Bar-Ilan University
Parshat Hashavua Study Center
Parshat Behukotai 5775/May 16, 2015
This series of faculty lectures on the weekly Parsha is made possible by the Department of Basic Jewish
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Special Cantillation Customs for the Tokhehah
By Hayyim Talbi
The Tokhehah passage in this week’s reading (Lev. 26:14-46; a lengthy passage of rebukes),
by its very content casts awesome fear over the congregation, especially on the person
called up to the Torah for the reading of this passage.1 Wendrowski attests: “Many people
are afraid to come up to the Torah for the Tokhehah lest, heaven forfend, the bad things
the reader mentions affect him personally.”2 Consequently, various customs and practices
have evolved in connection with this reading. We shall trace the history and development
of two such customs, examining their distribution among various Jewish communities.

Rabbi Dr. Hayyim Talbi is Deputy Head of the School for Basic Jewish Studies and the Editor of the Daf
Parshat Shavua.
1
For further reading, see my article, “Hishtalshelut Minhagei Kri’at ha-Torah be-Farshot ha-Tokhehah,
Knishta 2 (2003), pp. 31-65.
2
Y. Z. Wendrowski, Minhagei Beit Ya`akov, New York 1907, par. 242, p. 108.
Reading the Tokhehah in an undertone
In Worms it was customary to read the Tokhehah in a low voice. This is attested to by
Rabbi Juspa Shammes, the gabbai of the community in the 17th century.3 Even in Tunis the
hazzan would lower his voice.4 On the basis of this, several aharonim (later rabbinic
authorities) presented the custom of reading sotto voce.5 Sefer Mat`amim gives a reason
for this practice,6 namely, “Because ‘words spoken softly by wise men are heeded’ (Eccles.
9:17), and ‘words’ refers to the Tokhehah,7 as it is written, ‘These are the words.’” Does this
custom indeed have any basis?
Ecclesiastes Rabbah says:8
Rabbi Levi b. Panti once read the “curses” in the presence of Rabbi Huna
and muttered them. He said to him, “Raise your voice; they are not curses
but reproofs. ‘Do not reject the discipline of the Lord, my son; do not
abhor His rebuke’ (Prov. 3:11).”
Rabbi Levi apparently had read the list of eleven curses in Parashat Ki-Tavo (Deut. 27:1525) in the presence of Rabbi Huna in an undertone, and Rabbi Huna told him to speak out
so that he could hear him. He explained to him that the curses were rebukes, reflecting
the notion that “whom the Lord loves, He rebukes” (Prov. 3:12), and that it was not in
place to read them differently.
Indeed, the Ari used to read to go up to the reader’s desk to read the passage of curses in
Be-Hukotai, and would read them out loud, as is the practice in Sephardic communities.9
Some Yemenites also deliberately read the Tokhehah in full voice.10 It is also reported by
3
Juspa Shammes, Minhagim d-KK Wormeise, Hamburger-Zimmer ed., Jerusalem 1988, p. 102, par. 97.
4
'‫ א‬Ben Ya`akov, “Batei ha-Knesset shel Edot ha-Mizrah,” Mahanayim 95 (1965), p. 114.
5
Such as Josef Saul ha-Levi Nathansohn, Resp. Sho’el u-Meshiv, Tanina ed., Jerusalem and New York,
1964, Part I, resp. 48; Dov Behr David Reifman, Shulhan ha-Kri’ah, Berlin 1882, p. 71, under misgeret hashulhan; Y. Levi, Minhag Yisrael Torah, 2, Brooklyn 1994, p. 187.
6
Y. Lipitz, Israel 1968, p. 144.
7
Apparently referring to the verse that concludes the Tokhehah: “These are the words of the covenant
that the Lord commanded Moses” (Deut. 28:69).
8
Eccles. Rabbah, Vilna ed., 1878, ch. 8.
