The obligation of Shenayim Mikra Ve’ehad Targum requires reading the weekly Parasha, twice in the original Hebrew text and once in translation. If a person fell behind in his weekly reading, what is the proper way for him to make up the reading which he missed? Should he first complete the current week’s Parasha, and then go back to the Parasha which he missed? Or, is it more proper to first complete the missed Parasha, so that he reads the Parashiyot in sequence?
This issue is subject to debate among the Halachic authorities. Some draw a comparison between this case and the situation of a person who must make up a missed Tefila. If, for example, a person forgot to pray Minha, he makes up the missed prayer by reciting an extra Amida at Arbit. The first Amida which he recites is prayed as the Arbit service, and the second Amida prayer is recited in lieu of the missed Minha prayer. Applying this model to the case of a person who missed a week of Shenayim Mikra Ve’ehad Targum, he should first read the current week’s Parasha, and only then go back to the Parasha which he missed.
Other authorities, however, rejected this comparison. They claimed that we cannot draw conclusions based on the model of making up a missed prayer, because there is a special Halachic requirement to make up a missed prayer specifically in the context of the subsequent prayer. For this reason, the current prayer must be recited first. There is no parallel Halacha requiring making up a missed Shenayim Mikra Ve’ehad Targum reading specifically in the context of the subsequent week’s reading. Therefore, the situation of a missed prayer provides no guidance regarding a missed week of Shenayim Mikra Ve’ehad Targum.
According to these authorities, the case of missing a week of Shenayim Mikra Ve’ehad Targum may be compared to the case of a congregation that missed the congregational Shabbat Torah reading. There is an incident recorded in several works where a blizzard in Jerusalem on Shabbat Parashat Beshalah, 5547 kept the city’s Jews homebound, and unable to go to their synagogues. The next week, on Shabbat Parashat Yitro, it was decided that for the first Aliya called to the Torah, the entire Parashat Beshalah and the beginning of Parashat Yitro should be read. Since the congregations missed the public reading of Parashat Beshalah, they read the missed Parasha before beginning the current Parasha, Parashat Yitro. According to this model, one who misses a week of Shenayim Mikra Ve’ehad Targum should first read the missed Parasha and then read the current Parashat, so that he reads the Parashiyot in the sequence of the Torah.
Hacham Ovadia Yosef, in his work Hazon Ovadia – Shabbat (vol. 1, p. 314), follows the second opinion, that one should first read the missed Parasha before reading the current week’s Parasha (listen to audio recording for precise citation), and this is, indeed, the Halacha.
Summary: If a person misses a week of Shenayim Mikra Ve’ehad Targum, then the following week he should first read the missed Parasha and then read that week’s Parasha, so that he reads according to the order of the Torah.
