The Or HaChaim’s Fascinating Insight Into the Mitzvah of Hakhel

“Gather the people—the men, the women, and the children, and your stranger within your gates—so that they may hear, so that they may learn, and fear Hashem your God, and observe to fulfill all the words of this Torah” (Deuteronomy 31:12).

Why does the verse use the phrase “so that” twice? Why wouldn’t it have been enough to say simply, “so that they may hear and learn”?

The verse describes the mitzvah of Hakhel, when the Jewish people gather to hear the Torah read aloud. Yet women are exempt from the mitzvah of Talmud Torah, formal Torah study. The Or HaChaim HaKadosh explains that the Torah’s seemingly unnecessary repetition reveals an important distinction between two different aspects of Hakhel.

Two Different Obligations at Hakhel

1. “So that they may hear” refers to a general obligation that applies to everyone: men, women, and children.

Men and women alike must hear the words of the Torah so that they can know and fulfill the mitzvot that apply to them. Women, too, are obligated in negative mitzvot and in positive mitzvot that are not time-bound. Without hearing and learning what those mitzvot require, they would not know how to fulfill them.

1. “And so that they may learn” refers to the specific mitzvah of Talmud Torah, which applies to men. Women are exempt from this obligation, as derived from the verse, “You shall teach them to your sons,” which the sages interpret as “and not to your daughters.”

The Or HaChaim HaKadosh explains:

“Why did the verse divide this mitzvah into two parts, saying, ‘Gather the people ... so that they may hear, and so that they may learn’? We must understand why it repeats the word ‘so that’ twice, rather than simply saying, ‘so that they may hear and learn,’ as the following verse says, ‘they shall hear and learn.’

“It appears that since the verse says to gather the people—the men, the women, and the children—to read the Torah scroll in their hearing, and we already know that women are not obligated in Torah study, as it is written (above, 11:19), ‘You shall teach them to your sons,’ and the sages expounded (Kiddushin 29b), ‘and not to your daughters.’”

Why the Torah Separates Hearing From Learning

The Torah therefore separates the two ideas with the repeated phrase “so that.” Without this distinction, we might assume that hearing the Torah and the specific obligation of Torah study apply in exactly the same way to both men and women.

Instead, the verse describes two separate levels. First comes the obligation shared by the entire Jewish people to hear the Torah and know the mitzvot they are required to observe. Then comes the distinct mitzvah of Talmud Torah that applies to men.

The Or HaChaim HaKadosh continues:

“For this reason, the verse divided this mitzvah into two levels. First, it states a division that is equal for men and women: ‘so that they may hear’—meaning, that they should hear the Torah’s mitzvot which they are obligated to fulfill. In this, they are equal, because women, too, are obligated in negative mitzvot and in positive mitzvot that are not time-bound.

“Afterward, it states a separate division concerning men alone: ‘and so that they may learn,’ which refers to Torah study. This is why it did not say, ‘so that they may hear and learn,’ because that would imply that both carry the same consequence.”

The Or HaChaim HaKadosh then points out that this distinction appears explicitly in the words of the sages:

“I later saw a teaching of our sages (Chagigah 3a), who said: ‘The women come to hear, and the men come to learn.’ These are precisely our words. They wisely mentioned the women before the men, following the order used by the verse: ‘so that they may hear,’ and afterward, ‘and so that they may learn,’ as we have written.”

The repetition of just two small words therefore reveals the precision of the Torah’s language. Hakhel brings the entire Jewish people together to hear the words of Torah, while the wording of the verse also preserves the distinction between the obligation to hear and know the mitzvot one must fulfill and the specific mitzvah of Talmud Torah.