9
Rabbi Hayyim Vital, Sha`ar ha-Kavanot, Jerusalem 1873, Part 6, under Shaharit shel Shabbat, s.v. “haSefer Torah.”
10
Asher Wassertil, Yalkut Minhagim, Israel 1980, p. 340.
Rabbi Issachar ibn Sussan (16th century) that the rabbis of Safed, passing down the
tradition of their predecessors, told him that the passage about the golden calf (Ex. 31:1833:11) and the first six verses of the passage of the Israelites who murmured against the
Lord in Be-Ha`alotekhah (Numbers 11:1-6) should be read sotto voce, “because it is not
right to publicly intone in pleasant voice the passage of the Torah that tells of our
ancestors’ bad deed,”11 but he does not mention reading the Tokhehah in a lower voice.
Rabbi Hayyim Falaji was openly critical of those who read the curses sotto voce:
Some cantors have the practice of reading the passage of curses in a low
voice; but in my view, according to my Kitzur, one ought to put an end to
this practice since the person who is called up for the passage of curses is
very punctilious and any little change made during his aliyah causes him
sorrow such that after having been called up to the Torah and having
recited the first benediction he then refuses [to remain] and wants to recite
the concluding benediction in the middle of the reading.
Sometimes he gets angry and says things that are unbefitting. Therefore,
one should not make any impressive change in the manner of reading. Do
not wonder about abrogating this custom, since it was the custom when a
person was called up to the Torah for the passages of Tokhehah to recite
aloud the verse, “Do not reject the discipline of the Lord, my son,” etc., and
people refrained from reading on account of this; likewise, this custom
ought clearly to be abrogated.12
In his opinion, one ought to do away with the practice of reading the Tokhehah passages
sotto voce, just as they did away with the practice of reciting the verse, “Do not reject the
discipline of the Lord, my son” (Prov. 3:11) when a person was called up for the Tokhehah
reading, on the grounds that any change would emphasize that this aliyah was different
from others and would have a bad effect on the person called up. The person who
received the aliyah would become distressed to the point of wanting to insist on reciting
the concluding benediction even in the middle of the reading.
Rabbi Ya`akov Sofer, however, relying on Pri Hadash and Mahatzit ha-Shekel, wrote that
the passage should be read sotto voce:13
11
Tikkun Issachar, Jerusalem 1988, p. 74ab. Rabbi Shemtov Gaguin(e) (Keter Shem Tov, 1, Kėdainiai, 1934,
pp. 287-288) wrote that this was also the practice in the land of Israel, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, London, and
Amsterdam.
12
13
Sefer Hayyim, Jerusalem 1986, par. 16.33, p. 68.
Rabbi Hezekia da Silva, author of Pri Hadash, 17th century, and Rabbi Samuel b. Nathan Ha-Levi Loew (of
Kolin), author of Mahatzit ha-Shekel, 18th century.
Likewise the Tokhehah passages in the Leviticus and in Deuteronomy and
the list of curses in Ki-Tavo are generally read in an undertone, i.e., not as
loud as one reads the rest of the parashah, but in any event loud enough to
be heard. Pri Hadash sect. 7, and Mahatzit ha-Shekel, par. 8.14
What he says is very strange since the passage he references in Mahatzit ha-Shekel (Orah
Hayyim 428.8) only mentions reading the story of the golden calf, and the Pri Hadash (loc.
cit., par. 7) refers to the golden calf and the murmurers against the Lord, but makes no
mention of the Tokhehah. Rabbi Ya`akov Sofer’s pegging his argument on these two
eminent sources, the Pri Hadash and Mahatzit ha-Shekel, is dubious. We deduce that one
should not read the Tokhehah any differently from the rest of the parashah, and that it is
not in place to read it sotto voce.
Rabbi Ovadiah Hadayah comes out against two other changes in the manner of reading
the Tokhehah:
1.
