The admonitions we read in Parashas Ki Savo include the curse of blindness: “Hashem will smite you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart” (Devarim 28:28). Even in the next Pasuk we find the curse of the blind: “And you shall grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways.”
Blindness is indeed a harsh curse – the more so in the past, when it was common to alienate blind people and to degrade them. Many blind people had no means of earning a living and went begging from door to door or on street corners. Thus, many blind people were condemned to lives of suffering and could aspire to no personal achievements. Only the most talented were exceptions.
The lot of the blind in the Jewish community has always been far better. Some of the leading Torah sages of the past were blind, and the Torah goes out of its way to afford the blind proper respect. Even the Talmudic term for the blind ensures that they will not take offense. They are referred to as sagi nahor, somebody who has “too much light.”
In the present article we will discuss the halachic status of blind people in different areas of Torah law. Are blind people fully obligated to fulfill mitzvos? Can a blind person serve as a Dayan on a Beis Din? Can he be given an Aliya to the Torah? These questions, among others, are discussed below.
Mitzvah Performance for a Blind Person
The question of a blind person’s obligation to perform mitzvos is a matter of dispute among Tana’im. The Gemara (Kiddushin 31a) cites the opinion of Rav Yehuda whereby a blind person is exempt from all mitzvot. However, this opinion was not unanimous.
The Gemara relates that Rav Yosef (who himself was blind) offered to host a festive meal if he would be informed that the halacha follows the opinion of Rav Yehuda. He understood that fulfilling the mitzvos even though he was not obligated to do so expresses a greater commitment to Hashem.
However, Rav Yosef later reversed his position, and stated that he would host the meal if he is told that the halacha is not in accordance with Rav Yehuda, and thus a blind person is obligated in all mitzvos. Fulfillment out of obligation is better than voluntary performance of mitzvos.
The Peri Megadim (introduction to Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, Part 3) maintains that, even according to Rav Yehuda, a blind person is exempt only from positive mitzvos, but he is obligated in all the negative mitzvos, that is, he must refrain from violating prohibitions. According to this opinion, a blind person may not eat non-kosher food or steal.
However, the Noda BiYehuda (Orach Chaim 112) questions this, citing Tosafos (Bava Kama 87a) who write that according to Rav Yehuda a blind person must perform Torah laws by rabbinic obligation (see also Rashba, who disputes this).
Tosafos explain that the Sages obligated the blind to observe mitzvos so that they would not seem to be non-Jews. This indicates that the blind are exempt even from negative mitzvos, for otherwise refraining from eating non-kosher food, from violating Shabbos and so on, would give them a Jewish appearance. The Minchas Chinuch adds that a blind person will certainly not be exempt from more than a non-Jew, and he is thus obligated to keep the seven Noahide laws.
According to many Rishonim (see Ran, Kiddushin 31) the halacha follows the opinion of the Sages disputing Rabbi Yehuda, meaning that a blind person is obligated in all mitzvos. Although not all concur (see Rabbeinu Yerucham, Sefer Adam 5:4), this is certainly the majority opinion (see also Beis Yosef, Orach Chaim 473; Radvaz Vol. 1, no. 39). Latter day authorities (see Mishna Berura 53:41) follow this majority opinion. Blind people are thus obligated in mitzvos.
A Blind Person as Shaliach Tzibbur
The Mishnah (Megillah 24a) states: “The blind can be poreis al shema [act as Shaliach Tzibbur for Shema and its berachos] and can translate [the Torah into Aramaic as part of the reading]. Rabbi Yehudah says, whoever has never seen the celestial lights cannot be poreis al shema.”
The rationale behind Rabbi Yehuda’s opinion is that somebody who has never seen the light of celestial bodies cannot recite the blessing over their creation, which is part of the beracha preceding the recitation of the Shema.
The halacha follows the opinion of the Sages, so a blind person may be the Shaliach Tzibbur, even for the blessing of the lights. The Rosh explains: “Thus even one who never in his life saw the lights can be poreis al shema and pray for the congregation, but he specifically must not read Torah from memory.”
The reason why he cannot read from the Torah is found in a ruling of Rav Natronai Gaon: “One who is blind may not recite the Torah portion because the people cannot fulfill their obligation by hearing the Torah [recited] from memory. We need to hear from one reading the text, and not from memory…. Thus even if a blind person has memorized the portion, it is forbidden to hear him in synagogue, and the obligation [to hear the Torah portion] is not fulfilled, for they have not heard [the Torah] from the text” (Shaarei Teshuvah 245).
We thus learn that a blind person can serve as Shaliach Tzibbur, but cannot read from the Torah.
Receiving an Aliya
Can a blind person be given an Aliya to the Torah?
Rav Yaakov Emden gave a negative answer to this question: “This teaches us that the blind may not read [Torah] at all, even via hearing from another who dictates to him quietly so that he can repeat afterwards [out loud], for [only] a sighted person in such circumstances can follow the custom of the Talmud… as cited in the Beis Yosef” (She’elas Yaakov Vol. 1, no. 75). In this, Rav Yaakov Emden follows the ruling of the Beis Yosef (Orach Chaim 141; Shulchan Aruch 139:3).
