Resources for Megillah 32

Daf A Week

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

  1. The גמרא brings the מחלוקת ר"מ ור"י as to whether the עולה should keep the ספר תורה open while making the first ברכה or closed. The גמרא paskens like רבי יהודה that it should be closed. However, there is a מחלוקת ראשונים as to how to understand the גמרא. See the רמב"םin הלכות תפילה פּרק י"ב הל' ד' who says that one should keep the תורה open during the ברכה, like the simple reading of the גמרא. However, see תוספות here who understands that the גמרא meant that the הלכה is like רבי יהודה בדיעבד, but לכתחילה one should keep it closed. There is also a third opinion brought by the ב"י in סימן קל"ט. He brings a כלבו who says that one should keep the ספר תורה open but should not look in the ספר תורה, rather look off to the side so that it does not appear that one is reading the ברכות from the תורה. What the סברא of the כלבו is very unclear. See the ב"ח who understands that the כלבו was מסופּק if the רמב"םor תוספות was correct, so he said to be יוצא both by keeping the ספר תורה open but not looking inside. See the ט"ז in that סימן in ס"ק ז who asks that if this were true the גמרא should have suggested this as an option! After all, for the last ברכה both the רמב"ם and תוספות say to close the ספר תורה since there is no טירחא in doing so being that one won’t be reopening it. If so, by the first ברכה we also should also look to the side since there is no טירחא in doing so. Since the גמרא doesn’t require this, it must not be a useful idea. The ט"ז thinks it is a bad idea since it looks like you aren’t making a ברכה on the Torah. There is an amazing פּרי מגדים in סימן קל"ט מ"ז ס"ק ז who says that the כלבו may be hinted to in the גמרא as follows: the גמרא asks why it doesn’t just say הלכה כרבי יהודה and answers “משום דאפּכי ליה”. Those words mean that because people turn their head! In other words we are חושש a little for ר"מ by turning our head.
  2. The גמרא says that the גולל is  נוטל שכר כנגד כולם. It is clear that in the times of the גמרא only one person got הגבהה and גלילה. This remains the מנהג by ספרדים However, for אשכנזים who split the עליה amongst two people, it is not clear which one is נוטל שכר כנגד כולם. The משנה ברורהin סימן קמ"ז ס"ק י"ט is מדייק from the words of the רמ"א. The רמ"א says that the letters of the Torah should face the person getting הגבהה since he is the עיקר הגולל. The משנה ברורה infers from that that הגבהה is a greater עליה than גלילה. However, see ארחות רבינו in חלק ג' סימן רט"ז who quotes the חזון איש as saying that both have the status of the גולל who is נוטל שכר כנגד כולם.
  3. The גמרא says that the לוחות in the בית הכנסת don’t have קדושה. Many ראשונים discuss what exactly these “לוחות” are referring to. For example, see תוספותhere who suggests it refers to the columns on the side of the ספר תורה where there is no writing, but thinks that is problematic since those do have קדושה. See the ריטב"א who suggests it is the slab that the people reading the הפטורה stand on. There is an interesting מרכבת המשנה on the רמב"ם פּרק י' הל ד that suggests that it refers to the actual לוחות that many shuls put on top of the ארון. This would mean that the custom to do so goes back to the times of the גמרא.

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