[1] The Hebrew Hiphil verb haqhêl (Hebrew: הַקְהֵ֣ל, "assemble"), from which comes the term mitzvat hakhel, is used in Deuteronomy 31:10–12: " 10 And Moses instructed them as follows: At the end of every seventh year, the year set for remission, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before Yhwh your God in the place that He will choose, you shall read this Teaching aloud in the presence of all Israel.12 Gather the people—men, women, children, and the strangers in your communities—that they may hear and so learn to revere Yhwh your God and to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching.
13 Their children, too, who have not had the experience, shall hear and learn to revere Yhwh your God as long as they live in the land that you are about to cross the Jordan to possess (NJPS with modifications).
Trumpets would sound throughout Jerusalem (Tosefta) and a large wooden platform would be erected in the Temple in the court of the women (Hebrew: ezrat hanashim עזרת הנשים).
The idea of reviving the mitzvat hakhel in modern times was first proposed by Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim (the "Aderes"), who published two pamphlets on the issue, Zecher leMikdash and Dvar Be'ito.[when?]
A special service was held in the Yeshurun Synagogue, after which a mass procession moved on to the Western Wall where the Torah portions were read.
[6] The Rebbe stressed that every small 'hakhel' gathering, even in exile, is, in fact, the actual idea of the original mitzvah of hakhel in the Holy Temple.