Halakhah Study Group 034

1:
In paragraph 3 above, Rabbi Karo, the compiler of the Shulĥand Arukh, states his view (reviewed by Rabbi Isserles towards the end of his note in the next paragraph) that under no circumstances may an invalid Sefer Torah be used for public reading. As we shall see, the Ashkenazi was slightly different.

2:
Paragraph 4 contains two parts: firstly there is the original statement of Rabbi Yosef Karo and then therefollows a lengthy note by Rabbi Moshe Isserles. As we have mentioned on many occasions, Karo's view reflects (and informs) Sefaradi halakhah, while the notes provided by Isserles reflect (and inform) Ashkenazi halakhah. The provisions of the first part of paragraph 4 are simple and clear. Let us imagine that during one of the aliyyot the person reading from the Torah suddenly notices an error: in some way or another the scribe who wrote the Sefer Torah slipped up. He must immediately stop reading. The scroll is closed and returned to the ark; a different scroll is brought to the bimah, it is rolled to the place where the mistake had been found in the first scroll and the reading continues from that point. At the end of the aliyyah the honoree recites the concluding blessing, and then the rest of the honorees continue the public reading as usual. Since the original scroll is presumed to be correct and valid up to the point where the error was discovered there is no need for the honoree to recite the blessing that comes before his aliyyah. (If he were to do so this would be tantamount to claiming that anything read from that scroll up to that point was invalid and the duty of reading the Torah publicly had never been carried out while using that scroll!)

3:
We can now turn our attention to what Rabbi Moshe Isserles writes. We can detect a certain unease in his approach. While basically in agreement with the idea that the original scroll must be deemed valid up to the point where the error was discovered, he nevertheless adds a rider: if, at the point of error, three verses of the aliyyah have already been read and also the point reached is one where it is permitted to end an aliyyah then he would prefer that the aliyyah end there and the honoree recite his closing blessing. Then the scroll can be returned to the ark, a new one taken out and the reading can continue with the next honoree from the beginning of the verse in which the mistake was found in the first scroll. (In order to fully appreciate what Isserles is saying regarding the permissability or otherwise of stopping an aliyyah at a certain point please review the text and explanations in HSG 015. The shiur may be found in the web archives.)

4:
However, now Isserles proceeds to give a much more lenient view of the situation. He says that before declaring a scroll to be invalid one must take note of the nature of the error. If it is a crass error, such as the wrong word being written or a word being mis-spelled in such a way that the meaning of the word is altered (or made nonsensical) then the scroll must be replaced in the manner we have described so far. But, says Isserles, if the error is a minor error the reading may continue and the mistake can be corrected later. The kind of 'minor error' of which he writes is one where the orthography of a word has been slightly changed. If a word should have been written with the letter vav to indicate the long vowel 'o' and the scribe inadvertently missed out the vav Isserles says that such an error should not invalidate the scroll: the reading may continue and the mistake corrected later on, as noted. An example would be if the scribe had written עונים in full when he should have written ענים, defectively – or vice versa. The mis-spelling would not prevent the word being read correctly: עֹנִים or עוֹנִים – whichever the case may be. His reasoning for this leniency is that we have no reason to suppose that in such minor matters one scroll will be less erroneous than another. While basing himself of the great medieval posek [decisor] Rabbi Ya'akov Möllin [late 14th century] he also notes that the author of the Shulĥan Arukh, in his much more voluminous work Bet Yosef decides much more strictly, as already noted. (I see no reason why Conservative and Masorti congregations should not follow the ruling of Isserles in this matter.)

5:
In his next comment Isserles is even more lenient. He presents the views of previous authorities that in an emergency when no other scroll is available except one in which an error has been found they would permit the scroll to continue to be used on this one occasion until the end of the lectionary. However, in all honesty he has to note that there are other authorities who will not permit this leniency. (Presumably, he is referring to Karo.)

6:
Isserles offers one more possible leniency: in an emergency, as described in the previous explanation, it is permissable to read from an erroneous scroll if it is known that at least one ĥumash (book) of the five books of the Torah is error free: in such a case one may read from that ĥumash – Exodus, or Numbers and so on.

7:
When a scroll is found to be defective it must be stored (in the Ark) in such a manner that others (who were not present when the error was discovered) will immediately know that it is pasul [invalid]. (It is customary in Ashkenazi congregations to indicate this by tying the scroll on the outside of the fabric of the jacket [me'il] and not on the inside as is customary.) Such a scroll must be corrected with alacrity.

In Torah 031 I wrote: What I have written above is only by way of general illustration. In every individual case the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. Perhaps I should add that as regards the chanting of the Haftarah utmost leniency may be applied.

Josh Greenfield writes:

Could you elaborate on this last remark? I have only rarely seen any effort to correct mistakes made by the haftarah reader – one instance that comes to mind is when the person reading the haftarah for the eighth day of Pesah ended with "kedosh Adonai" instead of "kedosh Yisrael." The rabbi there went up and had the haftarah reader re-read the entire verse. So I
was wondering if, short of some mistake involving God's Name, there is any need to correct the haftarah reader when a mistake is made in the reading. On a related note, I assume that reading the wrong haftarah would be something you'd want to correct. But if you read the wrong haftarah and no one interrupts to point out your error, does the correct haftarah still
need to be read, or have you fulfilled your obligation ex post?

I respond:

I see no reason to correct reading mistakes made when chanting the haftarah. This is one of the many differences between our relation to the Prophets (and Writings) as compared to our relation to the Torah. I see no point in correcting even gross errors, like the one Josh mentions in his question. Many a time and oft I have heard the words of the prophet mangled excruciatingly: I may sigh to myself, but I do not correct. After all, how many corrections can one make in one short reading?! It is better to assume that the congregation is following from a printed text and making the necessary corrections mentally. I would not even correct a misrepresentation of one of God's names.

I am not even certain that one can really refer to a "wrong" haftarah. The haftarot that we read are by custom only, and the choices vary – sometimes greatly – between various communities and congregations. Originally, in any case, the person called as maftir would make his own choice of haftarah! I would suggest that if the mistake is noticed right at the beginning of the reading that it should be gently pointed out and corrected; but if the error is only noticed when the reading is already well under way I would let the reading continue, assuming that it is always possible to find some thematic connection, however improbable or remote, to some aspect or other of what was read from the Torah. Whether or not the "correct" haftarah should be added afterwards is a function of how much the congregation can be expected to bear! If the "correct" one is not added it is no big deal halakhically, but if there are vociferous (and ignorant) people present who feel 'cheated' maybe it would be best to add on the haftarah that is customary in that congregation. "And great is peace".