Kids Question, Shoftim 2025

Question

Who has to have two Sifrei Torah and what's the difference between them? 

Answer

The Torah commands us in parshas va'yelech

ועתה כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת

And now you shall write this song for yourselves

Devarim 31:19

 

What song? The simple answer is the words of song Ha'azinu. That's how the Torah uses the term "this song" in a few other pesukim in va'yelech.

ויכתוב משה את השירה הזאת ביום ההוא

And Moshe wrote this song on that day

Devarim 31:22

 

וידבר משה באזני כל קהל ישראל את דברי השירה הזאת

 And Moshe spoke the words of this song into the ears of the entire community of Israel

Devarim 31:30

 

Ha'azinu comes immediately after these pesukim. Rashi explicitly tells us that's the meaning of the words. So you might think the mitzvah is to write parshas Ha'azinu.

 

Ha'azinu or the whole Torah? 

But... chazal recognized a problem with that explanation. There's an איסור to write only one portion of the Torah. If you're going to write it, you must write the entire thing. So how could the Torah command us to write only parshas Ha'azinu? Chazal answer that the mitzvah is really to write the entire Torah and by writing it to also write parshas Ha'azinu.

The Sefer Hachinuch explains that people make decisions based on what's at hand. Hashem wanted to ensure we would make Torah-dike decisions, so he commanded us to always have a Sefer Torah on hand to drive those decisions.

לפי שידוע בבני אדם שהם עושין כל דבריהם לפי ההכנה הנמצאת להם, ועל כן צונו ברוך הוא להיות לכל אחד ואחד מבני ישראל ספר תורה מוכן אצלו שיוכל לקרות בו תמיד ולא יצטרך ללכת אחריו לבית חבריו, למען ילמד ליראה את השם, וידע וישכיל במצותיו היקרות והחמודות מזהב ומפז רב

As we know, people conduct themselves entirely according to the what preparation is available to them. Therefore, Hakadosh Baruch Hu commanded every Jew of us to have a Sefer Torah with him ready so he can always read it and not need to go borrow from a friend. Thus he will learn to fear Hashem and to know and think about his precious commandments that are more desirable than gold and fine gold.

Sefer Hachinuch, Mitzvah 613

 

The Second Sefer 

Every single Jew must have a Sefer Torah at hand to drive his thoughts and actions on a daily basis. With that in mind, read the pasuk in shoftim

והיה כשבתו על כסא ממלכתו וכתב לו את משנה התורה הזאת על ספר מלפני הכהנים הלוים

And it will be as he [the King] sits on his royal throne he shall write for himself this second Torah in a Sefer before the kohanim levi'im.

Devarim 17:18 

 

 The King has an additional mitzvah to write a Sefer Torah. A second Torah. The general mitzvah to write a Sefer Torah to drive his thoughts and actions applies to the king just like it applies to all of Israel. What purpose could the second Sefer have?

Thankfully for us, the Sefer Hachinuch explains this as well

לפי שהמלך ברשות עצמו לא יעציבהו אדם על מעשיו ולא יגער בו, ובשבט פיו יכה ארצו וברוח שפתיו ימית מי שירצה בכל עמו, על כן באמת צריך שמירה גדולה וזכרון טוב יעמד נגדו, יביט אליו תמיד למען יכבש את יצרו ויטה לבו אל יוצרו

A King lives under his own rule. No one will bother him about his actions and no one will scream at him. By the words of his mouth he can afflict his land and by the breath of his lips he can kill anyone he wishes in the entire nation. Therefore, he really needs a huge protection and a good reminder to stand before him. He will constantly gaze on it and with it he will crush his yetzer hara and turn his heart to his creator.

Sefer Hachinuch, Miztvah 503

 

The first Sefer Torah needs to be available when a person goes looking. It doesn't need to be in front of him. He doesn't carry it around. He just has to have it so he'll be able to turn to it at a moment of need. That's enough for most people. When they face a nisayon, they'll consider what to do and realize the Sefer Torah is at hand to guide them.

Not so a king. He lives in a unique state of personal freedom. B'nei Yisroel are accustomed to submitting to the wills and whims of kings and governments. That makes the idea of submitting to the King, the King of Kings much more readily accessible. When we face a challenge, we want to find the right set of rules to follow, because that's how we're used to living.

A king, on the other hand, never submits to anyone. As the Sefer Hachinuch explained, he lives by his own rules. He has no established habit of looking for guidance when he faces a challenge. Thus the Torah gives him a special mitzvah to keep a second Sefer Torah - one he can place across from him constantly. That reminds him that even a king has a King. Even a king must submit to the King of all Kings.

 

What about us?

Today we live in a world defined by personal freedom. The governments around us severely limit their own power. Courts allow every person to directly question the decisions of those governments. We frequently see people live by their own rules and the governments today seem powerless to stop them. 

That seems to more closely match Sefer Hachinuch's description of a king than of a average Jew.

If that's true, we all need to ask ourselves - do we know how to submit to the rules of the King of Kings? Do we have an automatic nature of turning to an authority when we face a dilemma? If we don't, the same risk chazal described for a king really applies to all of us. We all need to create tools for ourselves to constantly remind ourselves we live in a world of Torah and din. We live in a world where there's a right and a wrong way to act in every situation.

We need to be mechazeik ourselves and train ourselves to always seek Hashem and his ways in all our decisions.

We need to learn to submit to the King, the King of all Kings.