In his opinion, places where it is the practice not to translate the Tokhehah and
doing the opposite of the Tosefta’s instruction: “The curses in the Torah are read
with translation.”15 Hence, “they should not do any clever tricks,…so that the
public not lose its mind.”16 In other words, they should not do so even if their
intention is to keep the public from going crazy, becoming panic-stricken by so
many curses.
2. Those who read the Tokhehah without cantillation17 offend the higher realms and
are not doing right: “Will the words not be ones of rebuke without the
cantillation? Rebuke remains rebuke, so what have they availed by their
emendation?”18
The custom of reciting a Mi She-Berakh to compensate one called up for the
Tokhehah
In order to encourage the person called up to the Torah for the Tokhehah, it was
customary to recite a Mi She-Berakh for him. In the time of the rishonim (early rabbinic
authorities), in the community of the Maharil’s disciple, Rabbi Israel Isserlin, this blessing
14
Kaf ha-Hayyim, Jerusalem 1965, Orah Hayyim 428:38. Also in Shulhan ha-Kri’ah, loc. cit.
15
Tosefta Megillah, Lieberman ed., New York 1962, 3:31, p. 362.
16
Resp.. Yaskil `Avdi, 8, Jerusalem 1994, 18:6.
17
Such was the practice in the Old City of Jerusalem, in the period preceding World War I. See Y.
Yehoshua, Yaldut bi-Yerushalayim ha-Yeshanah, Jerusalem 1965, pp. 152-153.
18
Resp. Yaskil `Avdi, loc. cit., 16:6.
would be said after reading the Tokhehah.19 In Leghorn, however, the person receiving the
aliyah would be blessed even before the passage was read, as noted in the Leghorn
Pentateuch:20
Here in Leghorn it is our practice when the hazzan reading Parashat KiTavo comes to the phrase, “and turn to the worship of other gods” (Deut.
28:14),21 for him to be replaced by the person called up for the Tokhehah,
and then the hazzan recites the following verses out loud: “Do not reject
the discipline of the Lord, my son; do not abhor His rebuke. For whom the
Lord loves, He rebukes, as a father the son whom he favors” (Prov. 3:11-12).
“But it shall go well with them who decide justly [or: who rebuke];
blessings of good things will light upon them” (Prov. 24:25). Then the one
giving the rebuke immediately begins with the verse, “But if you do not
obey” (Deut. 28:15).
The person reading the Tokhehah was viewed as rebuking the community, and even
before the reading was blessed that good things befall him. It appears from what is written
there that the person reading the Tokhehah was not the same person as the one who read
the rest of the parashah, rather the one called for that aliyah, and that he himself would
do the reading and was referred to as the “one giving the rebuke.”
Rabbi Juspa Shammes,22 who documented the practice of the Worms community in the
17th century, wrote:
On the Sabbath of Be-Hukotai, whoever so wishes is called up for the
Tokhehah. And whosoever wishes to take that aliyah must also be called up
on the first day of the Feast of Weeks. Likewise, whosoever wishes to be
19
Such a custom is recorded by the Admor of Mattersdorf. See Rabbi Israel Teusig, Beit Yisrael haShalem, 8, Jerusalem 1981, p. 291, par. 108: “When they would come to the passage of the Tokhehah,
the gabbai would proclaim: Whosoever wishes. And the shammes would come up to the Torah, and the
person who came up before him would leave the bimah. Then after he recited the concluding
benediction they would make him a Mi She-Berakh, that the curse be turned into a blessing.”
20
Humash Devarim [Deuteronomy], Leghorn 1833, p. 69a-b. These verses were read before the
Tokhehah in Djerba, as well. See Rabbi Kalfon Moshe ha-Cohen, Brit Kehunah, 1, Bnei Brak, 1990, p. 158,
par. 22.
21
This is the last verse of the blessings mentioned in the weekly reading, preceding the passage of
rebukes.
