We are finishing Resh Peh Bet (section 282), section Yud Zayin (section 17). Wassalamu Alaikum. I want to read Yud Zayin, Resh Peh Bet: “Im lo nimtza mi she-yodea lehaftir, ela echad me’otam she-kvar alu laTorah” (If no one is found who knows how to read the haftarah, except one of those who already had an aliyah (honor of being called up)). That’s a good one. If nobody knows how to read the maftir (concluding Torah reading), I guess the haftarah as well, but the person already had an aliyah. So now they realize there’s nobody left besides the person who already had an aliyah, and he already said Kaddish (sanctification prayer). They already said Kaddish, as they should have. You’re giving back-to-back aliyot, so once you’ve been stuck with Kaddish, it’s a reset. Therefore, you can give an aliyah to someone who already had one, even the seventh person, as maftir.
What’s the chiddush (novel point)? We do this for a Kohen (priest) all the time if there’s no Levi (Levite). I guess that’s a chiddush too. But if they haven’t said Kaddish yet, you can have the person who had the shevi’i (seventh aliyah) be the maftir, and he will be considered to have read the maftir in the Torah. If they haven’t said Kaddish yet, they realize, “Hey, nobody knows the maftir except this guy over here,” so let this guy’s reading be considered the maftir. Anyway, we said that maftir is oleh min ha-minyan (counted among the aliyot), so it’s a repeat anyway. And therefore what? But he read it, right? He didn’t repeat it. When he says he said he’s not worse because he’s a shevi’i, and therefore let his reading be the reading of the maftir as well.
What’s the only reason we read the Torah before the haftarah? Okay, so we gave him the honor. He writes: What’s the difference between reading it as maftir and reading it as shevi’i? So, before Kaddish, you only have to—don’t say Kaddish. Don’t say Kaddish here; just read the haftarah. I guess they’re not going to say Kaddish then. Maybe say Kaddish after the haftarah. What, they said Kaddish? Oh, that’s—you reset. For Kaddish, read the haftarah. From the beginning, they didn’t say Kaddish, and now we have the haftarah. Very good. Say Kaddish after the haftarah, in the middle.
If they said Kaddish before, I don’t have to say the Torah; I’ll say the Levi’im. The Kaddish. Yeah, that’s a problem. By saying Kaddish, you separate the reading of the Sefer Torah (Torah scroll) from the haftarah. That’s not correct anymore, so then it’s a problem. Do another aliyah.
“But don’t we do that, Rabbi? We have two Sifrei Torah. We say Kaddish and then the Navi (Prophets), no?” When there are two Sifrei Torah, he finishes the aliyah, says Kaddish, and then the maftir. No, isn’t that how we do it? What are you asking? He’s saying here not to say Kaddish, because then you’re splitting up the reading, and you’re not reading the Sefer Torah first. Right, you’re not reading the Sefer Torah first. This is a special case. Oh, a special case. Because it’s not part of the aliyah. You’re reading sharia. So you want your sharia to count as maftir. Here we read al shem maftir. Okay, when you’re reading al shem maftir, it’s okay. But sharia here is really a sharia. So what’s the proof that this sharia is connected to the haftarah? We didn’t say Kaddish. Okay, so it’s connected. Once you said a Kaddish and it’s a sharia, then I read it, and it’s too late. Then you have to set the person up again.”
It’s fine, and it’s not a loss that I myself am able to read the Torah as you read it. Although the best thing is to get more from him than from the Torah. Fine, I don’t go up to the Torah. We have a baal koreh who goes anywhere. We have a baal koreh who goes to the chazan, and it’s a loss. It’s not so bad. And don’t think that what we said about stopping at Kaddish, in Baruch, one of the Kiddush, twice, in Berachot (blessings) on the Torah—Baruch Hivar Birech—
Hey, don’t ask me, “If he can’t find anybody else to go up to the Sefer Torah, can he send up the same guy as maftir, and have him make Berachot HaTorah?” So you’re going to tell me, “Hey, he already made Berachot HaTorah. Am I going to tell this guy to make Berachot HaTorah?” The point is the kasha, the berachot, and the kavod haTorah (honor of the Torah). Every time he goes up, he brings kavod haTorah. That’s a klal (general principle). As we said, a Kohen can go up twice when there’s no Levi. Every time you get an aliyah on the yad, it’s kavod haTorah.
