וַיְצַו מֹשֶׁה אוֹתָם לֵאמֹר מִקֵּץ שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים בְּמֹעֵד שְׁנַת הַשְּׁמִטָּה בְּחַג הַסֻּכּוֹת׃ בְּבוֹא כָל־יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵרָאוֹת אֶת־פְּנֵי ה’ אֱ-לֹהֶיךָ בַּמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר יִבְחָר תִּקְרָא אֶת־הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת נֶגֶד כָּל־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּאָזְנֵיהֶם׃ הַקְהֵל אֶת־הָעָם הָאֲנָשִׁים וְהַנָּשִׁים וְהַטַּף וְגֵרְךָ אֲשֶׁר בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ לְמַעַן יִשְׁמְעוּ וּלְמַעַן יִלְמְדוּ וְיָרְאוּ אֶת־ה’ אֱ-לֹהֵיכֶם וְשָׁמְרוּ לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת־כָּל־דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת׃ וּבְנֵיהֶם אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָדְעוּ יִשְׁמְעוּ וְלָמְדוּ לְיִרְאָה אֶת־ה’ אֱ-לֹהֵיכֶם כָּל־הַיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם חַיִּים עַל־הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם עֹבְרִים אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּן שָׁמָּה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ׃

And Moses instructed them as follows:At the end of every seventh year, the year set for Shemita, at the holiday of Sukkot, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God in the place that He will choose, you shall read this Torah aloud in the presence of all Israel. Gather the people—men, women, infants, and the strangers in your communities—that they may hear and so learn to revere the LORD your God and to observe faithfully every word of this Torah. Their children, too, who have not known, shall hear and learn to revere the LORD your God as long as you live in the land that you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. (Devarim 31: 10-13)

This event is referred to as the mitzvah of Hakhel (which means gather).

Rashi cites the Talmud’s comment on the word וְהַטַּף, infants. “Why did they (i.e the infants) come? So that a reward should be given to those who bring them.” (Chagigah 3a). This sounds like there really is no purpose for the infants to come other than to reward those who shlepped them along (that’s Yiddish for carried). That makes them no better than a sack of potatoes!

One answer given is that since all the adults were obligated to attend this event the infants could not be left behind. Although they would have done this even if it wasn’t a mitzvah, bringing the children was necessary to fulfill this mitzvah. Because of that the Torah wanted to reward them for that and made that into a mitzvah.

Rabbi Yeruchom Levovitz, of blessed memory, explained that the reward of those who bring these small children is the nachas, the pride and joy, that they will eventually have from these children who were brought to the Hakhel event.

Pirkei Avot 2:8 states that the sage Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai had a student Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananiah who he praised saying, “Happy is the woman that gave birth to him!” The commentaries explain that the reason he said this was because she caused him to be a sage. When she was pregnant with him, she would go out to all of the study halls in her town and ask the sages there to seek mercy for her child, that he should be a sage.” And from the day that he was born, she always brought his crib to the study hall so that only words of Torah would enter his ears.

Very touching but what purpose did it serve to bring an infant to the study hall if the child has no comprehension of the Torah being studied there? The answer given is that words of Torah are not just pieces of information to be processed. Every word of Torah is a spark of holiness, a ray of spiritual light. Every word that enters a person leaves an indelible holy mark. That mark conditions even a newborn to future growth in Torah.

The purpose of bringing the small children to the Hakhel event was for them to attend this holy conclave where the entire Jewish nation heard the words of the Torah emanating from the mouth of the king of Israel. Those awesome words would enter their inner essence and leave a profound spiritual imprint that would bear fruit as they grew.

And that fruit would be the reward for those who brought them to the Hakhel event. The reward of real nachas!

Shabbat shalom!
Yitzchak