Sotah Chapter 7, Mishnah 8: The Parashat HaMelech and Agrippas at Hakhel

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Our Mishnah deals with one of the last items listed at the beginning of the chapter among the things that must be said in Hebrew - the king's portion, that is, the mitzvah of Hakhel. The requirement to use Hebrew applies not only to the reading of the portion itself, but also to the berachos recited there. The Mishnah opens by asking: "Parashas hamelech keitzad" - how was the portion read by the king at the Hakhel gathering carried out?

The time of the reading and its place:

"Motzaei yom tov harishon shel chag" - immediately at the conclusion of the first day of Sukkos, on that very night. "Bashemini" - in the eighth year of the shemittah cycle, "b'motzaei shevi'is" - immediately after the shemittah year. "Osin lo bimah shel eitz ba'azarah" - they would build a wooden platform for the king in the Azarah of the Beis HaMikdash, "hayosheiv aleha" - and he would sit on it. "Shene'emar: mikeitz sheva shanim bamo'ed" - the verse describes that at the end of seven years, on the festival that follows the shemittah year, namely Sukkos, the Torah is to be read.

The order in which the Sefer Torah was passed along:

"Chazan hakenesses notel es Sefer haTorah" - as was mentioned, this is the man who attends to all the needs of the synagogue in the Mikdash, a sort of sexton.
"V'nosno l'rosh hakenesses" - the rosh hakenesses is a sort of gabbai, who decides who does what.
"Rosh hakenesses nosno lasegan" - to the segan of the Kohen Gadol, the Kohen Gadol's assistant.
"Segan nosno l'Kohen Gadol".
"V'Kohen Gadol nosno lamelech" - and all of this was done to show the importance and honor due to the king.

"V'hamelech omed umekabel v'korei yosheiv" - the king stands and receives the Sefer Torah, and reads from it sitting down.

Since we are dealing here with the Second Beis HaMikdash - and possibly this was the practice in the First Beis HaMikdash as well, except that the incident brought below is from the days of the Second Temple - and the kings of the Second Temple period were not from the dynasty of the House of David, and as such were not permitted to sit in the Azarah, the reference here is to Ezra the Nasi.

The incident involving King Agrippas:

"Agrippas hamelech amad v'kibel v'kara omed" - Agrippas, who reigned toward the end of the Second Temple period and was one of the descendants of Herod, stood and received the Sefer Torah and read from it standing, out of respect for the reading of the Torah, even though he was not obligated to do so and was permitted to read sitting down. "Shibchuhu chachamim" - and the Sages praised him for conducting himself in this way.

And regarding Agrippas's reading, an incident occurred: "U'chshehigia l'lo suchal laseis alecha ish nochri'" - when he reached the portion dealing with the appointment of a king, in which the Torah establishes that one may not set a foreigner over oneself as king, "zalgu einav dema'os" - his eyes filled with tears, since this halachah disqualified him from the kingship. "Amru lo: al tisyarei, achinu atah, achinu atah, achinu atah" - the people sought to comfort him and to preserve peace with the king. Some say that they told him this because his mother was of Jewish descent, but in any case this was a consolation that was not actually correct.

The portions that the king read:

"Mitchilas Eileh HaDevarim ad Shema" - from the beginning of Sefer Devarim until the passage of Shema in Parashas Va'eschanan.
"U'Shema" - the passage of Shema.
"V'hayah im shamo'a" - which is in Parashas Eikev.
"Aser te'aser" - which is in Parashas Re'eh, dealing with the obligation to give maaser.
"Ki sechaleh la'aser" - which is in Parashas Ki Savo, dealing with the mitzvah of removing the tithes at the end of the third and sixth years of the shemittah cycle.

The reason these portions were read: this time of year, the time of Sukkos, is the time for giving the gifts to the poor.

Afterward he returns to the portion of the king in Parashas Shoftim, which deals with the appointment of a king, and continues reading "ad shegomer kol haparashah" - until further on in Sefer Devarim, where it says "besides the covenant that He made with them at Chorev," which comes after the rebuke in Parashas Ki Savo.

The berachos:

"Berachos shekohen gadol mevarech osam, hamelech mevarech osam" - those same berachos that the Kohen Gadol recites on Yom Kippur, the king recites as well. "Ela shenosen lo shel regel tachas mechilas he'avon" - in place of the berachah for the forgiveness of sins, which is one of the berachos of the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur, the king inserts the berachah of the festival and Yom Tov - "who sanctifies Israel and the appointed times," like the wording we say in Shemoneh Esrei.

