Siman 685

Our sages, of blessed memory, ordained the reading of four parshiyot in the Adar adjacent to Nisan. That is to say: if it was a leap year, they are read in the second Adar. The first is parshat Shekalim, as a remembrance of the mitzvah of the machatzit hashekel. For it was incumbent upon every individual of Israel to give each year to the terumat halishka, to purchase with them the tamid offerings and all communal sacrifices. The second is parshat "Zachor," in order to juxtapose the blotting out of Amalek with the downfall of Haman, who was of the seed of Amalek. And it is read before Purim. The third is the parsha of the Para Aduma, for its burning was adjacent to Nisan, in order to perform the Pesach in purity. And the fourth is parshat "Hachodesh hazeh lachem," which contains the mitzvah of performing the Pesach. And in the Yerushalmi of Megilla they said: By right, the parsha of Pesach should precede the parsha of Para, for on the first of Nisan the Mishkan was established, and on the second of it the Para was burned. And for what reason did they prioritize it? Because it is the purification of Israel (Rashi, Megilla 29b).

The parashat Shekalim is read on the Shabbat adjacent to Rosh Chodesh Adar preceding it, or on the Shabbat that falls on Rosh Chodesh Adar. This is because in Adar they would make the announcement regarding the shekalim, as we learned in the Mishnah at the beginning of Shekalim. And the reason: because Rosh Chodesh Nisan begins the start of the year for this matter, to bring the public offerings from the new collection, as it is written: "This is the burnt offering of every month in its month throughout the months of the year." And this word "throughout the months" is superfluous; the Torah said: bring an offering from the new collection. And from where do we know it is Nisan? We learn it from "This month shall be unto you," as it is written: "it is the first to you of the months of the year." Just as there it is Nisan—so too "of the months of the year" written in "Pinchas" is also Nisan. Therefore, they would make the announcement in Adar to bring their shekalim, so they would be ready for Rosh Chodesh Nisan, and they would proclaim thirty days beforehand. And we render the prayer of our lips in place of bulls as a remembrance of this.

Therefore, on the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh Adar, after the reading of the weekly parashah, we read for Maftir the beginning of parashat "Ki Tisa" until "to atone for your souls." And the haftarah is in Kings: "Jehoash was seven years old when he began to reign," which speaks of the matter of the shekalim, until "they shall be for the kohanim." And some begin earlier, from "And Jehoiada made a covenant," and this is the custom of the Sephardim. And their reason appears to me to be because we hold above at the beginning of siman 284 that one should strive for the haftarah to have twenty-one verses, unless the matter is concluded, see there. And from "Jehoash was seven years old" until "they shall be for the kohanim" there are only seventeen verses. Therefore, they begin four verses earlier, as this is also of the matter of Jehoiada and Joash. But the custom of Ashkenaz is not so. And it appears that their reason is that while it is true that this is of the matter of Jehoiada and Joash, nevertheless, it is not of the matter of the shekalim. And therefore, it is like the matter is concluded.

And if Rosh Chodesh Adar falls on Shabbat, they take out three books. In the first, he reads for six men in the weekly parashah. And specifically six and no more, in order to read the seventh in the second, which is from the obligation of the called ones, as I wrote in the previous siman regarding the matter of Rosh Chodesh Tevet that falls on Shabbat, see there in section 4. And in the second, they read the seventh in that of Rosh Chodesh, and they begin "And on the Shabbat day." And in the third, they read for the maftir in the parashah of Shekalim. And they prioritize that of Rosh Chodesh over Shekalim, because it is frequent. And it follows that the maftir reads the haftarah in the matter of Shekalim, and not in the matter of Rosh Chodesh, since the maftir read in Shekalim in the Torah, and therefore it is necessary that the haftarah in the Prophets be from the matter of the Torah reading of the maftir. (And the Levush wrote that they read at least six men in a place where it is not the custom to read only seven etc., see there. And it implies slightly that one is permitted to read more than six in the first in a place where it is the custom to add. And I wonder: for how is it possible not to read in the second from the obligations of the seven called ones? And so it is explained from the wording of the Tur, and also from the Gemara in Megillah 29b there is proof for this, see there. And be precise and you will find it easily.)

