Every sefer Torah is made of yerios that are sewn together, and it now appeared that a mistake had been made in the sewing of the yerios. The parchment containing the beginning of Parshas Eikev was mistakenly placed after Parshas Shoftim, so the parshiyos Eikev, Re’eh and Shoftim were out of order. From Ki Seitzei onward, the order was correct until the end.
The beginning of the sefer was mehudar as well and was perfectly fine all the way up to Parshas Re’eh.
Such a sefer Torah is not fit for use! Only once they would fix the mistake and rearrange the yerios could they read from it. And if they had read from it, the person who was called up to the Torah would have made a brachah l’vatalah.
We stood there, all the regular mispallelim and the guests who happened to be there, amazed at the incredible hashgachah pratis. What would have happened if the hachnasas sefer Torah had taken place a few weeks later? What would have happened if they hadn’t taken out the sefer Torah on this Shabbos and discovered the error? They might have read from the Torah each week for a full year in a sefer Torah that was pasul, from the Shabbos of Parshas Ki Seitzei until the Shabbos of Va’eschanan of the following year! Hashem saved an entire kehillah from many brachos l’vatalah and from failing to fulfill the mitzvah of reading from the Torah.
Everything took place with great rachamim. The sofer stam and the donors did not have any more ogmas nefesh than the fact that on the first Shabbos after it was donated to the shul, they were not able to read from it. This is exactly as is written in the parshah itself: “Hashem decided not to destroy you.” How great is Hashem!