Original maamar

אות סוטה ז:ח

פָּרָשַׁת הַמֶּלֶךְ כֵּיצַד. מוֹצָאֵי יוֹם טוֹב הָרִאשׁוֹן שֶׁל חָג, בַּשְּׁמִינִי בְּמוֹצָאֵי שְׁבִיעִית, עוֹשִׂין לוֹ בִימָה שֶׁל עֵץ בָּעֲזָרָה, וְהוּא יוֹשֵׁב עָלֶיהָ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דברים לא) מִקֵּץ שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים בְּמֹעֵד וְגוֹ'. חַזַּן הַכְּנֶסֶת נוֹטֵל סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה וְנוֹתְנָהּ לְרֹאשׁ הַכְּנֶסֶת, וְרֹאשׁ הַכְּנֶסֶת נוֹתְנָהּ לַסְּגָן, וְהַסְּגָן נוֹתְנָהּ לְכֹהֵן גָּדוֹל, וְכֹהֵן גָּדוֹל נוֹתְנָהּ לַמֶּלֶךְ, וְהַמֶּלֶךְ עוֹמֵד וּמְקַבֵּל וְקוֹרֵא יוֹשֵׁב. אַגְרִיפָּס הַמֶּלֶךְ עָמַד וְקִבֵּל וְקָרָא עוֹמֵד, וְשִׁבְּחוּהוּ חֲכָמִים. וּכְשֶׁהִגִּיעַ (שם יז) לְלֹא תוּכַל לָתֵת עָלֶיךָ אִישׁ נָכְרִי, זָלְגוּ עֵינָיו דְּמָעוֹת. אָמְרוּ לוֹ, אַל תִּתְיָרֵא אַגְרִיפָּס, אָחִינוּ אָתָּה, אָחִינוּ אָתָּה, אָחִינוּ אָתָּה. וְקוֹרֵא מִתְּחִלַּת אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים (דברים א׳:א׳) עַד שְׁמַע, וּשְׁמַע (שם ו), וְהָיָה אִם שָׁמֹעַ (שם יא), עַשֵּׂר תְּעַשֵּׂר (שם יד), כִּי תְכַלֶּה לַעְשֵׂר (שם כו), וּפָרָשַׁת הַמֶּלֶךְ (שם יז), וּבְרָכוֹת וּקְלָלוֹת (שם כח), עַד שֶׁגּוֹמֵר כָּל הַפָּרָשָׁה. בְּרָכוֹת שֶׁכֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל מְבָרֵךְ אוֹתָן, הַמֶּלֶךְ מְבָרֵךְ אוֹתָן, אֶלָּא שֶׁנּוֹתֵן שֶׁל רְגָלִים תַּחַת מְחִילַת הֶעָוֹן: How is the portion of the Torah that is read by the king recited at the assembly, when all the Jewish people would assemble? At the conclusion of the first day of the festival of Sukkot, on the eighth, after the conclusion of the Sabbatical Year, they make a wooden platform for the king in the Temple courtyard, and he sits on it, as it is stated: “At the end of every seven years, in the Festival of the Sabbatical Year” (Deuteronomy 31:10). The synagogue attendant takes a Torah scroll and gives it to the head of the synagogue that stands on the Temple Mount. And the head of the synagogue gives it to the deputy High Priest, and the deputy High Priest gives it to the High Priest, and the High priest gives it to the king. And the king stands, and receives the Torah scroll, and reads from it while sitting. King Agrippa arose, and received the Torah scroll, and read from it while standing, and the Sages praised him for this. And when Agrippa arrived at the verse in the portion read by the king that states: “You may not appoint a foreigner over you” (Deuteronomy 17:15), tears flowed from his eyes, because he was a descendant of the house of Herod and was not of Jewish origin. The entire nation said to him: Fear not, Agrippa. You are our brother, you are our brother. And the king reads from the beginning of Deuteronomy, from the verse that states: “And these are the words” (Deuteronomy 1:1), until the words: “Hear, O Israel” (Deuteronomy 6:4). And he then reads the sections beginning with: “Hear, O Israel” (Deuteronomy 6:4–9), “And it shall come to pass, if you shall hearken” (Deuteronomy 11:13–21), “You shall tithe” (Deuteronomy 14:22–29), “When you have made an end of the tithing” (Deuteronomy 26:12–15), and the passage concerning the appointment of a king (Deuteronomy 17:14–20), and the blessings and curses (Deuteronomy 28), until he finishes the entire portion. The same blessings that the High Priest recites on Yom Kippur, the king recites at this ceremony, but he delivers a blessing concerning the Festivals in place of the blessing concerning forgiveness for iniquity.