If the Torah is on top and you want to enter it, and it comes back and you want to enter the other—I have a she’eilah (halachic question): if he went to a different shul and they gave him a different aliyah there, does he make Berachot? We’re telling this to the Kohen who comes from the place of the prophet. In Berachot’s case, the Kohen comes from the place of the prophet. Don’t we tell them to make new Berachot? They don’t bless twice. If you write, you don’t know what they’re going to learn. He blesses this, he blesses that. They make Berachot, boom, boom, back-to-back. That’s kavod haTorah. That’s kavod haBerachah. That’s kavod haTorah. Every aliyah is kavod haTorah.
“Rabbi, if you know the Kohen and there’s no Levi, can you have three together?” No, but you still need seven aliyot. You still need three aliyot. You need the berachot to separate them. So that’s the first one. Actually, let’s go to Shulchan Aruch. Where’s the Shulchan Aruch? Do you want to give us a second? Oh, yeah. Resh Peh Bet. Haga’ah (gloss). Okay. Masol HaNayik. If not, if not, that’s it. Say Malakayim. If not, only one of the people who already read it, and they already said Kaddish. Fine, then we go up for the aliyah, let him be the maftir, and then we say the haftarah.
Haga’ah. Finish. Finish. If you’re there, that’s for sure. If you haven’t got a guy who knows how to do it, don’t send up doubles. What do you have to send up doubles for? What’s the premise? Does the haftarah have to be straight from the parashah? You need kavod haTorah first, so you have to read the Torah first. If I said Kaddish, then this reading has nothing to do with it anymore. The reading is finished. In fact, you read the seven aliyot. I only read seven. That’s not because you gave kavod haTorah first, unless I didn’t say Kaddish. If I didn’t say Kaddish, then I read, and I’m reading the haftarah—perfect. Now that you said Kaddish, you made the separation, but you still read the Torah first. I read the shevi’i and finished. I read it as shevi’i. I didn’t repeat it because we have a special reading. We have a special reading. I read it as shevi’i. It’s not nikar that I read it as shevi’i. It’s real. It has to be nikar that this was read for the kavod haTorah, so you don’t mezalzel when you say Kaddish and finish. I’m not reading the haftarah; I’m reading the haftarah separately. So that’s what it says: send somebody else up.
“You don’t guess, Fadruji could send somebody else up for the same aliyah?” No problem. Marcelo, read one more in aluka Shulchan.
“Im ta’a ha-shas, siyem et ha-sidra, ima shishi, ya’avor Kaddish.” That’s a beauty. What I proved here is that the baal koreh made a mistake. He finished the parashah with six aliyot. He told us Kippur; I don’t know what happened. The guy did six aliyot and said Kaddish. Now what? What are you going to do? There’s no more reading; you’re stuck. And sarish. Exactly. So send up the maftir. The maftir will be the shevi’i. Now let’s see. That’s the ikar hadin, so technically they will—if you set up six, maybe you shouldn’t say Kaddish, because you didn’t say it after the seven. But no problem; you did it. Set up the maftir. The maftir will be shevi’i.
Oh no, this is terrible. The guy forgot a pasuk (verse). The guy forgot a word. They cannot put the Sefer Torah back until he goes back to that pasuk and reads it. They can’t read it alone; you have to read two or three pesukim. So you have to send up another oleh (person called up) just to make up the pasuk you missed. Whoa, whoa, whoa. The bread musafirah is finished. Now they remember, “Hey, we forgot a word. We forgot a word.” One of the wise guys says, “I think you forgot a word.” Now what happens? Tuesday. Finished. I’m joking with you. Shabbat, Friday afternoon—not a problem, because anyway you’re going to read the parashah on Shabbat. Mashiach, get your Pasuk. Shabbat, that’s the main reading. It sounds like Shabbat, you got a pasuk. It’s over.