On the second Shabbat before Purim, we read the parashah of "Zakhor." Many poskim hold that the parashah of Zakhor is from the Torah, meaning that from the Torah there is an obligation to read the parashah of the blotting out of Amalek once a year. However, in the days of Mordechai and Esther, they established the obligation for the Shabbat before Purim, in order to juxtapose the blotting out of Amalek with the downfall of Haman, as I have written. And it is written: "And these days are remembered and performed" – one must precede the remembering of Amalek to the performance of the mitzvot of Purim. There is one who says that one fulfills the Torah obligation even with the reading of Purim in the parashah of "Vayavo Amalek" (Magen Avraham at the end of this siman). In my humble opinion, this is not so, for the Rambam in the Sefer HaMitzvot, in positive commandment 188, wrote that He commanded us to cut off the seed of Amalek, etc., and in commandment 189 he wrote that He commanded us to remember what Amalek did to us, see there. And this is mentioned only in the parashah of "Zakhor": "Remember what Amalek did to you... and it shall be when He grants rest... you shall blot out..." But in "Vayavo Amalek," the mitzvah of remembering is not written for the community of Israel, nor the mitzvah of blotting out. For there it is written: "For I will surely blot out...", but it is not written "you shall blot out" that we are obligated to do so. Also in Megillah (18a), it is explicitly implied that the primary obligation is in "Zakhor," as it is taught: "Remember" – could it be in the heart? The verse teaches: "Do not forget" – behold, forgetting of the heart is stated. How then do I fulfill "Remember"? With the mouth. See there. Consequently, the obligation is only in the parashah of "Zakhor." However, it is certain that when one reads it in the Torah in the parashah of "Tetzei," he fulfills the Torah obligation. But by the enactment of the sages – specifically before Purim. And the haftarah of the parashah of "Zakhor" is in Shmuel (15): "Thus says Hashem of Hosts: I have remembered what Amalek did..." until "Givat Shaul." Some begin a verse earlier: "And Shmuel said to Shaul," because it is the beginning of the parashah.

On the third Shabbat, we read Parashat Parah, from the beginning of "Chukat" until "shall be unclean until the evening," for there all the laws of the Red Heifer are explained. The haftarah is in Yechezkel (36) from "The word of Hashem came... Son of man..." until "I have spoken and I have done it." Some add two more verses until "And they shall know that I am Hashem," because that is the end of the matter; see there. And because the prophet rebuked them there for their impurity, they therefore established it for Parashat Parah, which purifies the impure. On the fourth Shabbat, we read the portion of "This month shall be unto you" until "you shall eat matzot." We read the haftarah in Yechezkel (45). The Sephardim begin from "Thus says Hashem: In the first month, on the first of the month..." until "a continual burnt offering," for this deals with the matter of Rosh Chodesh Nisan. The Ashkenazim begin two verses earlier, from "All the people of the land," and three verses after "a continual burnt offering" until "each man from his possession." Their reason appears to be: that even though these verses are not of the matter of Rosh Chodesh Nisan, nevertheless, since the entire passage is of the matter of the Prince in the future to come, and these verses are also of the matter of the Prince, and they are in one passage, they therefore say them as well. Know that regarding these portions as well – this is only for the maftir. But all the seven called to the Torah, or more in a place where they add – they read from the weekly portion, as I wrote regarding Parashat Shekalim. If Rosh Chodesh Nisan falls on Shabbat – we take out three scrolls. We read six in the first, Rosh Chodesh in the second, and the portion of "Hachodesh" in the third, just as with Shekalim when Rosh Chodesh Adar falls on Shabbat, as has been explained.

