the zeman for shul continues
even after the usual fare concludes because if
the rabbi decides to add a sermon at the end,
he extends the mitzvah.
In this responsum, Rav Reischer does not
discuss the importance of the rabbi’s sermon.
Elsewhere, he emphasizes the importance
of gathering to hear Torah. The Gemara
(Chagigah 3a) explains why the Torah (Deut.
31:11) explicitly commands men, women
and children to come to Jerusalem to hear the
Torah reading of Hakhel. Men come to learn;
women come to hear. Why do children come?
To give reward to those who bring them. In
his Iyun Ya’akov commentary to Ein Ya’akov,
Rav Reischer notes the Talmud Yerushalmi’s
version has, “Rather, to give reward to those
who bring them.” The word “rather” implies a
rejection of the prior interpretation.
In other words, explains Rav Reischer, all
people — men, women and children — come to

Hakhel not primarily to learn but to join with
others. They can stay home and learn Torah.
They come to Jerusalem for Hakhel in order
to join with others in learning Torah together,
as a community, in a public setting. The same
idea applies to the rabbi’s sermon, when the
community gathers together to learn as a unit.
Even if we can learn Torah better at home,
we join together with our community to learn
Torah as a group.
The midrash Yalkut Shimoni (Vayakhel 408)
says that Moshe was commanded to gather
the nation for a lecture as a lesson to future
generations that they too should gather for
lectures every Shabbos. Rav Chaim Palaggi
(Tochachas Chaim, Vayakhel) explains that
Moshe’s lecture in Vayakhel (Ex. 35) begins
with the laws of Shabbos. The midrash
deduces from this start that Shabbos — when
people are free from work — is the proper time
for a Torah lecture.
In an unusually long comment, Rashi
(Shabbos 115a s.v. bein she-ein) explains that,
in the times of the Gemara, there would be
Torah lectures for the community. Because
people are busy during the week, they use
Shabbos to attend Torah classes. It is better
to attend a lecture, Rashi says, than to learn
Torah on your own.
The Gemara (Yoma 87b) says that you are
allowed to travel on Yom Kippur through

water up to your neck in order to hear the
rabbi’s lecture, his sermon. The Gemara
continues that Rafram challenged Ravina
why he missed Rav Nosson’s lecture on
Shabbos. Ravina explained that he was sick.
Otherwise, he would have been obligated
to attend the Shabbos lecture. Rav Chaim
Palaggi deduces from this episode that not
only are congregants obligated to attend their
rabbi’s Shabbos sermon, Torah scholars are
required to attend as well. In addition to the
above-mentioned aspect of joining together as
a group to learn Torah, attending is a display
of respect for the Torah and the speaker when
anyone, particularly a Torah scholar, attends
a lecture.
Staying for the rabbi’s sermon serves to unite
the community in an act of Torah study. It also
offers the opportunity to show honor to the
Torah by attending and listening carefully to
the speaker.