Okay, Maran Marcelo just finished. Maran over here. This is very important. Here’s where you see Maran. Now the next question is one more point over here. Open up the Ben Ish Chai just to summarize this siman (section). The Ben Ish Chai is in Parashat Toledot. Parashat Toledot, second year. Toledot, Tet Zayin. Toledot, Tet Vav. “BeShabbat omer ha-chazan, kodem hotza’at Sefer Torah, Atah Horeita LaDa’at” (On Shabbat, the chazan says, before taking out the Torah scroll, “You have been shown to know”). This piyut (liturgical poem) that we sing when we take out the Sefer Torah, Atah Horeita LaDa’at, is very halakhic; it’s not stam. It’s a song they chose. “Vehem shemona pesukim (verses)” (And they are eight verses). There are eight pesukim in this paragraph. Why eight pesukim? Keneged shemona olim (people called up). We take out the Torah for maftir, so bedavka it’s eight pesukim. Open up Atah Horeita LaDa’at. If you open it up, this is a piyut. This is not stam. It’s eight pesukim in order to—seven plus one.
“How did the Syrians—do they skip it?” They skip it? We don’t skip it. We say it. Why do we skip it? We say it. What do you mean? They skip one verse. They skip the beginning of the pasuk because it doesn’t fit with the song. That’s the reason why. Do you skip a pasuk? We say it over in the shul. We do. So you have two pesukim plus six pesukim. They say, “Why would you stop in the middle of a pasuk?” When you stop in the middle of a pasuk, especially if the reason you tell the rabbinic shah is that you will eat pesukim—should we read pesukim? Okay. I don’t have a reason why they skip. I don’t know if in Halab they skipped this. They didn’t sing this.
Atah Horeita LaDa’at could be a new tune that Al-Hada’at created, or—I don’t know. I know he created Romimu. That’s clearly Al-Hada’at’s invention. “Shreya, I’m shaking.” That’s Al-Hada’at’s creation. That was not in Halab. Oh, wow. He made it one day. You see when he got up? He taught him a new song, and that’s it; it stuck. Atah Horeita LaDa’at—I don’t know if that’s old-time, how they sang it in Syria, and whether they skipped Bahim and Soharon. If they did, the only reason why you can say they skipped it—there’s no deed to skip Bahim and Soharon; the tune didn’t fit. They didn’t fit in the tune, so we fit them in. We fit them in anyway. So that’s eight.
Then why on Yom Tov (holiday) do we skip Atah Horeita LaDa’at? We understand based on the Ben Ish Chai, because six—that’s five plus the maftir. So that’s very good. Therefore, it’s not stam. It’s all organized according to the olim. And what about during the week? During the week we don’t say any of this. We say three pesukim. What are the three pesukim? Three pesukim. Why? Three olim. So it’s all done by design here. It’s not just that some old man made up the pesachim.
When they take out the Sefer Torah, look at the Ben Ish Chai. On that day they make up two pesachim, and in the end there are three pesachim alone. Yes, I said three olim and Resh Kab, and Shalmessi and the mosifim, and Goraim. Yes, the Goraim. They are the ones who will be happy. That’s it, the Goraim and the mosifim. What are you doing? I’ll not add any extra pesukim. Say the three pesukim, and that’s it.
On Kippur and Rosh Hashanah we say “Kohanecha.” “Kohanecha” is “yilbeshu tzedek” (may Your priests be clothed in righteousness). We start with—so what’s that going to be? It doesn’t matter, because I think we say the same thing on Rosh Hashanah and Kippur. So how many of that is going to be? They’re both different. One’s five, one’s six. Unless there’s something else that’s the same.
