Dear Shmuel,

It is clear from the Poskim - Tosafos (Berachos 8b D"H Yashlim), the Ro"sh, and the Mishnah Berurah (285:7) - that one who begins his Shenayim Mikra after Minchah of Shabbos for the coming week's Parshah has fulfilled his Mitzvah of being Mashlim the Parshah with the Tzibur.

The question is what about Parshas ve'Zos ha'Berachah? Does it follow the same rules? Can one start preparing the Parshah on the Shabbos before Simchas Torah? The simple answer is yes. Why should it be different than any other Parshah? Why can't you start preparing it as soon as the Tzibur has started reading it in shul? To say otherwise would require some kind of proof. In fact, one could make the argument that if the Tzibur starts reading Zos ha'Berachah two weeks before Simchas Torah - as we did this year - one can start even then.

Nevertheless, the Knei Bosem (vol. I, chapter 16) holds that one cannot start before Hoshanah Rabah. His argument is that the days of the week are related to the coming Shabbos (according to the Ramban when one says "ha'Yom Yom Rishon b'Shabbos..." he has fulfilled the Mitzvah of Zechiras Shabbos) and therefore one is considered to be Mashlim Im ha'Tzibur even though he is not reading on Shabbos, whereas the Yom Tov of Simchas Torah is not connected to the previous days of the week and therefore one must wait until Erev Simchas Torah - Hoshanah Rabah - to begin.

The main difficulty with this argument is that it follows that on a normal week one would not be able to start preparing the Parshah at Minchah of the previous Shabbos because that Shabbos is not connected to the coming Shabbos. He would have to wait until Sunday - which is against all the Poskim.

Hope that helps.

b'Yedidus,

Yonasan Sigler

This is not a Psak Halachah