The Torah commands in the book of Leviticus : Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head (elderly), and honour the face of the old man, and thou shalt fear thy G-d: I am the L-RD. The Gemorra in the Tractate of Kiddushin (32) learns from the proximity of the words "zakein (hoary one) and yoreiso (thou shalt fear) that the elderly are commanded to refrain from coming and going many times so as not to inconvenience the public having to rise in their honor again and again. The elderly must fear Hashem and not cause too much bother to the congregation, even though the congregation is obligated to honor them. Some of the Rishonim learn from the Gemorra the law of torach hatzibur (bothering or troubling the congregation), explaining that this applies to every Jew, not only the elderly.
The Gemorra in Maseches Yoma (68) relates about the avodah of the Kohein Gadol on Yom Kippur. In addition to bringing the sacrifices – korbonos- the Kohein Gadol read from the Torah in Parshas Acharei Mos, and recited part of Parshas Pinchas by heart. Why didn't the Kohein Gadol roll the Sefer Torah to Parshas Pinchas and read from the Torah instead of by heart? He did it in order to honour the congregation. Maran in the Shulchan Oruch, Orach Chaim 147,3: One doesn't roll the Sefer Torah in public, to prevent putting the congregation out, therefore on every Rosh Chodesh that falls out on Shabbos, we take out two Sifrei Torah and not roll one to the other Parsha, so as not to inconvenience the congregation. The same goes for Shabbos Chanuka when two Sifrei Torah are taken out; in one we read Parshas VaYeshev and the other Parshas Nasso in Bamidbar.
May We Meet at Happy Occassions
Our generation has a weakness in understanding the halachic concept of "inconveniencing the public". Considerable weakness is felt during "simchas:- happy occasions and celebrations, starting them much later than the predetermined time, while all the while the public waits idle. In many cases, Chuppas and Brissen are held long after the time called for. We must remember that sticking to a time schedule and avoiding inconvenience to the guests is not just proper etiquette, but an actual halachic rule.
Another example: when there is only a small minyan, one must be careful not to extend the Shmona Esrei prayer and make the public wait for to start chazaras hashatz. Also, the gabboim and chazzonim should be careful not to extend prayers and the selling of aliyos, so as not to burden the public. |
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