Everybody has to say it, because you would have thought that’s for the rabbi. What are they paying the rabbi for? The rabbi’s job is to say and pray for the State of Israel, so that’s the rabbi’s job. It’s a good time to talk. That’s a different ceremony. But this is every person saying Berich Shema in the book of the Tzavet Hora Men HaEchad, both on Shabbat and Yom Tov, both on Yom Kippur. He says it on holidays and Shabbat; he wrote that he said it also on Rosh Chodesh. See, because on Rosh Chodesh they also say Keter, in Kedushat Musaf. Whenever there’s a Keter, it’s because Berich Shema says, “Berich Keterach.” “Berich Keterach” (bless Your crown). So whenever there’s Keter, “Berich Keterach.” “Mesh’in kim b’chol, enta amnum l’omro.” Okay, enta amnum l’omro, that’s for sure. Okay, good luck to them. That’s not my—no, we don’t say it in the shul. It’s not the minhag (custom).
Now, the next one over here—okay, that’s basically this siman, the botay. That’s basically the siman. Okay, let’s go learn another siman today. Let’s go to this Pegiman. Marcelo, do you want to read Ash-Pegiman, or go inside for a minute? You want inside. Okay. “Ash-Pegiman, she’en korin beYom haShabbat ve-dinei ha-yubim u-vogim ha-sa’ifim.” Here you just have to follow the Messiah. He brings out a lot of pesukim: “O Rav HaRosh Havod, G-d HaOyar, G-d HaLashka, Shem, Kimi Loah Trez Ram, Rosh He, Et Haim.” All these pesukim here. You take out the—those are the main items.
Now, we have a big question. This question needs to be analyzed once and for all. Today we’re going to take out a special one—because it’s Rosh Chodesh (new month). If today were Shabbat Rosh Chodesh, we would take out two Sifrei Torah: one for the Parashat HaShavua (weekly Torah portion), one for the Musaf (additional prayer service) of Rosh Chodesh, the korbanot (offerings) of Rosh Chodesh. If it were a holiday today, we would take out two Sifrei Torah: one for the holiday, whatever the parashah is, and one for the Musaf. If it were Kippur, we would take out two Sifrei Torah: one for the reading of Kippur and one for the Musaf. Whenever there’s a Musaf, we take out a second Sefer Torah. So now the rabbis ask: Why don’t we take out a second sefer on Shabbat? Isn’t there a Musaf on Shabbat? Every Shabbat, we should take out a second sefer and read from it. That’s the question. Why isn’t there a Musaf on Shabbat? Do you understand the question? Okay. “Ma she’en motzi’im beShabbat Sefer sheni le-kriyat ha-maftir, likrot bo yom haShabbat, kemo beYom Tov.”
The answer is very simple. What’s the answer? “Lefnei she’en bo rak shnei pesukim” (Because there are only two verses in it). Good answer. You can’t read it because it’s only two pesukim. Now what are you going to do? Open up the siddur, rabotai. Remember that siddur there, David? Open up Musaf on Shabbat. Look at this thing over here; then it says over here. That’s why you don’t take out a second Sefer Torah on Shabbat: it’s a technical problem. You can’t read two pesukim. Oh, so Joe says, “Read three pesukim. Read about the Mekoshesh. I don’t know, read about whatever. Read about Pesach Sheni. What’s the difference? Read it.” So he asks that question. He says to start before the two pesukim has nothing to do with anything. “Ve-lo dami le-drosh chodesh, yesh arba’ah kiru’im.” On Rosh Chodesh, we have four readings. So the three really read about the korban tamid, and then we add Yom HaShabbat, and then Rosh Chodesh. Okay, there we have four readings. So maybe we can start before. But in one aliyah, we’re not going to start reading before Yom HaShabbat to talk about some of the things of the day.
