Some two hundred years before the time of the Vilna
Gaon, Rav S. Sirero, a contemporary of the Beis Yosef,
writes about a goral following the method
attributed in our time to the Vilna Gaon zt"l and
now known as the Goral HaGra.
In the sefer HaGaon by Rav Dov Eliach that
appeared about two months ago, the author, who is known
for his care and caution, in fact writes: "We lack any
information that discusses the part played by the Gaon
in this procedure, nor why it is named after him. What
is known, according to traditions handed down by
gedolei Yisroel, is that the Gaon revealed the
procedure of this goral to his talmidim,
and they in turn passed on the secret until it
eventually became known as Goral HaGra."
Rav Eliach notes in his work that gorals of this
kind were known in earlier generations, and he quotes
the Maharikash and the Sheivet Mussar who mention
opening "a Chumash or a Twenty-Four"
[meaning a Tanach], looking at a posuk and
acting according to what they saw. The Chida (Birkei
Yosef on Shulchan Oruch 179) says that this
practice is permitted and not forbidden by Tomim
tiheyeh.
Rav Eliach's caution in writing about the relationship
of the Gra to the goral that bears his name was
recently borne out.
The book Droshos Maharash Sirero was published
several years ago. It contains the droshos of a
contemporary of the Beis Yosef who was an influential
rov in Morocco. Rav Neriya Madmon referred us to the
introduction of the book where the publisher brings
interesting firsthand evidence indicating that Rav S.
Sirero made use of the "seven page" goral known
in our time as the Goral HaGra. This solid
evidence shows that this type of goral was known
at least two hundred years before the time of the Vilna
Gaon.
This is what he writes: "The author himself [Rav S.
Sirero] writes the following in his autobiography at
page 10. He describes to us everything that happened on
a taanis tzibbur called because of a shortage of
rain. In the middle of his droshoh he said, `I
shall go to the influential ones,' and then the
community leader Menachem Sanonitz [apparently the
reference to "influential ones" was directed at him]
sent him a message with harsh words, and the rov
replied as good as he got. He tells us what happened
next:
"I shall write what happened to me with Menachem
Sanonitz, and I swear to you with a promise and an oath
that in what I shall tell you I am not deviating from
the truth even with respect to one detail. This is
exactly what happened without any additions and without
leaving out any details.
"When I returned to my house I was upset and it
occurred to me that I should not rebuke any more. But
then I told myself that this sin might be my
responsibility, and that even though they insulted me
they should still be given a tochochoh, as it
says, ` "You shall surely reprove" -- even several
times.' The prophets were also insulted and reviled by
the Jews and yet they still rebuked them.
"I had these thoughts for about two hours: woe to me if
I speak out and woe unto me if I don't. Should I give
tochochoh or not? Then I took the Twenty-
Four (Tanach) and I prayed to Hashem that He
should answer me this question, so that I should know
what to do. As I was praying I opened the sefer,
and this was my answer at the top of the page: `When I
say to the wicked: you shall surely die; and you do not
give him a warning, nor speak to warn the wicked about
his wicked way the same wicked man shall die in his
iniquity, but his blood I will require from you.
(Yechezkel 3:18)' This posuk is preceded by
the following: `Son of man, I have appointed you a
watchman over the house of Yisroel,' and I was very
happy about this.
"Afterwards I continued to pray to Hashem: `Ribono
Shel Olom, You know my intentions and although You
have given me a clear answer nevertheless, do not be
angry with Your servant and reply to me a second time.'
I then opened the sefer and this was the
goral that came up: "The fruit of the righteous
is a tree of life . . . the righteous shall be requited
in the earth . . . whoever loves knowledge loves
reproof . . . a man shall not be established by
wickedness. (Mishlei 11:30-12:3)'
"I wrote this on Friday 12th Iyar (5373 - 1613), and as
I was writing I prayed again to Hashem and said:
"Ribono Shel Olom, it is revealed and known to
You that I wish to rebuke the people, but what can I
do, these are dangerous times, and I am afraid of the
wicked causing me harm. Who was greater than Shmuel
Hanovi o"h and yet he still said: `lest Shaul
will hear and kill me,' all the more so a mosquito like
myself who has no merits whatsoever. Therefore, Hashem
my G-d, answer me in this goral whether I should
be afraid of the wicked that I should quake because of
them, and I ask of you that my answer should come in
the following manner: I will open the sefer and I
will cast seven pages (olin) and seven sheets
(dapim) and seven pesukim and seven words
and seven letters and the eighth letter -- it shall be
the beginning of the posuk that shall contain my
answer.
"I opened the sefer and on top of the page I
found the posuk `Not because you are many,
(Devorim 7:7)' and I cast seven pages and seven
sheets and seven pesukim and seven words and
seven letters and the eighth letter was a yud. I
looked for a posuk starting with the letter
yud and found the posuk: `Hashem will cause
your enemies that rise up against you to be smitten
before you. (Devorim 28:7)' I have written all
this down in order to publicize Hashem's Providence and
I accepted upon myself to rebuke with all my might, may
Hashem assist me, Omen ken yehi rotzon."
It appears from this quotation that the author invented
the form of this goral. In any event, it clearly
predates the time of the Vilna Gaon by many years.
*
Rav Eliach provided an interesting addition to the
famous stories of the Goral HaGra. In
HaGaon (p. 1118) in the context of his discussion
about the Goral HaGra, he cites a famous story of
HaRav Aharon Kotler zt"l who reportedly used the
Goral HaGra to decide whether to accept the
invitation of HaRav Moshe Feinstein zt"l to go to
America or instead to go to Eretz Yisroel. After
getting the posuk (Shemos 4:27): "And Hashem said
to Aharon, Go to greet Moshe in the desert . . . ," R'
Aharon went to America.
After HaGaon already went to press, Rav Eliach
found another version of the story that was published
in a book entitled From Kletzk to Siberia (p.
50), which says that R' Aharon underwent a difficult
investigation by the NKVD, after which it was felt that
he was in danger and should go to America as soon as
possible. "The story went at the time that in order to
come to a decision, Reb Aharon resorted to a
traditional device known as a goral. He took a
Chumash, opened it and read the first passage that
struck his eyes. The passage turned out to be the
twenty-sixth verse of the sixth chapter in the Book of
Exodus: `These are the Aaron and Moses to whom G-d
said: Bring out the Children of Israel from the land of
Egypt according to their hosts.' Since his own name was
Aaron, the Rosh Yeshivah understood that this meant
that he must go forth from Russia and proceed to
America, in order to help rescue all his students."
