Sicha, Shabbos Beshalach 5743
And Sicha, Simchas Torah night 5715
A. The History of Public Torah Reading
Moses established the practice of reading the Torah publicly on Shabbat and festivals (Source 1). During the Jews’ stay in the desert, they instituted additional readings on Mondays and Thursdays as well (Source 2). The standard practice is to complete the entire Torah each year (Source 3). Moses established how many aliyot there should be for each reading (Source 4), and the order of aliyot: Kohen, Levi, and Yisrael (Source 5). Which aliyah is the most significant? According to Ashkenazim—the third (Source 6), and according to the Arizal—the sixth (Source 7).
B. Why Do We Read the Haftarah?
The institution of the Haftarah arose because of a royal decree forbidding the reading of the Torah. Therefore, the Jewish people instituted reading from the Prophets on a topic related to the weekly portion. Even after the decree was abolished, the custom was retained for all generations (Sources 8–9).
The Rebbe explains that decrees against mitzvah observance are not random events. Such decrees are rooted in Heaven, and only then manifest as a decree below. As King David behaved when Shimi cursed him, saying: “G-d told him to curse.” Pain experienced below actually originates from a decree in Heaven (Source 10).
How did the Jews respond to the decree? They established the practice of reading from the Prophets. Reading from the Prophets has an advantage over Torah reading, because “the words of the sages are cherished.” Through connecting to this higher level, the inner greatness of the Jews themselves was revealed. The source of the Jewish people is higher than the Torah, from a place where decrees cannot apply, so the power of this revelation ultimately annulled the decree Above, and consequently below. The Jews were then free to resume public Torah reading.
C. Were the Greeks Stupid?
The Rebbe asks: when the Jews began reading from the Prophets publicly, the authorities should have realized that this was a substitute for Torah reading. Why didn’t they forbid the reading of the Prophets as well?
The explanation: no government has genuine authority to impose decrees on Jews. Every decree that comes is rooted in a spiritual decree above. Since the decree pertained only to Torah reading and not to the Prophets, the government did not prohibit reading from the Prophets.
D. Jewish Pride
The message from this story is powerful: even in exile, when governments impose decrees, when Jews remain unimpressed and confidently continue walking in the path of the Torah, they merit seeing an open miracle—just as happened then, when they read from the Prophets without interference! Moreover, through this, they succeeded in annulling the decree forbidding Torah reading!
E. A Surprising Chabad Custom
Unlike the halachic opinion or the Arizal’s view, the Chabad Rebbes customarily received specifically the aliyah of Maftir. The reason: the Haftarah reading was born specifically at a time of decrees, out of self-sacrifice, and therefore it has a special preciousness. As the Talmud states, mitzvot for which Jews gave up their lives remain firm in their hands (Source 11).