Also, the main reading of the korbanot is to praise our servants. You know that? Why is the main reading of the korbanot? For kapparah (atonement), because it’s in the text. And on Shabbat there is no commandment for kapparah. So there’s no idea to read it. The only idea of reading the korbanot is why? Because it’s like we brought the korban (offering), and by bringing the korban we get a kapparah. But on Shabbat there is no kapparah anyway, so what’s the purpose of reading it? Whatever that means. The point is, it’s not really mekhaper (atones) like a kapparah. So that’s two reasons, by the way. Reason number one why you don’t read Musaf is: two pesukim. Reason number two why you don’t read Musaf: there’s no chatat (sin offering). If the whole reason for reading it is—anyway, it’s not kapparah.
The third reason: on Yom Tov they broke the parashah. You’re not reading the Parashat HaShavua on Yom Tov. So what’s the point of reading the parashah of the Musafim? Once you’re ready, you’re breaking the system. On the contrary, Shabbat is the norm. Who says you have to read Musaf? Because on Yom Tov you read Musaf. Yom Tov is a different program. We don’t do anything normal on Yom Tov. On Yom Tov we stop the regular programming of the Parashat HaShavua, so why not stop the regular programming and read korban Musaf also? When you’re reading the regular Parashat HaShavua, you don’t have to read the Musaf.
Fourth reason: if you read Musaf every Shabbat from the second Sefer, you’re going to read the same haftarah every week. “But why would he say that, Rabbi?” Because the haftarah follows the last Sefer you read from. Is that so on Yom Tov? I don’t know. I just know what he’s saying here: the haftarah follows the last Sefer you read from. Since the last Sefer you read from is going to be the Shabbat one, every Shabbat you have to read the Shabbat haftarah. So you’re going to read the same haftarah 54 weeks a year. You’re stuck. So it’s technical. Really, I would have read Musaf, and maybe added a couple of pesukim. It doesn’t bother me to add a few pesukim, just to get the three pesukim. But if I’m going to read the maftir every Shabbat, Shabbat, Shabbat, I have to read the same maftir 54 weeks a year, and they didn’t want to do that.
Look at the two parentheses. “Ve-katav ha-Tur, ta lachem omrim beMusaf, tikanta Shabbat, ratzita korbanoteha, mishum de’en ba chatat, ratzita korbanoteha.” You know, the korbanot—you want these korbanot. God doesn’t want korbanot chatat. So we don’t say when you bring a chatat, “Oh, it’s a ratzon.” So we’re going to bring a sa’ir (goat offering) on Rosh Chodesh, but it’s not going to be a chatat. So therefore we say in the future, normally the sa’ir of Rosh Chodesh is the chatat, but since in the future there aren’t going to be any more sins, we say that when the Beit HaMikdash (Temple) is rebuilt. Now you have a kavanah (intention), Rabbi, for Musaf today. Okay, Rabbi. Let’s continue.
But that’s giving you the order of who gets aliyot. He says the chatan (groom) comes first, or the Shabbat after the chatunah (wedding), so the chatan always has priority, and then the Bar Mitzvah (coming-of-age ceremony) boy. Shoshvinim is a marcher, a friend. After them, the mohel (circumcision officiant). After him, the sandak (circumcision sponsor). After him, the ba’al hayoledet, the husband of the woman who gave birth. The poor guy, ba’al hayoledet, habib ben. And after him, yahrzeit (anniversary of a death). Yahrzeit, the last guy.
Someone wrote that the chatan on the day of the chatunah comes before all the chayubim. We see that the chatan comes first. The Shabbat before the wedding is called that doofroof, who shaveh the bar mitzvah. So the chatan before the wedding is like a Bar Mitzvah, equal. Then we take a lottery. Okay, Kandare over here, they had limited aliyot, and they weren’t giving extras. They were fighting for certain aliyot, so they have to know who gets precedence. He’s saying a chatan before his wedding and a bambit subo are equal to push. So you have to take the lottery. Get the tickets.
