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...
Se’uda Shelishit
Halachot and Customs of Minha on Shabbat
Reciting “Ata Honantanu” in Arbit on Mosa’eh Shabbat
The Importance of Torah Study on Shabbat
Musaf on Shabbat – The Silent Amida and the Hazan’s Repetition
The Unique Importance of Musaf Prayer on Shabbat
The Status of Food Cooked by a Non-Jew on Shabbat for a Jewish Patient
Asking a Non-Jew to Prepare Food for an Ill Patient on Shabbat
Torah Reading and Using Shabbat as a Day for Learning
Asking a Non-Jew to Carry a Flashlight on Shabbat
Is it Preferable to Ask a Non-Jew to Perform Melacha on Shabbat When Someone’s Life is in Danger?
May One Take Something That is Hanging on a Tree on Shabbat?
Guidelines for When the Refrigerator Light Was Not Deactivated Before Shabbat
Is it permissible to ask a gentile to retrieve something from a car on Shabbat?
“Lehem Mishneh” – Using a Borrowed Loaf, or a Loaf That Had Been Attached to Another
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found