Welcome back to another episode of NachDaily with Nechemiah, chapter 8, where we see how they celebrated the first Rosh Hashanah and Sukkos back in Eretz Yisrael. We also get a glimpse into how unlearned the Jews in Eretz Yisrael were at that time.

[May this segment be a merit for the aliyas neshamos of Raizel bas Moshe, Avraham Aharon ben Yisroel Yitzchok, and Refael ben Yehoshua Falek.]

On Rosh Hashanah all the men, women and children gathered at the Sha’ar Mayim, Water Gate to hear Ezra HaSofer read from the Torah. The pessukim note that Ezra read from the same Sefer Torah that Moshe had written. He stood facing the people from early morning until midday, reading and explaining the Torah while they all listened intently to his every word.

The Ramad Walli adds that Ezra purposely chose Rosh Hashana to read from the Torah because it is a Yom Din, Day of Judgement. He wanted to try to sweeten the judgments by reading from the Torah. Ezra read it specifically by the Water Gate as a further attempt at “Hamsakas HaDinim, sweetening the judgments” of the day as in many places throughout Chazal the Torah is compared to water.

Ezra stood on a wooden platform made for this special occasion with several of the more prominent leaders standing to his left and right. Ezra opened the Torah scroll for everyone to see. Immediately all the people fell silent in amazement at the sight. Keep in mind that the people who had come with Ezra and Nechemiah were extremely unknowledgeable. As all the Torah Scholars had to stay back in the diaspora, this was a wonder to all who were present.

All the people present answered “Amen! Amen!” in unison and prostrated themselves on the ground in front of Hashem. The Leviim then explained the Torah to the people so they would better understand it.

There is an interesting Gemarah brought in Megilah 3a which says that the Torah was originally translated into Aramaic by Onkeles. But

didn’t the Leviim translate it into Aramaic? The Gemarah answers that the Aramaic translation was originally made then but was forgotten, only later to be restored by Onkeles.

We see the importance of Ezra HaSofer, whose primary role was to prepare the Jews for the galus we’re still in. He had them translate the holy words of the Torah into Aramaic in order to make it more understandable for the people in his generation.

Rebbe Nachman explains in Lekutei Maharan that the sicker the person, the greater the doctor needed in order to heal the sickness. So too the more spiritually ailing one’s neshama is, the greater the tzaddik needed in order to bring the Torah all the way down to its level in order to heal it.

As we learned in the introduction to Sefer Ezra, he was on the level of Moshe Rabbanu in his generation and was able to bring the Torah down and make it more palatable to even the lowest of Jews, such as those who returned to Eretz Yisrael with him. This is represented by his allowing the Torah to be translated into Aramaic.

Ezra, Nechemiah, and the Leviim had to calm the nation because once they realized it was Rosh Hashana, such a holy day, they were stricken with fear. Ezra told them to eat good food and drink sweet drinks, not to fear and be happy. Once the nation internalized this, they began to rejoice.

The rest of the chapter turns its attention to what happened on the 2nd day of Rosh Hashanah. As they were learning Torah, they came across the laws of Sukkos. An announcement was made for everyone to gather schach to build sukkos for themselves. They actually celebrated Sukkos for 7 days and it was a time of tremendous happiness and joy for the nation.

Stay tuned to the next episode of NachDaily. Thank you for listening and have a wonderful day.