“Ve-acharav ba’al hayoledet.” The avi haben (father of the boy) or avi habat (father of the girl), I guess. “Ke-she-holechet le-vet ha-knesset, achar leida.” After the birth. “Ve-acharav chatan she-achar ha-chatunah.” And then the last guy who quoted his opinion is the chatan after the wedding. He comes back from the honeymoon. “Imu bachur. Ve-hi bituna. Ve-hatunata beYom Daled ve-ilak.” What rules are there? The wedding was from Wednesday, and the wedding was Thursday night.
The sandak is more important than the avi haben. The avi haben pays the bills. The sandak is important. The avi haben comes before the mohel. Wow. Wow. The avi habat comes before the avi haben unless the milah (circumcision) is on Shabbat. That’s a big chiddush. We would say, avi habat, that’s it, give him the Kaddish. But here, avi habat is saying, “That’s his item.” Avi haben will give you the milah Tuesday. See you on Tuesday. You want to steal the Shabbat? How much do you want to get for one baby? But that’s not true; avi habat comes first. Interesting. And then yahrzeit comes first. So avi habat is the one who comes first. Yahrzeit comes before him, too. And yahrzeit is the last of all the enemies. Yahrzeit is the last. We make it the most important thing. After ba’al hayoledet. The day before the word. Ba’al hayoledet on the day before the word.
“What did you say? What Sunday? Is it one day, or three days?” One day, it sounds like. And in this, there are a lot of things we are going to discuss. One day? And there are other things, and today, today, there are two. Very, very interesting protocols over here. I think Sunday, Sunday, Ali, Oto over here. Yeah, the guys have to get the list. There are a lot of opinions here. Look at Maran. Open up Maran for a second. Open up Maran and Esh Pagim. It’s one out of one, very strange. It’s a trivial Maran.
“What we don’t find in Shabbat is the second book to read the parashat of the Musafim, because there are only two verses. That’s why we don’t take out the Torah book on Shabbat, the second book, because there are only two verses, two in the Torah, and there are only two verses in the Torah. Ah, Javis question: or to join with the verses that are not related to the day is not possible, because you can’t add verses that have nothing to do with anything. But Tosafot wrote another time that if you need to ask a prophet for the matter of the day and you call him for Shabbat, if you do need to ask, you need to ask from him, and it’s not related to Shabbat, you don’t have to ask for one matter.”
Let’s look at it as well. Let’s look at it now. Let’s look at Chesed La’alafim. Do you have Chesed La’alafim over here? Chesed La’alafim. “What are you saying?” I was saying who goes first. That’s what I was saying. Who goes first? Let’s see if he has anything over here. Not too much on this halakhah, really. Resh Peh Bet, Resh Peh Gimel, and he skips the whole thing. Hida? Hida. Haslam doesn’t have this. Let’s see. Resh Peh Gimel.
“Do you remember my shepherd chatan? They gave Kohen to someone who gave $250,000.” Oh, yes. You don’t need to know. He didn’t put down. But Shishi (sixth aliyah) is the best anyway. The gals got Shishi. I don’t know if they gave him Shishi. I think there were three simchot (celebrations) or four simchot, and they were all Kohanim. So they had, I don’t know, 30 of them, because they had to break up each one.
He said, “The book of Shabbat says, and the Torah wrote another taste because we are called by the sacrifices of the infidels. I bring the long one because since the old one we read the sacrifices of the infidels and in the book of Shabbat there is no sacrifice of the infidels, because everyone is rising, so there is no reason to read a sacrifice unless it is infidels.” So we saw the long one, and he wrote here that’s why we say in Musaf, “Ratzita korbanoteha.” Because it’s not kapparah, because they’re all korbanot. “Kata b’shem Rabbi Natan, ratzita korbanoteha, she’en bah chatat.” Okay, beautiful. Let’s pray.
Okay, so basically what we said over here. Let’s start Resh Peh Dalet, rabotai. Resh Peh Dalet is a very important siman as well. We’re going to have to read Resh Peh Dalet and learn it, then we’re going to go back to Kuf Lamed here. “Ma she-korin maftir ve-haftarah.” We saw this already. What’s the reason why we make maftir and haftarah? “Mipnei she-bi’she’at gezerah hayu naftirin mi-kriyat haTorah.” We learned already that there was a gezerah (decree) that they couldn’t read the Sefer Torah, so they established reading a story from the Navi every week.
