----- Forwarded Message -----From: "Rabbi Moshe Revah" <htcnews-htc.edu@shared1.ccsend.com>To: "mates57564@aol.com" <mates57564@aol.com>Sent: Thu, Sep 3, 2026 at 5:34 PMSubject: Dvar Torah from the Rosh HaYeshiva - Nitzavim-VayelechEmail from Hebrew Theological College
Dear Yeshiva Family:
This week’s parsha introduces us to the remarkable mitzvah of Hakhel. Once every seven years, following the Shemittah year, all of Klal Yisrael would gather together at the Beis HaMikdash. The Torah specifically emphasizes the all-encompassing nature of this gathering: “Ha’anashim, v’hanashim, v’hataf” — the men, the women, and the children. Everyone came.
The Maharsha (Chagigah 3a) points out that when the Torah includes “taf, - children” it must be referring even to very young children — babies who are far below the age of chinuch. Older children would already have reason to participate in Hakhel by themselves and were included in the original dictum; the Torah’s special inclusion of “taf” therefore teaches us that even the youngest children were brought along.
This leads to an obvious question, raised by the Maharal and the Kli Yakar: What exactly are these babies accomplishing at Hakhel? They cannot understand the Torah being taught. They cannot appreciate the majesty of the gathering. They may not even have any awareness of where they are. What is gained by bringing them?
Indeed, the Gemara in Chagigah itself asks this question: “Taf lamah ba’in?” — Why do the little children come? The Gemara answers: “K’dei litein sechar l’mevi’eihem” — in order to give reward to those who bring them.
There is a cute explanation I once heard of this Gemara. Think about the practical reality of Hakhel. Every Jewish man and woman had to be there. The older children were coming as well. Who exactly was left at home to babysit? Nobody! The parents were going to have to bring their babies anyway. So, as it were, Hashem said: If you're going to carry them all the way to Yerushalayim regardless, I might as well make it a mitzvah and give you sechar for doing it!
There is actually a profound idea hidden in that thought. Hashem created a world filled with opportunities for mitzvos — sometimes taking things we would have needed to do anyway and allowing us to transform them into acts of avodas Hashem for which we receive reward. It is another example of how Hashem has, in a sense, stacked the world in our favor.
That itself is a beautiful thought as we approach Rosh Hashanah. But perhaps there is a different message here.
Perhaps the answer can be understood through a remarkable Mishnah in Pirkei Avos (2:8).
Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai had five outstanding talmidim, each of whom the Mishnah describes with a unique praise. When the Mishnah reaches Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya, it says: “Ashrei yoladeto” — fortunate is the woman who gave birth to him.
Why is Rabbi Yehoshua’s greatness attributed specifically to his mother?
The Ra”v and the Tiferes Yisrael on the Mishnah explain that his mother invested in his ruchniyus from before he could possibly have understood what ruchniyus was. While pregnant, she would seek out talmidei chachamim and ask them to daven that her child become a talmid chacham. After he was born, she would bring his cradle into the Beis Medrash so that his ears would constantly be surrounded by the sound of Torah.
Rabbi Yehoshua couldn't understand the learning. He couldn't follow the shakla v’tarya. He certainly couldn't repeat a vort when he got home. He was a baby. And yet, somehow, it mattered.
Indeed, his mother is credited with helping produce one of the great talmidei chachamim of Klal Yisrael.
We sometimes assume that chinuch begins when a child is old enough to understand what we are teaching him. Until then, what difference does it make? He doesn't know what he is seeing anyway. Rabbi Yehoshua teaches us otherwise.
A child begins absorbing his environment long before he can articulate what he is absorbing. Of course, one isolated experience is unlikely to define a child's future. But an atmosphere does. What surrounds a child, what fills his home, what his parents become excited about, and what sounds constantly enter his ears slowly become part of who he is.
Perhaps this is what was happening at Hakhel.
“Taf lamah ba’in?” Why bring babies who cannot understand a word?
Because Hakhel was not merely something to understand.
It was something to absorb.
A Jewish baby was brought into the Beis HaMikdash and surrounded by an entire Klal Yisrael gathered for Torah. He may not have understood the words, but from the very beginning of his life, this was the atmosphere into which he was being raised.
The Mishnah says “Ashrei yoladeto.” A mother has an extraordinary role in creating that first environment. Particularly during those earliest years, when she is so often the person surrounding the child, she has the opportunity to fill his world with kedushah before he even knows enough to ask what kedushah means. And this is the reward for those who bring them to the Bais HaMedrash, something everyone wants – good kids!
There is another curious detail in the parshah of Hakhel that may deepen this idea.
The Torah commands: “Ha’anashim, v’hanashim, v’hataf” — gather the men, the women, and the children — “l’maan yishme’u ul’maan yilmedu” — so that they will hear and so that they will learn.
Chazal explain that the men came to learn, while the women came to hear. But if so, the order seems strange. The Torah first lists the men and then the women. Shouldn't it therefore first say “l’maan yilmedu” — corresponding to the men who came to learn — and only afterward “l’maan yishme’u,” corresponding to the women who came to hear?
The Sefer Marpeh Lashon quoted in the Sefer Abir Yaakov explains the answer can be found at the original Kabbalas HaTorah.
As Klal Yisrael prepared to receive the Torah at Har Sinai, Hashem instructed Moshe Rabbeinu: “Ko somar l’Beis Yaakov, v’sageid livnei Yisrael.” Chazal explain that Beis Yaakov refers to the women, while Bnei Yisrael refers to the men. Why were the women addressed first? The Rishonim (Rabbeinu Yonah, Rabbeinu Bachaya) explain that the women are indispensable to the transmission of Torah to the next generation. Before a child has a Rebbi, before he can understand a Tosafos, and long before he appreciates the depth of a sugya, someone is teaching him how to feel about Torah.
Most often, that person is his mother.
A little boy comes home having learned his first Aleph-Beis, his first pasuk, his first piece of Chumash. He looks at his mother's face. Does it light up? Is she excited? Does she make him feel that what he just learned is the most precious thing in the world?
Long before that child can articulate it, something is being planted inside him:
Torah is sweet. Torah is precious. Torah matters.
Years later, his father and Rebbeim may teach him how to learn a difficult Gemara. But much earlier, someone taught him that learning that Gemara is something worth getting excited about.
Perhaps that is why the women were addressed first at Har Sinai. If Torah is going to be transmitted successfully from one generation to the next, the women who will create the atmosphere in which the next generation is raised must themselves feel its preciousness.
And perhaps that is also why Hakhel says “l’maan yishme’u” before “l’maan yilmedu.”
Hakhel was, in many ways, a reenactment of Har Sinai. Once again, an entire nation gathered together to receive and recommit themselves to Torah. And once again, before speaking about the learning itself, the Torah emphasizes the hearing — ensuring that the mothers of Klal Yisrael are not merely present, but inspired.
Because successful transmission of Torah requires more than educated children.
It requires inspired homes.
And so, to every Jewish mother raising the next generation, Hakhel contains an extraordinary message. Never underestimate the Torah you are transmitting before you have taught a single word. Your excitement, your admiration for Torah, your joy when your child learns, and the kedushah you create within your home may become part of that child long before he is old enough to understand why.
Rabbi Yehoshua's mother brought a baby into the Beis Medrash.
He couldn't understand a word.
But he heard.
And eventually, he learned.
Have an amazing Shabbos!
Rabbi Moshe Revah
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