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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"> In Avodah Digest, Vol 32, Issue 35,
Liron Kopinsky asks why Aliyyot can't be given to women when aliyyot are
given to the Blind.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"> Dov and I discuss the
case of "Suma" in great length in our Tradition article on Women's Aliyyot
(See: “Women, <I>Kri’at haTorah </I>and <I>Aliyyot</I>” Aryeh A. Frimer and Dov
I. Frimer, <I>Tradition</I>, 46:4 (Winter, 2013), 67-238 - a<SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Miriam; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: HE; mso-bidi-language: HE">vailable
at <A href="http://www.rcarabbis.org/pdf/frimer_article.pdf"><FONT
color=#800080>http://www.rcarabbis.org/pdf/frimer_article.pdf</FONT></A>).
See especially Sections VIA and B and note 172. </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
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<U><STRONG>A Blind male is obligated in Keri'at haTorah</STRONG></U> like
all males, but there is a technical problem with his receiving an aliyya because
he can't <U>read</U> from the Torah scroll. [For further Discussion, see Rav
Zalman Druk, Mikraei Kodesh and Resp. Torat Hesed, OH sec. 8.] The same is true
for an illiterate person. </SPAN></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Miriam; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: HE; mso-bidi-language: HE">R. Caro
(Shulhan Arukh, O.H., sec 139, nos. 2 and 3, and sec. 141, no 2) rules according
to Rosh and others that even in the presence of a ba’al korei, the oleh is
obligated to read along quietly with the reader, lest the oleh’s berakhot be
considered in vain (le-vatala). As a result, Rabbi Caro furthermore rules, that
a blind or illiterate person is precluded from receiving an aliyya.
</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
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R. Moses Isserlish (Rema; Darkei Moshe, Tur, O.H., sec. 135, no.4 and sec. 141,
no 1) concurs that normative halakha requires the oleh to read along with the
reader - and hence a <EM>suma,</EM> who can't read from the
Torah<EM>,</EM> should not be able to get an Aliyya. However, Rema
(in his gloss to Shulhan Arukh, O.H., sec. 139, no 3) cites the leniency of R.
Jacob Molin (Maharil) and others who permit a blind or illiterate individual to
receive an aliyya, even though neither can read along with the ba’al korei from
the Torah parchment. According to Maharil, the Ba'al Korei can read for the
blind oleh via the mechanism of <U>Shome'a ke-oneh</U> because both the ba'al
korei and the oleh <U>are inherently obligated</U>. Hence there can be a
transfer of the act of reading from the Ba'al korei to the <EM>oleh </EM>who
makes the<EM> berakha.</EM> (We discuss this mechanism of <EM>Shomei'a
ke-oneh</EM> at great length in Section II of the
article.) </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
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[We note that all this is in theory, however. As R. Soloveitchik himself
notes (R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik, miBet Midrasho Shel haRav, Hilkhot Keri’at
ha-Torah, sec. 141, no. 2, p. 50; R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Shiurei haRav
haGaon Rabbi Yosef Dov haLevi Soloveitchik zatsa”l al Inyanei Tsitsit, Tefillen
u-Keri’at haTorah, R. Zvi Schachter, ed. (Jerusalem, 5763), Hilkhot Keri’at
ha-Torah, sec. 141, no. 2, p. 186), while we advise olim le-khatkhila to read
along quietly following the Rosh, <STRONG>in practice, we rule like
Maharil</STRONG> that the oleh need not read. Thus, it is a widespread custom,
both amongst ashkenazim and sefaradim (contrary to the ruling of R. Ovadiah
Yosef) to call to the Torah the blind, untrained and illiterate, who clearly
cannot or will not read along from the scroll. In addition, the Rov, notes
that if one is called to the Torah while he is in the midst of birkhot keri’at
shema, the halakhic consensus is to accept the aliyya and recite the blessings,
but not to read along with the ba’al korei – again relying on Maharil. Finally,
R. Moshe Soloveitchik ruled that for Parashat Zakhor, the oleh should not read
along with the ba’al korei as required by Rosh. Rather, he should fulfill his
obligations according to Maharil with the reading of the reader via shomei’a
ke-oneh – along with the rest of the community; see: R. Michel Zalman Shurkin,
Harerei Kedem – beInyanei haMoadim, I, sec. 185, no. 2 (5760 ed.) and sec. 208,
no. 2 (expanded 5769 ed.).]</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
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<DIV>
<P
style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-pagination: widow-orphan"
class=MsoNormal align=left> In contrast to Suma,
<U><STRONG>Women are not obligated in Keri'at haTorah</STRONG></U> (this is the
view of all known Rishonim and the overwhelming opinion of Aharonim - thoroughly
documented in the article, Section III and note 85). Hence shome'ah ke-oneh
cannot work and the Berakha would be le-vatala. As a
result, there is no such dispute or ruling regarding women receiving
aliyyot in the posekim.</P>
<P
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class=MsoNormal align=left> </P>
<P
style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-pagination: widow-orphan"
class=MsoNormal align=left>Much of the above appears as a comment to Rabbi
Yuter's article cited by Liron Kopinsky </P></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><BR><FONT size=2
face=Arial>--------------------------------------------------------</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Prof. Aryeh A. Frimer<BR>Chemistry Dept., Bar-Ilan
University<BR>Ramat Gan 5290002, ISRAEL<BR>E-mail (office): </FONT><A
href="mailto:Aryeh.Frimer@biu.ac.il"><FONT size=2
face=Arial>Aryeh.Frimer@biu.ac.il</FONT></A><BR></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>