27 Apr WHY ERETZ YISRAEL AND CHUTZ LA’ARETZ READ DIFFERENT PARSHAS (AND WHY WE DON’T RE-ALIGN)

Why Do
We Read
D i f f e r e n t
Parshas?
This year,
we have a
situation that
arises every
so often –
certainly not
infrequently!
In America, Europe, Australia, South
Africa – basically, most of the world
– the eighth and final day of Pesach
falls on a Shabbos. But in Israel, where
Pesach is only seven days long, the last
day of the holiday is Friday. The next
day is a regular, non-yom tov Shabbos
(or “Shabbat,” as most people there
would say). This creates the following
discrepancy: in Israel, they read parshas
Acharei Mos on the Shabbos that to
them is the day after Pesach. In the rest
of the world, where Shabbos is still
observed as Pesach, we read the special
portion for yom tov.
This means that the following week,
Kedoshim is read in Israel and Acharei
Mos is read in the rest of the world.
The week after that, Emor is read in
Israel and Kedoshim is read elsewhere.
This goes on for fifteen weeks until
the parshiyos eventually realign. This
occurs when Israel reads parshas Masei
and the rest of the world reads both
Matos and Masei.
Here’s what the calendar looks like
Fifteen weeks! Three and a half months!
Because this is a leap year (i.e., a year
with an extra month of Adar), we may
be looking at the maximum number
of weeks possible for a discrepancy
between Israel and elsewhere but in
other years, the difference may be
even more pronounced. If the sedras
of Acharei Mos-Kedoshim, BeharBechukosai and Chukas-Balak were
joined, as they are in most years,
we might have three fewer weeks
of discrepancy but an even bigger
question arises: Why wait so long to resynchronize the calendar when all we
need to do is for Israel to split a double
parsha?
The question is largely based on the
assumption that having everybody read
the same Torah portion at the same
time should be the overriding concern.
Before we address that assumption,
let’s look at why we read the Torah the
way we do.
The Rules of the Torah-Reading
Schedule
Historically, the Torah was not always
divided the way we read it today. Our
current system was designed by the
Geonim in Bavel (Babylonia) but
for centuries, the triennial (threeyear) cycle was popular in Israel. It is
therefore not unheard of for different
communities to not all be reading the
same Torah portion at the same time. (It
appears that things started to coalesce
in the 14th century.) Nevertheless, there
were always certain principles, such as
that the portions of the curses in sefer
Vayikra (meaning Parshas Bechukosai)
and in sefer Devarim (meaning parshas
Ki Savo) should be read before Shavuos
and Rosh Hashana, respectively; this
practice is attributed to the Biblical
Ezra (Megillah 31b – Tosfos there
adds that parshas Bemidbar should
also be read before Shavuos so that the
curses in Bechukosai aren’t too close to
Shavuos).
The Shulchan Aruch (OC 428:4) lays
out four rules, which serve as the basis
for why certain sedras may or may not
be joined:
(1) The Shabbos before Pesach must be
parshas Tzav in a regular year or parshas
Metzora in a leap year, unless Rosh
Hashana was on a Thursday, in which
case it’s parshas Acharei Mos. This
necessitates joining Vayakhel-Pekudei
into a single parsha in most years;
(2) The Shabbos before Shavuos
is parshas Bemidbar, as we have
discussed. (In a leap year in which Rosh
Hashana was on Thursday, it is parshas
Naso.) Because of this, three sets of
parshiyos in sefer Vayikra are combined
in a regular (non-leap) year: TazriaMetzora, Acharei Mos-Kedoshim and
Behar-Bechukosai. (In regular years
when Pesach starts on Shabbos, Behar
and Bechukosai are read separately in
Israel because 22 Nisan is a regular
Shabbos there);
(3) Parshas Vaeschanan is read on the
Shabbos after Tisha b’Av. Because of
this, the parshiyos of Matos and Masei
need to be combined except in leap
years in which Rosh Hashana fell on
Thursday or in Israel in leap years when
Pesach starts on Shabbos (as is the case
this year – 5779). Outside of Israel,
when Shavuos falls on Friday (so that
Shabbos is the second day), Chukas and
Balak must also be read together;
(4) Parshas Nitzavim is read on the
Shabbos before Rosh Hashana, as we
have discussed. Because of this, if
Rosh Hashana falls on a Monday, there
will be two non-yom tov Shabboses in
between Rosh Hashana and Succos. In
such a case, the parshiyos of Nitzavim
and Vayeilech must be split, reading
Vayeilech between Rosh Hashana and
Yom Kippur, so that Haazinu is read
before Succos. (This is because V’Zos
HaBracha needs to be read on Simchas
Torah.) However, if Rosh Hashana
falls on a Thursday, there is only one
non-yom tov Shabbos between Rosh
Hashana and Succos (the other being
Yom Kippur) so Nitzavim-Vayeilech
must be read as a single parsha in order
the accomplish the same result.
