BS”D

Suka 51b

Iyor 25, 5783. May 16, 2023

1- The גמרא relates a fascinating story, albeit with a tragic ending ר”ל.

This ‘fully loaded story’ is a basis for many Halachik and historical topics.

We touched on a few of them.

Here is the first part, Sukkah 51b followed by some topics we discussed.

The Great Shul of Alexandria 

It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yehuda says: One who did not see the great synagogue [deyofloston] of Alexandria of Egypt never saw the glory of Israel. They said that its structure was like a large basilica [basileki], with a colonnade within a colonnade. At times there were six hundred thousand men and another six hundred thousand men in it, twice the number of those who left Egypt. In it there were seventy-one golden chairs [katedraot], corresponding to the 71 members of the סנהדרין, each of which consisted of no less than 21,000 talents of gold. And there was a wooden platform at the center. The שמש\חזן of the synagogue would stand on it, with the flags in his hand. And because the synagogue was so large and the people could not hear the communal prayer, when the חזן  reached the conclusion of a blessing requiring the people to answer amen, the חזן הכנסת waved the scarf and all the people would answer אמן.

2–  In it there were seventy-one golden chairs, corresponding to the 71  members of the Great  סנהדרין.

70 or 71?

We discussed Tosfos’s question about the number 71. In גמרא סנהדרין,  there is the opinion of Reb Yehuda that the סנהדרין consisted of just 70 (not 71). This story, about the Shul in Alexandria and the 71 chairs, is told by Reb Yehuda! So how does he reconcile his opinion of 70 (in the סנהדרין)  with the 71 (chairs)  in the story?

They answer that according to Reb Yehuda, in addition to the 70 there was also a מופלא שבסנהדרין. He was a person that stood above the 70 and thus not counted as one of the 70. So the סנהדרין was 70 plus 1.

In the Shul of Alexandria they set up 70 chairs corresponding to the 70 members of the Sanhedrin. Additionally, they added another chair for the מופלא שבסנהדרין.

We mentioned the anecdote of the גר”א, that explains the last few words of Tosfos. This concerns the way people express numbers. How does one say the number 21?

Twenty seven  or seven twenty. זיבען און צוואנציק or צוואנציק זיבען?

 3- And there was a wooden platform at the center.

Does this mean that a בימה must be in the center of the Shul?

This seemingly ‘unimportant’ mention of the location of the בימה in the Shul of Alexandria  was a much contested topic 200 years ago. One of the first deviations introduced by the reform/משכילים was to move the בימה towards the front of the Shul. It eventually evolved into creating a one-platform system, where the ארון הקודש, בימה  and עמוד were all at the מזרח of their temples.

There was only one rationale for this change: to copy the set up of the churches ר”ל.

We mentioned the famous תשובה of the חתם סופר (OC 28) where he discusses this issue. He quotes our Gemara where the placement of the בימה in the great Shul of Alexandria is mentioned. Additionally he suggests that our בימה is like the מזבח that was in the center of the בית המקדש and for this reason we make הקפות around it on Sukkos זכר למקדש. Thus the location of the בימה should not be changed.

He concludes with a line that has been a mantra for Orthodoxy for many years-  not to introduce any new ideas –

והכלל – חדש אסור מן התורה בכל מקום.

 

 

4- The שמש\חזן of the synagogue would stand on the בימה, with flags in his hand to advise the people when to answer amen.

Can one answer אמן when he has not heard the ברכה?

 The general rule is that one should not say a אמן יתומה – an ‘orphaned אמן’. Brechos 47,a.

תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: אֵין עוֹנִין לֹא ״אָמֵן״ חֲטוּפָה, וְלֹא ״אָמֵן״ קְטוּפָה, וְלֹא ״אָמֵן״ יְתוֹמָה, וְלֹא יִזְרוֹק בְּרָכָה מִפִּיו.

Simple meaning is that one should not answer אמן on a ברכה that he has not heard. This also includes when one is in a Shul and doesn’t hear the חזן but he hears the crowd saying אמן.

Rashi and Tosfos ask from our גמרא  that in Shul in Alexandria, due to its huge size, a flag was waved for the crowd to know when to say אמן. So they did answer אמן despite not hearing the חזן.

They answer that it was not considered an אמן יתומה since the crowd kept track as to which ברכה was being said by the חזן. They actually knew what ברכה they were saying אמן to.

This implies that the opinion of Rashi and Tosfos is:

1. As long as one knows which ברכה it is, one can be יוצא even if it is a ברכה that one is מחוייב to make (as opposed to say חזרת הש”ץ).
2. If one does (hear the חזן and does) not know know what ברכה it is one should not answer אמן.

Practically this means that, say someone is by the כותל or in 770, and is far from the חזן and is not keeping track as to what ברכה he is up to, he should not answer אמן.

On the other hand, if for example, one is aware that the בעל תוקע is making the ברכה on the Shofar,  he can be יוצא even if he does not hear him say it.

Other ראשונים namely the ערוך, argue and say that:

1. One needs to hear and know what ברכה to be יוצא, like שופ
2. If he does not need to be יוצא, like חזרת הש”ץ, even if one does not hear the חזן and does not know know what ברכה it is one should answer אמן.

The Alter Rebbe (OC 124, 11)  rules that one should follow both opinions לחומרא.

So for שופר, one needs to know and hear it from the בעל תוקע. For חזרת הש”ץ one should not answer if he doesn’t keep track as to what ברכה it is.

See there for more details and opinions.

The story and topics continue. Next Shiur IY”H.