“Ve-od mishum le-hazman kriyat haTorah asur le-daber, ve-achar kach mutar le-daber.” Aha, “mi-leshon yaftiru be-safah.” Now that’s nice. He’s explaining why they call it maftir. What does the word maftir mean? What does the word haftarah mean? What’s the etymology of the word? The first explanation is that they exempted themselves with the haftarah, as opposed to reading the Sefer Torah, so they called it maftir: the item they would exempt themselves with, from the lashon poter. The second interpretation is that “yaftiru” means to talk, because at this point in the prayer you’re allowed to talk; we finished reading the Sefer. “Yaftiru be-safah.” Now it’s permissible to talk, so I call it maftir—talking. Talking is permissible now.
“Ve-yoter nireh, shnei leshonot hathalah.” The third interpretation of the word maftir: maftir means the beginning. It is mentioned in the Midrash, “avid le-aftarta.” Like, there are no maftirim after Pesach in the Quran, in the shulim and the pesachim and the kavara that begins with the words of the prophet. Ah, maftir is to begin, to commence. So you’re beginning with the Prophet, and they named it in Aramaic. Why explain maftir as a word in Aramaic? Why explain it in Aramaic? All the other aliyot are in Hebrew: Kohen, Levi, Yisrael. We don’t say Kahana, whatever, shita, shavia; we say Hebrew. “Lasbil hamon.” You want the bourgeoisie to understand. But the Hebrews were in a shas; they were translating in the haftarah. In the times of the Shas, they used to even give a perush in the haftarah. They used to read the 21 pesukim with a commentary.
Why are all the haftarot from the Prophets? Why don’t we read any haftarot from Ketuvim (Writings)? They aren’t reading Ketuvim on Shabbat. Why? You hear this? You’re not allowed to read Ketuvim on Shabbat, but you’re allowed to read Dickens, you’re allowed to read Moby Dick on Shabbat, but you just can’t read Ketuvim. Why can’t you read Ketuvim? “It’s my son’s Ketuvim.” Wow. Because you’re going to get involved in all the stories of the Ketuvim over there, and you’re not going to go to the shiur, because Ketuvim is Moshe. It draws you. So they don’t want you to read Ketuvim on Shabbat. That’s a halakhah. So they don’t want you to read it as the haftarah either. Ketuvim—what’s Ketuvim? Tehillim (Psalms), Yom, Mishlei (Proverbs), Kohelet (Ecclesiastes). Jabba, I don’t want to have Kohelet. No, I don’t need to do Yom Jabba.
Okay, I want to see if that’s true. The maftir gets seven blessings. He has two blessings of Torah. Then he has one before the haftarah and four after. Why do they give him seven? Against the seven people who went up to the Torah. So seven olim, he gets seven berachot, right? You don’t have seven over there, even though the guy makes like a hefsek there. Why would you stop? They stopped doing anything when the maftir came to “Ne’eman Atah” (You are faithful). They said it was the public custom in the olden days for the whole congregation to sing “Ne’eman Atah,” so he would stop, and the maftir would say “Ne’eman Atah.” Then the maftir came, and the maftir came because everything was done, and immediately the congregation would stand up at that point and say “Ne’eman Atah.” Okay, we don’t have that custom anymore. We don’t have the Beit Yaakov Choir. That’s a point also. Maybe it’s safe; there’s no Sefer Torah. We don’t have the Sefer Torah. So maybe I say Sefer maftir at least. I’m inviting you to read the haftarah. Right, let me say berachot haftarah. No, without a Sefer Torah there’s no maftir. I could have argued, I don’t know, maybe it’s separate. But in the old days they read maftir without a Sefer Torah. That’s how we introduced it. No, without a Sefer Torah there’s no maftir.