(Easy as pie, no?)
We go into things with these four basic
ground rules in place, but there are
other factors to consider.
Why Don’t We Adjust Sooner?
As noted, the simple solution in most
years would be for Israel to spilt a
double parsha, which would cause
them to realign with the rest of the
world. The reason we don’t do this
is explained by Rav Yissachar ben
Mordechai ibn Sussan (15th century).
In Tikkun Yissachar, he writes that
Israel is following the predominant
custom, which is presumably based on
the Torah’s ideal that Pesach should be
observed for seven days. It would be
unseemly for the residents of Israel to
tweak their practice to align with the
rest of the world, whose Torah-reading
schedule is “off” out of necessity,
thanks to the addition of an eighth
day of Pesach. And so, in Israel, they
wait until the last possible juncture to
combine sedras. (We’ll explain why in
a moment.)
Because this year (5782) is a leap year,
there are no double parshas for Israel to
split, but the question still arises: why
don’t the rest of us “double up” two
sedras earlier, in order to catch up with
Israel?
There are a number of factors. For one
thing, in a leap year, combining MatosMasei is the normal thing to do. If we
combined an earlier sedra, we’d have
to separate Matos and Masei, which
goes against our “standard operating
procedure.” (See Maharit.) But why
are we so keen – both in Israel and
elsewhere, to delay combining parshas
to the last possible opportunity?
It seems that the appropriate course of
action when doubling-up two sedras is
to wait for the latest opportunity to do so. This could either be because people
historically waited to combine parshas
until they saw that they were going
to have a problem meeting one of the
four “checkpoints” described above,
or simply in order to make it evident
that they were “doubling up” Torah
readings in order to meet one of these
checkpoints.
While people might acknowledge
the necessity inherent in the former
hypothesis, I question its historicity, since
we’ve been working with standardized
calendars for far longer than we’ve
had a standardized Torah-reading
schedule; I therefore tend to favor the
latter hypothesis. People may find it a
less compelling reason but I think the
logic underlying it makes perfect sense.
Consider: We add an extra month of Adar
to our calendar every so often in order to
ensure that the following month – Nisan,
in which Pesach occurs – falls in the
spring. Doing it this way was a necessity
in Sanhedrin times, when the calendar
was set month by month, based on the
testimony of witnesses. Nowadays,
however, we have a calendar that will
last us to eternity. We
could just as easily
accomplish our goal
by inserting an extra
Kislev or an extra
Shevat. Nevertheless,
we only insert an
extra Adar since the
additional month is
only declared for the
sake of the month that
follows it. Similarly,
I can see the logic
of doubling up two
Torah readings at the juncture closest to
the point that actually necessitates such a
change.
The Modern-Day Traveler’s
Dilemma
It’s apparent that this issue has
presented a halachic quandary for more
than a millennium but it has really only
become a point of contention for some
people in the few decades, based on
increasingly-common transit between
Israel and diaspora communities. Being
in a country reading the “wrong” parsha
for one’s own schedule creates the
inconvenience of trying to find a minyan
reading the sedra of one’s homeland
(probably easier for an American,
European or Australian in Israel than
vice versa) or trying somehow to “fix”
things upon one’s return home.