22
He added the title “Shammes” to his name as an acronym for Samti Minhagim Shenohagim [= “I wrote
down the customs in practice”].
called up for Parashat Ki Tavo must also be called up on the first day of the
New Year.23
The Libyan Jewish community calls the person called up for this reading “the one who
rebukes,” and as compensation for volunteering to take the aliyah of the Tokhehah is also
called up to the Torah on the New Year. Additionally, on these two Sabbaths (Be-Hukotai
and Ki Tavo), after the concluding benediction by the person called up for the Tokhehah,
the hazzan recites a Mi She-Berakh for the congregation in addition to that which is
recited after the haftarah, and concludes this blessing with the words, “May the Lord
change the curse into a blessing, and may it thus be His will, and let us say: Amen.”24
Additional evidence of a Mi She-Berakh for the person called up for the Tokhehah comes
from the community of Bechhofen, a small village in Bavaria, Germany:25
May He who blessed our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, bless soand-so son of so-and-so for coming up for the aliyah of “whosoever
wishes,”26 and for himself fulfilling the verse, “Do not reject the discipline
of the Lord, my son; do not abhor His rebuke.” And it is said, “For the
commandment is a lamp, the Teaching is a light, and the way to life is the
rebuke that disciplines.” May the Holy One, blessed be He, reward him for
this by fulfilling the verse, “He whose ear heeds the discipline of life lodges
among the wise,”27 and may He turn the curse to a blessing, and safeguard
him from all hardship and distress, from all illness and disease, and grant
him blessing and success in all his endeavors, and may he be blessed along
with all his fellow Jews, and let us say: Amen.28
23
Juspa Shammes, Minhagim de-KK Wormeise, Hamburger-Zimmer ed., Jerusalem 1988, pp. 101-102.
Also see Y. H. Bachrach, Mekor Hayyim, 1, Pinnes ed., Jerusalem 1982, 53:31, p. 229.
24
A. Wassertil, Yalkut Minhagim, loc. cit., pp. 222-223.
25
Shlomo Katanka, Makom she-Nahagu—Minhag Bechhofen [The Customs of the Synagogue of
Bechhofen], Modi`in `Ilit 2007, p. 8. I wish to thank Rabbi Katanka for calling my attention to this source.
26
“Whosoever wishes” was the name given this aliyah, where the honor was not given to a specific
person but to whosoever wished to come forth. Levush wrote, “It is the custom not to call up a reader by
name, rather whosoever wishes, lest the person called not wish to come forth and thus come to abhor
the Tokheheh” (Levush ha-Hur, Zikhron Aaron ed., Jerusalem 2000, 428:6); likewise in Juspa Shammes,
Minhagim de-KK Wormeise, 1, Machon Yerushalayim ed. 1988, p. 101: “For the Tokhehah one calls up
whosoever wishes.”
27
28
Prov. 15:31.
Ha-Memorbuch, a memorial booklet of the Bechhofen Jewish community, Sh. Katanka ed., London
2009, p. 9 (in the section on the regulations and practices of the Hevra Kadisha de-Gemilut Hassadim ve-
Translated by Rachel Rowen
Kavranim d-KK Bechhofen, London 2009). What is a Memorbuch? All the Jewish communities whose
practices were based on the Ashkenazi-Rhine tradition maintained a special parchment book in the
synagogue called Sefer Hazkarat Neshamot in Hebrew, or Memorbuch in the vernacular. Most
Memorbüchen included prayers to be recited from the bimah (reader’s desk) in the synagogue (as
opposed to the pulpit), and other special prayers that do not appear in “the prayers of the congregation,”
including a Mi She-Berakh for those coming up to the Torah, Seder Eruvei Hatzerot, and memorial services
for eminent Jewish leaders, the rabbis of the city, the heads of the congregation and major financial
supporters, exiled communities, and martyrs. In the introduction, Sh. Katanka says that the Memorbuch
referred to was probably written between 1741 and 1754.