Today's Learning:
Kelim 9:1-2
O.C. 590:1-3
Nidah 72

                   Hamaayan / The Torah Spring
                      Edited by Shlomo Katz

                        Nitzavim-Vayelech
                      Vol. XI, No. 50 (533)
                25 Elul 5757, September 27, 1997

  On the opening verse of our parashah, "You all are standing here
today," the midrash comments: Just as the day is part light and
part dark, so you, too, will have dark, but in the future, it will
become light for you.  When?  When you are joined as one group."

  Rav Nachum Mordechai Friedman (the "Chortkover Rebbe") z"l
writes: Chazal mean to teach us that just as when the day becomes
dark, it is because the earth has turned away from the source of
light (the sun), so, too, when it becomes dark for us, it is
because we have turned away from the Source of light.  It is not
because the "light" has gone away, but because our sins have
built a wall between us and the "light."

  This midrash also teaches: Just as you know with certainty that
the sun will rise in the morning, so you must believe with
unshakable faith indeed, you must know that "light" will be
restored to you.

  Finally, do not think that just as you can calculate the time of
sunrise, so you can calculate the time of G-d's salvation (i.e.,
the return of the "light").  When will it happen?  Only when you
are joined as one group!  (Doresh Tov)

                       ******************

     "You are all standing today, before Hashem, your G-d; the
     heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers  
     all the men of Israel; your small children, your wives,
     and your proselyte who is in the midst of your camp, from
     the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water, for
     you to pass into the covenant of Hashem . . ." (29:9-11)

  Philosophers divided people into several categories.  The
unlearned masses who observed the Torah's laws, they said, were
like those who try to reach the king's palace, but never see it. 
Those who study Talmud only are like those who circle the palace,
but never enter it.  Those who study philosophy enter the palace,
and the most expert among these actually reach the throne room.

  Our verses prove that this is not so, writes Rav Moshe Avigdor
Amiel z"l (Chief Rabbi of Antwerp and Tel Aviv).  Even the water
carrier and the woodcutter can pass into the covenant of Hashem.
                                    (L'nevochei Hatekufah Ch. 13)

                       ******************

                    Parashat Nitzavim in Halachah

* None of the Torah's 613 mitzvot appear in the parashah.

* "It [the Torah] is not in the heavens."  (30:12)

  From this verse, Chazal learn that once the Torah was "sealed" at
the end of Moshe's life, no prophet may change it.  G-d has given
the Torah to us to interpret according to the rules that the Torah
itself contains, and even if He would tell us how to act, we would
listen only to the Torah, as interpreted by the sages.  (See, for
example, Bav Metzia 59b and Temurah 16a)

  And yet, we find instances where sages consulted angels regarding
the proper psak halachah/halachic decision.  Rav Yaakov
of Marvege, a 12th century Tosafist, did so regularly, and composed
the work She'eilot Uteshuvot Min Hashamayim ("Responsa from
Heaven").  Indeed, this work is quoted by poskim and followed!

  Rav Chaim Yosef David Azulai z"l ("Chida") explains that the
Heavens may be consulted when the gemara has discussed a
question and left it unanswered.  In such a case, there is no way
that we can be expected to resolve the matter using our own
intellectual abilities.  (Shem Hagedolim, Ma'arechet Gedolim, erech
Rav Yaakov Hechassid)

                       ******************

                  Parashat Vayelech in Halachah

* The last two of the Torah's 613 mitzvot appear in this parashah.
One of them is the mitzvah of hakhel.  This mitzvah is for all men,
women and children to gather in Yerushalayim once every seven years
to hear the king read from the Torah.  (Sefer Hachinuch)

* The last of the Torah's 613 mitzvot is the mitzvah to write a
sefer Torah.   (Sefer Hachinuch)

* The halachah states that every column of a Sefer Torah must have
a minimum number of lines, but the last column may be smaller. 
Thus, writes Rav Meir Shapiro z"l (see page 4), we see that an
incomplete page at the end of a work is called a page.

  With this principle, Rav Shapiro answered the following question
from a Daf Yomi student writing from Berlin: Since the last daf of
a tractate usually does not fill the entire page, does one fulfill
his obligation to learn Daf Yomi by learning that page?  (This
question presumes that undertaking to learn Daf Yomi has the force
of a vow.)  