Obviously, if one is in a place with a
lot of one’s own countrymen, such as
an English-speaking yeshiva in Israel
or some kind of vacation resort, by all
means one may read the sedra that the
visiting congregation is up to even if
it’s not the one being read throughout
the country they’re visiting. It must be
noted, however that one is not obligated
to find such a minyan. Reading the
Torah is a communal obligation, not
an individual obligation. An individual
fulfills his personal obligation through
the communal reading even if it’s not
the one he would have heard at home.
(Yom Tov Sheini Kehilchaso 9:13-17
cites Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Shlomo
Zalman Auerbach, Rav Shach and Rav
Elyashiv on this matter.)
Nevertheless, some people seem to feel
quite strongly that the ubiquity of travel
between Israel and elsewhere warrants
a change. I, personally, believe that
such a demand may be missing the
point of the enactment. The Geonim
and Rishonim appear to have put a lot
of thought into the
matter of our Torah
readings but the
number of travelers
between Israel and
elsewhere does
not appear to have
been a major factor
in the decisionmaking process.
There have always
been travelers
between Israel and
the diaspora. Even
today, the number of travelers affected
by this discrepancy represents a tiny
minority of world Jewry. It just happens
to be a somewhat larger tiny minority
than in previous generations.
But What About Unity?
As far as the concept of “Jewish unity”
– the idea that we should inherently all
be reading the same parsha as much
as possible – that’s a nice ideal but
it’s not the driving force in this matter.
Yes, Jewish unity is an important
concept. This is stressed throughout our
literature, from the idea that we camped
at Sinai k’ish echad b’lev echad (like a
single person with a unified purpose
– Rashi on Exodus 19:2, citing the
Mechilta d’Rabbi Yishmael) to the
principle that kol Yisroel areivim zeh
bazeh (all Jews are interconnected –
Talmud Shevuos 39a. And no, that
wasn’t a typo – “zeh bazeh” has a
different nuance in meaning than the
more familiar “zeh lazeh,” which
occurs elsewhere). Jewish unity is
important but it’s not the sole driving
force in halacha.
Consider if you will the holiday of
Purim, which occurred close to the
end of the Biblical period. The Sages
instituted that Purim be observed on 14
Adar. Unless one is in a city that was
walled since the time of Joshua – in that
case, one observes Purim on 15 Adar.
And it doesn’t stop there! Take a look
at the first two mishnayos in tractate
Megillah: there were small villages
where residents would only assemble
in shuls on Mondays and Thursdays.
In such villages, if 14 Adar didn’t
fall on one of those days, they would
observe Purim on the closest preceding
Monday or Thursday. Accordingly,
some people might read the megillah
on 11, 12 or 13 Adar, while others read
it on 14 Adar and still others read it on
15 Adar! Didn’t Chazal understand the
importance of Jewish unity?
Of course they did. But they also
understood that unity doesn’t mean
being in lockstep. We all celebrate Purim
in mid-Adar but the needs of different
communities may affect exactly when
that is. It may be inconvenient for a
person if he’s in Jerusalem on 14 Adar
and in Tel Aviv on 15 Adar – neither
of which is observed as Purim – but
we’re not about to change the practice
because of such commuters.
The same is true of our Torah-reading
schedule. All of Jewry now observes
the one-year cycle, and we are sure to
re-align at four points in the year, as
detailed above. In between those points,
however, there’s “wiggle room” that
enables different communities to meet
different halachic needs. Yes, there
are some world travelers who may be
inconvenienced by the differences
between Israel and elsewhere but, as
with those who commute in and out of
Jerusalem in Adar, the onus is on the
individual to adjust to the community,
not vice versa.
The fact that we may sometimes read
different sedras for weeks – or even
for months – is a celebration of our
individuality. The fact that we always
make sure to re-align is a sign of our
unity.

Rabbi Jack Abramowitz is Torah
Content Editor at the Orthodox
Union. He is the author of seven
books, including The Tzniyus Book,
The Taryag Companion and The G-d
Book. His latest work, Ask Rabbi Jack,
is available from Kodesh Press as well
as on Amazon.
This article was printed originally
on OU Torah and is reprinted with
permission.