The Rema, however, writes that nowadays, we follow the opinion of the Maharil that it is customary to be lenient and to call the blind to the Torah. The Taz (141:3) strengthens this ruling, citing the Levush that a blind man was once called up to the Torah in the presence of great Sages. He states further that this applies even if the blind person is not a Torah scholar.
The Mishnah Berurah (139:12-13) explains: “For now the blind are called up. The reason is that we have a reader who reads from the written text and we are no longer strict about the oleh literally reading from the text, for hearing is like answering.… And in practice, the Acharonim have already written to act leniently according to the Maharil.”
The Mishnah Berurah adds that it is proper to refrain from calling up a blind person for Parshas Parah and Parshas Zachor (since some consider these Torah obligations).
A Blind Person as Dayan
Can a blind person serve as a Dayan?
The Gemara writes that it is forbidden for a blind person to act as a Dayan. This law is derived from the verse “before the eyes of the elders” (Yevamos 101a). In fact, even a person who is blind in one eye is disqualified from serving as a Dayan on the Sanhedrin; the Dayanim, like Kohanim serving in the Temple, must be unblemished.
Concerning regular civil law, authorities dispute the status of a blind person (in both eyes; somebody blind in one eye can certainly serve as a Dayan). According to some authorities (such as Tosafos, Nidda 50a; Mordechai, Sanhedrin 714) he is disqualified, and there is a further dispute concerning his rulings post factum. However, the general and universal custom is to permit a blind Dayan to serve, as many authorities have testified (see Pachad Yitzchak, Erech Suma; Shut Lev Sameach, Choshen Mishpat no. 2; Shut Toras Chaim 3:93; among others; see also Ketzos HaChoshen 7:2).
Bringing Guide Dogs into Shul
Can a blind person bring his guide dog into shul? This question is the subject of a well-known dispute between Rav Moshe Feinstein and Rav Yaakov Breisch.
In Shut Iggros Moshe (Orach Chaim 1:45) Rav Moshe permitted taking a guide dog into the synagogue. His responsum states that his ruling is more easily applied in the Diaspora than in Israel, since the sacred status of synagogues in the Diaspora is considered temporary and conditional. Rav Moshe proves that bringing in a dog is no worse than eating in shul, so that in shuls where the custom is to eat and drink, bringing in a dog would be no worse.
Rav Moshe is clearly extremely attentive to the needs of the blind person who loses his independence without a guide dog. For instance, he writes that “there is no better example of a situation of urgent need than this case, for if we do not allow this, the person will forever be excluded from communal prayer and from the public reading of the Torah and Megillas Esther. And there are also days on which his sorrow would be very great, such as the High Holidays and similar days when the community gathers together. This is great proof that we should allow a blind person whose guide dog must accompany him at all times to enter the synagogue to pray and to listen to the Torah reading and the like.”
According to Rav Moshe it is moreover possible that there is no problem in bringing the dog into shul, because the dog is not being admitted as a statement of disrespect or expression of frivolity, but rather to serve the needs of a worshiper. His adds however that the blind person should sit near the doorway (inside the shul), in order not to confuse the worshipers.
Rabbi Beisch’s Stringent Ruling
In response to Rav Moshe’s ruling, Rabbi Yaakov Breisch (Shut Chelkas Yaakov, Orach Chaim 34) deferred the halachic decision, writing that there is no room for leniency in bringing a guide dog into shul.
Referring to a source cited by Rav Moshe concerning the admission of a donkey to a synagogue, he writes: “Who is to guarantee that the donkey will not defecate in the midst of prayers… when children play with it, and the dog will begin barking; aside from the dishonor and levity that will be involved, there is also the concern that a woman may miscarry [out of fear].”
Rabbi Breisch saw this ruling as involving a dangerous “slippery slope,” as he states: “In addition, and this is the main reason in my view… due to our many sins, which have led to such a weakening of Judaism, especially in these countries, if we open an opening the size of the eye of a needle, it will open a door as wide as the entrance to the Temple, and some “rabbi” will be found who will permit this, who will claim that he is relying on a great scholar, and will say that it has already been permitted to let a dog into the synagogue in cases of urgent need, and he, as a “rabbi,” will determine on his own what is considered an urgent matter, and, heaven forbid, it may result in a great desecration of the Name, since the Christians forbid the entrance of dogs to their places of worship, in contrast to the synagogue, where it would be permitted.”
Rather than using dogs, Rabbi Breisch suggested that a person who relies on a guide dog should rely on people for help: “It is hard to believe that he will not be able to find a solution, such as that someone will accompany him to the synagogue, at least on special occasions. And if there indeed is no other solution, he is considered to be under duress, and the Torah accordingly exempts him from the obligation of attending synagogue. And the main point for me is that in any event, on special occasions, the person will obviously be able to find someone to take him to the synagogue, and this should not be a reason to permit bringing a dog into the synagogue.”
The halachic discussion around bringing guide dogs into shul – and in particular Rav Moshe’s approach – demonstrates how Torah leaders were sensitive to the special needs of the blind, and tried as they could to accommodate them.
This sensitivity does not draw only from a noble and humane spirit; it draws first and foremost from the Torah itself, which teaches us to care for the weak and the humble, and ensure that society does not trample them underfoot.
