Torah Down Under

The possuk in this week’s sedrah says (דברים ל״ב ג'): כי שם ה' אקרא הבו גודל לאלוקנו The gemara in Berachos daf כ״א עמוד א' learns from this that there is a chiyuv to make a birchas hatorah. Normally we make the birchas hatorah as part of birchas hashachar, however if someone gets up early to learn they have to make the beracha before they start learning. The gemara in Berachos (דף י״א עמוד ב') says: השכים לשנות עד שלא קרא ק"ש צריך לברך “If someone gets up early to learn before he has said kerias shema he has to say birchas hatorah.” The Rashba (דף י״א עמוד ב') relates that when Rashi z”l got up early to learn he would first of all make a birchas hatorah. Then, when he went to shul, he would make a birchas hatorah again. Rashi explained that this is not a beracha levatoloh because just as when you say birchas hatorah in the morning you still say another beracha when you have an aliyah, so too here you can make a beracha when learning early and then mak...

On Rosh Hashana, in addition to the mitzva of blowing the shofar, there is an additional mitzva in the beis hamikdash to blow trumpets. The Gemara learns this from the possuk: בחצוצרות וקול שופר - הריעו לפני המלך ה' With trumpets and the sound of the shofar – rejoice before the King Hashem. The Mishna in Rosh Hashana (26b) says: ושתי חצוצרות מן הצדדין שופר מאריך וחצוצרות מקצרות שמצות היום בשופר When they used to blow the shofar in the beis hamikdash they would have two trumpets at the side of the person blowing the shofar. The shofar blew a long note and the trumpets blew a short note because the mitzva of the day is with the shofar. The Gemara (27a) asks that if there is another sound mixed in with the shofar the people listening will not fulfil the mitzva of shofar: ותרי קלי מי משתמעי? והתניא זכור ושמור בדיבור אחד נאמרו מה שאין הפה יכולה לדבר ואין האוזן יכולה לשמוע “Is it possible to hear two sounds together? We have learnt that at Har Sinai Hashem said zochor (you shoul...