You know where we get gassed? In the first berachah, before “ha-ne’emarim be’emet.” And then you see in the berachah a lot of people, “I’m in” in that. Before the haftarah? It’s a long berachah. Right before “Baruch Hashem ha-ne’emarim be’emet.” They don’t realize it’s still going. People say “be’emet,” and end it there. I feel like some people are answering Amen too, because he says it’s a berachah, but it just hasn’t finished yet. Because it’s a “Baruch Atah.” Right, but it’s a siyum (conclusion), “Baruch Atah.” Okay, so that’s a berachah (blessing), rabotai. That’s a little interesting—what do you call it?—history, and why you call it maftir, and some of the halakhot connected to it.
We didn’t get any halakhot here. Wow, this is very interesting, rabotai. Listen to this last halakhah. This is going to help us understand a custom. He says here that one guy died. I guess he came back and said to somebody that he wasn’t going to be saved from his punishment in Gehenna (realm of punishment) until the son either said Kaddish or read the haftarah. So from here you see there’s an inyan to go up for maftir. Now we finally saw it. They always come along and say, “What’s the inyan to go up for maftir? I thought the inyan was to go say Kaddish.” But here he brings that from the Midrash, which says that the kid said his father said he wouldn’t be saved unless the guy said Kaddish or read maftir. This is where we get the custom. He says that the son says Kaddish all 12 months and maftir ben avi (son’s maftir for his father). So you see that maftir ben avi is separate, meaning that the Kaddish—not the mashlim Kaddish, right? They say Kaddish for 12 months and go up for maftir. The custom is to send up the son on the week of the yahrzeit.
Okay, now we have to see, because that happens a lot. We have that problem in Lawrence this week. You have two people who have yahrzeit. They both want the aliyah. Who gets the aliyah? How do you negotiate? But clearly you see there’s an inyan of maftir, maftir ben avi. The guy doesn’t say he’s shahad. He brings down a story. He tells a story that happened: “Ve-achad chacham shalach li pitka hamen haq, be-komot shenagud im be-shavua echad yesh shnei yedei kat pitrat av ve’em, le-zeh av u-le-zeh em.” Who goes first? The one who has the petirat aviv in the week before the haftarah. He gives the father. The guy who lost his father goes first.
There was an incident where there was always one of the people who had the petirat aviv in the week, and in the house he had the petirat aviv and his mother. One guy, the rabbi had aviv, and in the house he had aviv and his mother. They agreed they were going to be together. He says, “I don’t know why you’re saying the father goes first. I see that they’re equal.” That’s also very nice. Nobody has a benefit. Let’s make a deal. I could sell it. But then he has over here what the Tameer Hakam. Arikut he has over here. Look at this Arikut. Look at this Arikut. Who goes first? Yeah, the rules. Is it in the Koran through the Hija? I don’t know, because this is all talking about Tameer Hakam. It’s all about Shabbat. It’s got the yahrzeit over the Baal HaBai (householder). So what do you do with that case over there? But there’s a regular rule over there. His whole question here is Tameer Hakam. It’s all about Shabbat. It’s got the yahrzeit over the Baal HaBai. So what do you do with that case over there? But there’s a regular rule over there. He wants to say it’s equal. Mother, father, there’s no difference there. You can’t say, “It’s his father; I get the aliyah better.” It’s better. Same thing.
But from here at least we see, as Hida reveals to us, the Midrash of the haftarah, that there is an inyan. People think the inyan is to go up mashlim, to say Kaddish. But you say Kaddish anyway all year long, so why is that Kaddish better than any other Kaddish? Yeah, the main Kaddish is the Kaddish of the Israel. That’s the real Kaddish for the thing. People who want to know, they go up for maftir. They read the haftarah. Unless they don’t know how to read the haftarah, they’re giving their father zechut (merit) by reading the haftarah. That’s only if you’re going to read the maftir. Can they? Or maybe the berachot. You’re reading it. If you read it out loud. You’re reading it. You’re reading it. You’re reading it. Okay, we’ll continue this tomorrow.