1

I am trying to understand the context of a passage from the Christian gospels. Luke 4:16 says that Jesus went into the synagogue and started reading from the book of Isaiah. At that time could anybody just walk in and read such a passage during a service? Was this the torah reading or something else? Was it different from modern practice?

Monica Cellio
  • 56,645
  • 10
  • 113
  • 348
shakAttack
  • 149
  • 2
  • 1
    IIRC In former times when all were literate, the portions of the Torah reading (aliyot) were divided among all. In the middle ages, to avoid embarrassing those who couldn't read properly, (the Torah scroll contains no vowels, punctuation, or cantillation marks) the custom developed for one person to read the whole thing. Nevertheless, individuals are still summoned to the Torah to make the blessings, but unlike in former times, they do not read the Torah. (I believe that the Yemenites preserved the original custom whereby those summoned read). – mevaqesh Jun 23 '15 at 20:05
  • This pertains to reading of the Pentateuch (see here). Reading passages of the Prophets is also performed and is similarly generally read by a designated reader (but may be read by almost anyone). – mevaqesh Jun 23 '15 at 20:10
  • @mevaqesh this presumes that he was reading it as a haftorah, even though there is no indication of such in the text. Was it the case that back then, that a person walks in, stands up, reads 3 verses and is done? – rosends Jun 23 '15 at 20:32
  • 3
    @Danno Nothing in those verses is inconsistent with the idea of reading a haftara. (Who said anything about reading three verses; the linked verse of Luke didnt mention that) I do not, however, have any reason to assume that the presentation in Luke is accurate. – mevaqesh Jun 23 '15 at 21:17
  • @mevaqesh Are there any communities in which the oleh still leins his own aliyah? – Scimonster Jun 23 '15 at 21:20
  • 1
    @mevaqesh the portion quoted in Luke not only isn't from any haftorah but is only 3 verses long (Yeshyahu 61:1-3). – rosends Jun 23 '15 at 22:25
  • shakAttack, welcome to Mi Yodeya. I've made some edits to your question; when we talk about reading torah during a synagogue service we mean the five books of Moshe (the chumash), but the passage you cite is about prophets so I clarified that. I also removed the part of the question that asks what modern practice is; putting all that in one question makes it a little too broad (feel free to ask separately if we don't already have the question). So I made this one focus on historical practice in the context of your source. Feel free to [edit] further if I've misunderstood anything. Thanks. – Monica Cellio Jun 24 '15 at 01:43
  • @Danno There is no fixed text that need be used for the Haftarah. Moreover, a three verse Haftara is likely Kosher, even if we don't happen to have any nowadays TTBOMK. – Double AA Jun 24 '15 at 02:50
  • @DoubleAA this article http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/593314/jewish/When-and-Why-We-Started-Reading-the-Haftorah.htm suggests one source of haftorahs that by that time, specific haftorahs had been chosen for their specific content. – rosends Jun 24 '15 at 03:02
  • 1
    @Danno I fail to see such an opinion? We know for a fact that Haftara section choices have been very very fluid over the centuries (some communities would even switch out the "regular" haftara for unrelated special occasions, like Sheva Brachot!), and there's no reason to think it wasn't like that back then too. – Double AA Jun 24 '15 at 03:08
  • @DoubleAA "so the sages instituted that a section of the Prophets be read instead, usually an idea that was related to the Torah reading that should have been read that week." – rosends Jun 24 '15 at 11:29
  • @DoubleAA but doesnt the Gemara Megillah in the 4th chapter say that a haftara needs 21 verses unless the matter is concluded in less (or unless the meturgeman translates, thus upping the number of verses) – mevaqesh Jun 24 '15 at 17:52
  • @mevaqesh Yes. Suppose the matter is concluded in 3? – Double AA Jun 24 '15 at 18:02
  • @Danno What's your point? Suppose these verses were related to the Torah reading that week, or to a holiday that was occurring then (they had many, cf. Megillat Taanit). (Ignoring the fact that of all the possible origins for the Haftarah that one is only first mentioned in the 13th century.) – Double AA Jun 24 '15 at 18:03
  • a closer look - it seems like the text he ostensibly read is 1.5 verses long (61:1 and the first half of 2). – rosends Jun 24 '15 at 18:19
  • 1
    @Danno You must grant though that our verse breaks are not guaranteed original. http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/20337/haziv-lakh-whats-behind-the-division#comment47905_20337 http://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/13528/759 – Double AA Jun 24 '15 at 18:46
  • @DoubleAA I understand the verse break issue but I reported something in error and wanted to correct my statement. – rosends Jun 24 '15 at 20:30

1 Answers1

2

There's nothing in the verse you link to about reading aloud or as part of a prayer service. People nowadays study the Bible in synagogues all the time, and this was undoubtedly true in those days. (An almost contemporaneous account of this is in the Babylonian Talmud M'gila, in the middle of column 2 of folio 28 in the name of R. Ashi ("א״ל רב אחא בריה דרבא לרב אשי אי אצטריך ליה לאיניש למיקרי גברא מבי כנישתא מאי א״ל אי צורבא מרבנן הוא לימא הלכתא ואי תנא הוא לימא מתני׳ ואי קרא הוא לימא פסוקא ואי לא לימא ליה לינוקא אימא לי פסוקיך א״נ נישהי פורתא וניקום").)

msh210
  • 73,729
  • 12
  • 120
  • 359