FASTING IF TORAH IS DROPPED

QUESTION:

One of our oldest members was carrying the Scroll back to the Ark. He got a dizzy spell and fell on the floor with the Torah in his arms, in front of the Ark. What is Jewish tradition and what should a Liberal congregation do with regard to fasting if the Torah has fallen? (Asked by Abram E. Salas, Curacao, Netherlands, West Indies.)

ANSWER:

THIS CUSTOM of fasting when the Torah is dropped is not, in any strict sense, a law. It is not given in the Shulchan Aruch by Joseph Caro, or in the Ashkenazic notes of Moses Isserles. It is not found in the previous code, the Tur. Neither could I find any reference on this question in Sha’arey Ephraim, the well-known book which specializes in all questions of the Torah reading. Clearly, then, this is not a requirement of Jewish law. In fact, the only mention of it in connection with the Shulchan Aruch is in the commentary, Mogen Avraham to Orah Hayyim 44:5. The Shulchan Aruch there speaks of what should be done if the Tefillin are dropped; to which the Mogen Avraham comments that fasting, if the Tefillin are dropped, is perhaps the reason for the custom that people fast, also, if the Torah is dropped. (By the way, even with regard to the Tefillin, if they are dropped while they are in their bag, is is not necessary to fast at all.) At all events, the custom of fasting when the Torah is dropped is a sort of an outcome of a popular analogy. Chiefly it seems to have sprung up as an extension of an actual law. There is a law that whoever sees a Sefer Torah burnt up must make a tear in his garment (keriah) as he would do at the death of a close relative. If, therefore, one should show signs of mourning if a Torah is burned, then one should, perhaps, at least fast if Tefillin or the Torah is dropped. This must have been the unconscious reasoning which led to the custom.

However, although it is not a legal requirement (since it is not given in the codes) nevertheless discussion of it is found in the Responsa Literature. The fullest discussion of it is found in the Responsa Bes Yitzchok by the famous Rabbi of Lemberg in the last century, Isaac Shmelkes (in Volume II of Yore Deah of his responsa, # 16 5 ) . The specific question that he was asked was: If it was on the Sabbath when the Torah was seen to be dropped, how shall one fulfill the custom of fasting, since one may not fast on the Sabbath? In answer to this question, he cites other authorities, among them two famous Sephardim, Daniel Terni, Rabbi of Florence, Italy, in the 18th-19th century, and Chaim J. D. Azulai, the famous Palestinian emissary who lived in Italy about the same time as Daniel Terni. Daniel Terni’s work is called Ikrey Hadat (the reference given is Yore Deah 26); Azulai’s responsa, Chaim Sho -Al, # 12. Cf. Sheyurey Beracha, Yore Deah 340:19 and Shulchan Aruch, Yore Deah 340:27. The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch gives it as an established practice; #28, paragraph 12, refers to Birche Josef, #44 .

The strictest view is that the one who drops the Torah must fast a succession of three days after the Sabbath, Monday, Thursday, Monday; and that the whole congregation who were present should fast one day. Other opinions are that only the one who dropped the Torah should fast and the others need not fast. Since it is merely a custom, Isaac Shmelkes is lenient and says that those who find it difficult to fast should merely give charity. The whole subject is likewise discussed by Gedaliah Felder in his Yosedey Yeshurun, Vol. II, p. 106.

To sum up: Fasting if the Torah is dropped is not a legal requirement; it was never given as such in any of the great codes. As a custom which has spread among both Ashkenazim and Sephardim, there are various degrees of strictness suggested by those who describe it. In my own opinion, since this custom has no real legal status, nothing should be done by the entire congregation except, perhaps, by the man who dropped the Torah. Since he is not in the best of health and the Torah dropped because he had a dizzy spell due to his high blood pressure, he certainly should have no sense of guilt. If, however, he has some feeling of guilt or deep regret, let him fulfill the suggestion of one of the scholars who discussed the matter (above) who said that if the fasting is difficult, he should give some charity, preferably to the congregation.