Our teachers, the authors of the Shulchan Aruch, wrote in section 7: Some say that Parashat "Zachor" and Parashat Parah Adumah must be read by Torah law. Therefore, residents of settlements who do not have a minyan must come to a place where there is a minyan on these Shabbatot, in order to hear these parshiyot which are by Torah law. And if it is impossible for them to come – in any event, they should be careful to read them with their melody and their cantellation marks. Thus far his words. And they are superior regarding traveling for a minyan to the reading of the Megillah. For even though the reading of the Megillah supersedes all matters, as I will write in siman 687, nevertheless it is possible to read it individually, whereas parshiyot in the Torah – we only read with ten (Taz, subsection 2, in the name of the Terumat HaDeshen). However, the great Acharonim wondered: From where do we say that Parashat Parah is also from the Torah? For there is no hint of this in the Gemara, and therefore they ruled that it is not from the Torah (Magen Avraham). And in my humble opinion, it seems there is a hint for this in the Torah, for behold, in Parashat Parah Adumah it is written in the middle of the parsha: "And it shall be for the children of Israel... for an everlasting statute," and we expound in the Sifrei: that it should be practiced for generations, see there. For the ash of the parah is not dependent on the Temple, as even in the time of the Amoraim they had the ash of the parah, as we say: the colleagues were purifying in the Galilee (Chagigah 25a, and see Niddah 6b in Rashi). And at the end of the parsha it is written again: "And it shall be for them for an everlasting statute," and it is superfluous, rather it comes regarding the matter of reading the parsha even in a time when there is no ash of the parah. Similar to the matter they said in Zevachim (90a): The verse preceded it for its reading. And Rashi explained in Niddah there: that they should read about the matter, see there. And all the more so in this time when the essence of the mitzvah is absent, which would have been fit to exist in this time if we had the ash of the parah, that certainly it should be said that there is an obligation to read the parsha.

It is a self-evident matter: that these four parshiyot cannot be consecutive. Since we precede Shekalim to Rosh Chodesh Adar, and "Zachor" must be adjacent to Purim—it follows that there is an interruption of one Shabbat. The general rule of the matters is this: if Rosh Chodesh Adar falls during the days of the week, and even if it falls on Erev Shabbat, we precede Shekalim on the Shabbat before it. And it follows that on the next Shabbat we interrupt, for it is not the Shabbat adjacent to Purim. And on the third Shabbat we read "Zachor." And sometimes there is also an interruption between "Zachor" and Parah. How so? Behold, Rosh Chodesh Adar only falls on one of the days of ZB"DU (seventh, second, fourth, sixth). And behold, when it falls on the seventh, and we read Shekalim on that very day, it follows that on the second Shabbat we read "Zachor," for Purim will be in that same week on Friday. And there is no interruption here between Shekalim and "Zachor," rather the interruption will be between "Zachor" and Parah. That is: on the fifteenth day, which is the Shabbat after Purim—we do not read Parah on it, because besides this Shabbat there will be two more Shabbats until Rosh Chodesh Nissan. And it is better to place Parah adjacent to Chodesh, as they are of one subject: for the purity of Pesach. And if Rosh Chodesh falls on Monday—the interruption is on the sixth of the month between Shekalim and "Zachor," in order to place "Zachor" adjacent to Purim. And other than this there is no interruption. And so too when Rosh Chodesh falls on Wednesday—the interruption is on the fourth of the month, as when it falls on Monday. However, when Rosh Chodesh Adar falls on Friday—there are two interruptions here: the first on the second day of the month, between Shekalim and "Zachor," in order to place "Zachor" adjacent to Purim. And the second between "Zachor" and Parah, on the sixteenth of the month, in order to place Parah adjacent to Chodesh.

And they gave for this a mnemonic: Z-T-V, B-V, D-D, and V-B-Y-V. That is to say: when Rosh Chodesh Adar falls on the seventh—the interruption is on the fifteenth of the month, and this is: Z-T-V. And when it falls on the second—the interruption is on the sixth of the month, and this is: B-V. And when it falls on the fourth—the interruption is on the fourth of the month, and this is: D-D. And when it falls on the sixth, there are two interruptions: on the second and on the sixteenth, and this is: V-B-Y-V. And the Rambam wrote in the thirteenth chapter of Laws of Prayer, halacha 21, and this is his wording: You find yourself saying that sometimes there will be an interruption between the first and second Shabbat, or between the second and third. And sometimes there will be two interruptions: between the first and second, and between the second and third. But between the third and fourth—one does not interrupt. Thus far his words. And the reason: for Shekalim and "Zachor," and likewise "Zachor" and Parah—they have no connection to one another and therefore they can make an interruption between them. But Parah and Chodesh are connected to one another, therefore one should not make an interruption between them. (The Magen Avraham wrote: that in all four parshiyot we do not mention souls, and we say "Tzidkat-cha Tzedek." Thus far his words. And "Av HaRachamim"—there are those who are accustomed to say it. And in my humble opinion, it seems not to say it, since we do not mention souls and they are Shabbatot of joy, and they are no less than a Shabbat on which we bless the month.) With the help of Heaven, the Laws of Chanukah are concluded.