  Rav Shapiro writes that it does have the force of a vow, for the
gemara itself teaches, "If one says, 'I will arise early and learn
such-and-such, he has vowed a great vow to the G-d of Yisrael'." 
However, the "incomplete" last page also qualifies as a page.     

  Also, as with any vow, the halachah interprets the vow with
reference to the circumstances of its making.  Since it was
announced at the outset that the first siyum/completion would take
place on Tu B'shvat 1931, one can calculate that these partial
pages do count.  (She'eilot Uteshuvot Ohr Hameir No. 75)

                       ******************

                          THE DAF HAYOMI

  As many readers are aware, tomorrow (Sunday) is the last day of
the tenth cycle of "Daf Hayomi" study.  The following essay pays
tribute to this historic event.                                   

  Superficially, one could describe the Daf Hayomi (commonly called
"Daf Yomi") as an undertaking in which participants worldwide study
the same page of Talmud Bavli (gemara) on any given day and
complete it every 2702 days.  Rav Meir Shapiro z"l, the tzaddik who
first promoted the concept, saw it much differently:

     " The Daf Yomi is a bridge [he said],  though fashioned
     of paper which lifts the Jew above the stormy confusion
     of the waters below, and he walks with more assurance and
     confidence than on the firmest steel structure.         
                                                    
     " The great allure of the Daf Yomi concept lies in the
     realization that the daf (page) of gemara which I learn
     here and now is being poured over by countless Jews
     scattered over the face of the earth.  While each one has
     his own particular mode of learning and is influenced by
     the intellectual climate of his environment,
     nevertheless, Abaye and Rava [two great sages of the
     Talmud] remain Abaye and Rava." 

(From Rav Meir Shapiro's remarks on the occasion of the first
completion of the Daf Yomi cycle on Tu B'shvat 5691/1931, reprinted
in the Jewish Observer, Vol. XXII No. 1)

  The two-fold purpose of Daf Yomi, first begun on Rosh Hashanah
5684/1924, was to encourage Jews to increase their Torah study
through the implementation of a regimented program or quota, and to
provide a vehicle for uniting Jews worldwide. 

  Rav Meir Shapiro himself observed on the occasion mentioned
above:

     " It was on my first trip abroad on behalf of the yeshiva
     of Lublin [in 1927, to the U.S., England, and Western
     Europe], when I found groups and individuals learning the
     daf in every Jewish community I visited, that I saw at
     first hand the impact that Daf Yomi has made in the
     Jewish world.  Whether it was in Strasbourg, London or
     Baltimore [here he mentioned by name people whom he had
     met], while their styles of learning differed, there was
     the same motivating force which is inherent in Daf Yomi."

  In every generation since the Daf Yomi was introduced, many
gedolim (leading sages) have endorsed it.  The Gerrer Rebbe studied
the daf and encouraged his chassidim to do so.  The Chafetz Chaim
reportedly told Rav Meir Shapiro, "In Heaven, they love you
dearly."  Rav Aharon Kotler z"l, the leading sage in America in the
1950's, studied Daf Yomi as well.

  The success of the Daf Yomi is evident from the number of works
whose authors credit their own relatives with giving the idea to
Rav Meir Shapiro.  (One such claim notes that Rav Meir Shapiro was
a devout Chortkover chassid, and states that the Chortkover Rebbe,
Rav Yisrael Friedman z"l, suggested that idea to Rav Shapiro and
asked that Rav Shapiro announce it in his own name.)

  In addition to the advantages of Daf Yomi which Rav Meir Shapiro
himself described, Rav Moshe Feinstein z"l notes that it gives the
person the opportunity to complete the entire Torah.  Rav Feinstein
proves from various sources that every person is obligated to do
this during his lifetime (Igrot Moshe, Yorah Deah II No. 110).  Rav
Feinstein notes that centuries ago it was common practice to study
a page of Talmud each day, and  many towns had a chevrah shas
(Talmud society) which did just that (Igrot Moshe, Y.D. IV No. 36). 
Rav Yaakov of Lissa z"l (the "Nesivos") wrote in his famous ethical
will almost 200 years ago that his sons should study a page of
gemara every day.

                       ******************

               From the Humor of Our Sages . . . 

     "I am 120 years old today." (31:2)

  In his later years, Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk z"l (author of
Meshech Chochmah) was asked his age.  "A businessman who is running
short of cash doesn't reveal his cash flow to others."