Saturday, January 14, 2006

Parsha Chabura VaYichi:The Geder of Baruch Shem K'vod Malchuso

Note: I give a parsha chabura every Shabbos in my shul. The chabura explores either a topic in halacha and/or lomdus that has it's roots in the weekly Parsha. Bli neder, I will try to post a synopsis of what I spoke about each week.

The m'kor for saying "baruch shem k'vod malchuso l'olam va'ed" comes from this week's parsha. The gemara in Pesachim 56a relates that on Ya'akov's deathbed, the Shevatim said "Shema Yisroel". In response to this Ya'akov Avinu answered "baruch shem k'vod malchuso l'olam va'ed. Because of this chazal were m'sakein that we should say "baruch shem k'vod malchuso l'olam va'ed" every day in Shema.

The Shivivei Aish al haTorah asks the following question. How do we understand the geder of this takanah. Is "boruch shem" a part of Shema and is to be viewed as an extension of the posuk of "Shema Yisroel. Just like "Shema Yisroel" is an expression of kabbalas ol malchus sham, so too "boruch shem" is also a form of kabbalas ol malchus shamayim? Or maybe "boruch shem" is a new taknah that has nothing to do with kabbalas ol malchus shamayim. It is not really part of Shema. but rather is something chazal were m'sakein
becuase Ya'akov said it.

One nafka mina would be what would happen if you forgot to recite "boruch shem". Would you have to go back and repeat it? This is a machlokes between the Bach and the Magan Avraham (OC siman 61). The Shiltei Geborim in Berachos (perek 2) says that if you forget "boruch shem" you don't have to go back. The Bach (OC siman 61) explains the reason is because krias shema is a mitzva d'oreisa and therefore if you don't say it you are not yotzei, however "boruch shem" is just a takana based on Ya'akov Avinu and therefore you don't need to repeat it if you forgot it. The Magan Avraham based on a Levush says one must go back if you forgot "boruch shem". What does the Levush say? The Levush (siman 63:5) says that after the first possuk one does not need to be fully awake when reciting shema because kavanah is not necessray after the first possuk. However, "boruch shem" has the same din as the first possuk because "boruch shem" is also a part of kabbals ol malchus shamayim. We see from the Levush that "boruch shem" is a part of kriyas shema and therefore the Magan Avraham paskens you have to go back if you missed it.

Halacha L'Ma'aseh

This is actually a machlokes between the Biur Halacha (siman 61) and the Igros Moshe (OC chelek 5 siman 5). The Mishna Berura paskens that boruch shem is not a chelek of shema and therefore one does not have to go back. Rav Moshe zt"l paskens it is a chelek of kriyas shema. ayin sham in both places for their proofs. Although rav Moshe feels boruch shem is part of kriyas shema, he does say at the end of the teshuva that one should follow the p'sak of the Aruch HaShulchan. The Aruch HaShulchan paskens that if you have not started saying "v'ahavta" then you should go back and say "boruch shem". However, if you already started saying v'ahavta one does not need to go back. (This seems to straddle both sides of the fence but this is how Rav Moshe comes out).

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