DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 474 KB)
What Kind of Book or Scroll Should be Used for the Haftara Reading?

Every Shabbat and Yom Tob, the congregation conducts a Haftara reading from the Prophets after the Torah reading. What is the preferred book that a congregation should use for this reading?

Ideally, the congregation should use what we call a "Sefer Haftarot," a parchment containing all the Haftarot readings. This parchment does not contain the entire Prophets section of the Tanach; it includes only the Haftarot. Nevertheless, it is the most preferable scroll to use for the Haftara reading.

If no such scroll is available, then a congregation should use a printed Tanach, a book containing the entire Torah, Prophets and Ketubim. Indeed, most synagogues keep a large edition of the Tanach near the Bima (table) and use it for the Haftara reading. This is the preferred practice if a Sefer Haftarot parchment is not available.

If the congregation does not even have a printed Tanach, then the Haftara should be read from any Humash where the Haftara is printed. However, although this practice does have ancient origins and is grounded in Halachic sources, the more preferred practice, as mentioned, is to read from a Sefer Haftarot parchment, or at least from a printed Tanach.

Summary: Ideally, the Haftara should be read from a "Sefer Haftarot" parchment, which contains all the Haftarot. Otherwise, it should be read from a printed Tanach. Only if these are not available may the Haftara be read from an ordinary printed Humash.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Reciting Kaddish After Torah Learning
Must One Recite a New Beracha if He Removes His Tallit and Then Puts it On Again?
Answering “Amen” and “Baruch Hu U’baruch Shemo” During Birkat Kohanim
If One Prays Shaharit Between the Fourth and Sixth Hours of the Day
Making Up Multiple Missed Tefilot
If One Forgot to Recite Birkot Ha’shahar
The Yishtabah Prayer
If a Person Forgot to Recite “Mashib Ha’ru’ah U’morid Ha’geshem”
Birkat Kohanim – The Requirement to Recite the Beracha in a Loud Voice
May a Kohen Who Accidentally Killed Somebody Perform Birkat Kohanim?
The Seventh and Eighth Berachot of the Amida: Re’eh Na Be’onyenu and Refa’enu
Interrupting in Between “Ani Hashem Elokechem” and “Emet” at the End of Shema
Which Interruptions are Allowed During Shema and Its Blessings?
The Sephardic Custom to Gesture With One’s Hands Before the Amida
Covering One’s Eyes During the Recitation of Shema
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found