DVAR TORAH
When G-d created the sun and the moon, the verse begins by stating that He created the two great sources of light but then continues to describe the sun as the great (gadol) source and the moon as the small (katan) source.
Rashi picks up this inconsistency and offers as an explanation a midrash - that, at first, both the sun and the moon were great light sources. However, because the moon overstepped its bounds, G-d reduced it from being a light source to merely a reflector of light.
Based upon this, Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik offered a beautiful insight into the blessing we offer a young child at his bris - "zeh hakatan, gadol yehiyeh" - may this katan will develop into a gadol.
Explained the Rav, that what we are really blessing the child (and all of our children) is that they not only should be reared in a home and a community from which they can reflect Jewish values (- katan), but that ultimately, may they be a source to generate their own light (- gadol) illuminating the world with Torah and Jewish morals.
HALACHA OF THE WEEK: Can a Baal Koreh Drink Water During Torah Reading?
On Shabbat morning there is no question that a person is allowed to drink water before davening begins [Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 232:3]. However, that is true only up until the time that it is permitted to make kiddush and eat the second Shabbat meal - which according to most authorities begins as soon as Shacharit concludes [Mishna Berura 287:7].
According to these authorities, by the time we begin to read from the Torah, there is already an obligation to make kiddush. Therefore, taking a drink of water during Torah reading should be prohibited! This in fact is the ruling of Rav Herschel Schachter who prohibits a baal koreh from sipping water between aliyot.
However, the Magen Avraham [Orach Chaim 271:5] does rule that one can rinse his mouth with water before Kiddush because it is not for enjoyment. Rav Neuwirth in his Shmirat Shabbat K'hilchata takes this one step further and permits drinking water to take medicine even after Shacharit [52:3]. Therefore, there is room to argue that a baal koreh who needs to drink water to complete the Torah reading may be permitted to do so, since it is for "medicinal purposes."
But even that logic is complicated by a ruling of the Mishna Berura - that if someone drinks water for medicinal purposes but also enjoys it due to thirst, that person would need to recite a bracha before drinking [Mishna Berura 204:42]. If so, presumably it would be prohibited to drink the water before making kiddush.
Rabbi Daniel Mann of Eretz Chemdah has suggested that one solution could be that the baal koreh should drink enough water before Shacharit so that the baal koreh would no longer be "thirsty." As a result, any water he drinks during the Torah reading can be considered purely "medicinal."
One final basis to permit the baal korah to drink water is that there are authorities who rule that kiddush is only required after we recite Musaf [ Mishna Berura 286:9]. If so, drinking water when necessary, during Torah reading does not require kiddush to be said, and would be permitted just as drinking water before davening.
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