Halakhah Study Group 037

נושא: HSG

BET MIDRASH VIRTUALI

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נוהגין בשבת שיש בו חתן לומר אחר הפטרת (הפטרה י"א שהוא מלשון אין מפטירין אחר הפסח שענינו סילוק כלומר סילוק תפלת שחרית) השבוע שנים או שלשה פסוקים מהפטרת שוש אשיש, וכשחל ראש חודש בשבת וביום א' אחר שמפטירין ההפטרה בשבת אומרים פסוק ראשון ופסוק אחרון מהפטרת ויאמר לו יהונתן מחר חודש: ואין למחות בידם :

There is a custom that on a Shabbat service attended by a bridegroom, after the week's haftarah two or three verses from the haftarah 'I shall be very glad' are read, and when Rosh Ĥodesh falls on Shabbat and Sunday we read the first and last verse of the haftarah 'And Jonathan said to him tomorrow is the new moon': we do not make a protest at this. (Some say that the term haftarah is derived from the expression 'we do not eat anything after eating the paschal lamb', and it indicates 'leaving', i.e. leaving the morning service.)

1:
The translation of this paragraph of section 144 was not simple, and the text had to be slightly re-arranged to make it comprehensible in English, since there is a comparatively long interpolation rather awkwardly placed. In the translation I have removed the interpolation to the bracketed sentence at the end of the paragraph.

2:
In the first paragraph of this section, which we studied last time we read that while 'skipping' is permitted to the person reading the haftarah there are certain restrictions placed on this skipping:

…we do not skip from one prophet to another; but within Tré-Asar we may skip from prophet to prophet provided that [the reader] does not skip from the end of the book to the beginning.

At one time there were some deeply entrenched customs that seem to violate this rule, and they are the subject of 144:2.

3:
Firstly, Rabbi Karo brings a custom which seems to have been popular in his native Spain. To this day all over the Jewish world it is customary for a bridegroom to attend synagogue of the Shabbat before his marriage where much publicity is given to the spousals by the honours showered on him. (Nowadays, in most Conservative congregations the bride also attends synagogue for the same purpose.) There used to be a custom that on such an occasion a few verses were added to the haftarah from the book of Isaiah [61:10-62-4]. These verses are well-known as being the opening verses of the haftarah read to this day in all congregations on the Shabbat before Rosh ha-Shanah:

I greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being exults in my God.
For He has clothed me with garments of triumph, wrapped me in a robe of victory,
Like a bridegroom adorned with a turban, like a bride bedecked with her finery.
For as the earth brings forth her growth and a garden makes the seed shoot up,
So God will make victory and renown shoot up in the presence of all the nations.

For the sake of Zion I will not be silent, for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still,
Till her victory emerge resplendent and her triumph like a flaming torch.
Nations shall see your victory, and every king your majesty;
And you shall be called by a new name which the Lord Himself shall bestow.
You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the Lord,
And a royal diadem in the palm of your God.

Nevermore shall you be called "Forsaken," nor shall your land be called "Desolate";
But you shall be called "I delight in her," and your land "Espoused."
For the Lord takes delight in you, and your land shall be espoused.
As a youth espouses a maiden, your sons shall espouse you;
And as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

4:
Now, according to the rules already given in 144:1 there would be no problem with this joyful addition provided that the weekly haftarah also came from the book of Isaiah. But since we may assume that this custom was followed even when the assigned weekly haftarah was from a different prophet Karo notes that "we do not make a protest at this". In other words, while this custom might be in violation of the rules and regulations wise rabbis will not make any objection where this violation occurs.

5:
A similar violation can occur as the result of another custom. When Rosh Ĥodesh falls on a Sunday it is customary to read a special haftarah [I Samuel 20:18-42] because the opening verse of this story declares that 'tomorrow is Rosh Ĥodesh'.

Jonathan said to him [i.e. David], "Tomorrow will be the new moon; and you will be missed when your seat remains vacant."

When Rosh Ĥodesh falls on an ordinary weekday there is no haftarah (even though there is a special Torah reading for the occasion), but when Rosh Ĥodesh falls on Shabbat we usually substitute for scheduled haftarah a special one [Isaiah 66:1-24] because the two penultimate verses are considered to be particularly apt:

For as the new heaven and the new earth which I will make shall endure by My will – declares the Lord –

So shall your seed and your name endure.
And new moon after new moon, and sabbath after sabbath,
All flesh shall come to worship Me – said the Lord.

6:
Quite often there are two days Rosh Ĥodesh, and when the first day of Rosh Ĥodesh falls on Shabbat we usually read the special haftarah just mentioned. (This last Shabbat was an exception to this general rule because the special haftarah for Parashat Shekalim superceded.) It seems that in some congregations in former times on such occasions they would read the special haftarah for Rosh Ĥodesh which falls on Shabbat (from the book of Isaiah) and then add the first and last verses from the haftarah for "Tomorrow will be the New Moon" (from the book of Samuel). According to the rule given in 144:1 this skipping his not permitted, but here too Karo says that nevertheless "we do not make a protest at this".

7:
In Oraĥ Ĥayyim 425 (which deals with Rosh Ĥodesh) Rabbi Karo sticks to his guns in this matter, but there is a note Rabbi Moshe Isserles makes it very clear that nowadays this custom is not to be followed at all, since it violates the 'skipping' rule set out in 144:1.

8:
The etimology of the term haftarah given in the interpolated note in 144:2 above is only partially correct. The Hebrew root p-t-r does have the meaning of conclusion, dismissal, discharge. But originally the term, it seems, was meant to indicate the conclusion of the Torah Reading. The origin of the haftarah is not too clear. The old "Jewish Encyclopedia" contains the following note:

The haftarah has passed through several stages of development. The Talmudic sources, which trace the custom of reading from the Torah back to Moses and Ezra, do not mention the originator of the haftarah, which would seem to point to a later origin. Abudarham, a Spanish teacher of the fourteenth century, traces the haftarah back to the time of the persecution under Antiochus IV., Epiphanes (168-165 B.C.), when, owing to the prohibition against reading from the Torah, the corresponding sections from the Prophets were read instead, this practise becoming established as a custom. Although all authority for this explanation is lacking, it is not improbable that the custom dates from the pre-Christian era, and that originally it was observed only on feast-days and on the four special Sabbaths, and was later extended to all Sabbaths. It appears that the Pharisees in their conflict with the Sadducees read in connection with the various sections from the Torah such selections from the prophetical books – principally from the so-called Earlier Prophets – as supported their own interpretation of the laws concerning the festivals. Talmudic statements, together with Luke iv. 17, show that the reading of the haftarah on the Sabbath had already been instituted in the first century of the common era, although the selections at that time were by no means fixed.

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