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Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
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Responsa in a Moment
Volume 21, Number 1
October 2026
What can be done if a Bar Mitzvah boy learned the Haftarah of Bereishit instead of the Haftarah of Mahar Hodesh?
(Orah Hayyim 425:2)
By Rabbi David Golinkin
Question from Rabbi Justin David, Northampton, Massachusetts (2006): A child with learning disabilities learned the haftarah of Parashat Bereishit (Isaiah 42–43) in preparation for his Bar Mitzvah. Afterwards, it turned out that that Shabbat was the day before Rosh Hodesh and that he should have learned the special Mahar Hodesh haftarah (I Samuel, chapter 20), but he is unable to learn a new/additional haftarah. What can be done according to Jewish law?
A similar question from Rabbi David Paran, Pardes Hanna (2026): A Bar Mitzvah boy learned the haftarah for Parashat Bereishit instead of Mahar Hodesh, but the mistake was only discovered five days before his ceremony and he’s not able to learn a different haftarah. What can be done according to Jewish law?
I. Talmudic Law
We have learned in Megillah 31a: “If [Rosh Hodesh] falls on [Sunday], on the previous day [Shabbat], the haftarah is ‘And Jonathan said to him Mahar Hodesh [tomorrow is Rosh Hodesh]’ (I Samuel 20:18″). According to the printed editions of the Talmud, this is the continuation of a lengthy Baraita of the Tannaim. Yet, according to three manuscripts, the Rif, the Rosh and others, this was a statement by Rav Huna, a second-generation Babylonian Amora (Dikdukei Soferim to Megillah, p. 156, note 30). In any case, this ruling was codified by Maimonides, Hilkhot Tefillah 13:4, by the Tur and Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayyim 425:2 as well as by Massekhet Soferim 17:9, ed. Higger, p. 306. Therefore, lekhathillah (before the fact), the haftarah of Mahar Hodesh must be read on Rosh Hodesh eve when it falls on Shabbat.
But what can be done bediavad (after the fact) in the two cases described in the questions above? After all, nowadays, the Bar Mitzvah is a major lifecycle event in Judaism, (1) and if the child is unable to read the haftarah he prepared with so much effort, this will cause great distress to him and to his family.
II. Three solutions after the fact
1. The first solution is based on the Orhot Hayyim of Rabbi Aaron Hakohen of Lunel (Provence, ca. 1300; Florence, 1750, Hilkhot Keri’at Sefer Torah, fol. 27a, section 60; and in a corrupt fashion in Sefer Kol Bo, Lvov, 1860, section 20, fol. 12c = ed. Avraham, Vol. 1, Jerusalem, 2007, col. 418; and briefly in the Entziklopedia Talmudit [hereafter: ET], s.v. Haftarah, note 318):
When Rosh Hodesh falls on [Sunday], the haftarah [on Shabbat] is from Samuel, Mahar Hodesh, the reason being that this serves as a mention of Rosh Hodesh. There are those who disagree with this custom, since the haftarah should always be either from the subject [with which the Torah reading] concluded or related to the theme of the day, and this [haftarah] is neither of these. Therefore, they only followed the practice of reading Mahar Hodesh when Rosh Hodesh falls on Shabbat and Sunday; in that case it is related to the theme of the day, and they also mention that the following day will be Rosh Hodesh just as that day is. This was the practice of the Great Sages of France.
A similar opinion was expressed by Rabbi Elijah of London, one of the most important English Rabbis of the thirteenth century (1220-1284; Perushei Rabbeinu Eliyahu Milondrish U’fesakav, ed. Zaksh, Jerusalem, 1956, pp. 148-149): (2)
In the name of Rabbi Elijah (ben) Menahem of London: When Rosh Hodesh falls on [Shabbat] and [Sunday], the haftarah is “Jonathan” [=Mahar Hodesh], since Rosh Hodesh is mentioned in it, and it is therefore appropriately related to the subject with which [the Maftir reading] concluded. But when Rosh Hodesh falls on [Sunday] alone, [on Shabbat] the haftarah of that Shabbat is read. For why should we read a haftarah about Rosh Hodesh when Rosh Hodesh is neither on that day nor the subject with which [the Maftir reading] concluded?…
In other words, the haftarah should be related to the theme of that day, and not to an event that will occur on the following day. Therefore, the haftarah of Mahar Hodesh is read only when Rosh Hodesh is two days, Shabbat and Sunday. According to this view, Mahar Hodesh should not be read this year on Parashat Bereishit, since Rosh Hodesh falls this year on Sunday and Monday, rather than on Shabbat and Sunday.
It should be emphasized that this is not the lone opinion of one rabbi, but rather the “custom of the Great Sages of France” as well as the opinion of Rabbi Elijah of London.
2. A second solution is to read both haftarot, first Mahar Hodesh, which is the correct haftarah, and then the haftarah for Bereishit. In other words, the rabbi or someone else should read Mahar Hodesh, and the bar mitzvah boy should then read the haftarah for Bereishit which he had prepared.
At first glance, this would seem to be prohibited, since we have learned in a Baraita in Megillah 24a that “one may not skip from one book of the Prophets to another,” and this was also codified by Maimonides, Hilkhot Tefillah 12:13, and by the Tur and Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayyim 144:1. In other words, one may not skip from the book of I Samuel to the book of Isaiah. However, Rabbi Israel Isserlein (Austria, 1390-1460; Terumat Hadeshen, No. 20), already quoted the early Austrian authorities who explained on the basis of the Mordekhai, and the Ra’aviyah, that the reason is “out of respect for the congregation, so that they should not have to stand in silence while [the reader] rolls from one passage to another.” This problem applied “only in their days, when all their books were written in scroll form, like our Torah scrolls, and they had to spend time rolling them; but for us, whose haftarot are written in codices [manuscripts in book form], and one can mark the place so as to find quickly whichever haftarah one wishes, there is no concern about skipping from one book of the Prophets to another.” In other words, once the haftarot are written or printed in books rather than in scrolls, there is no problem with skipping from one book of the Prophets to another.
On the other hand, one might claim that there is an issue of tirha d’tzibbura [burdening the congregation by prolonging the prayers] because of the double haftarah. Nevertheless, there are precedents for reading a double haftarah, so there is no actual prohibition. (3)
3. A third solution is hinted at in Tikkun Yissakhar by Rabbi Yissakhar ben Sussan (second edition, Venice, 1579, with the title Ibur Shanim, 58a-b, summarized briefly in ET, note 320). He cites the custom of some communities that when Rosh Hodesh falls on Shabbat and Sunday, they recite the Haftorah of Isaiah 66 for Rosh Hodesh and they then recite four to five verses from the beginning of Mahar Hodesh and the final verse. He adds: “And this is good, but one must first bless after completing the Haftorah [of Isaiah 66] the final blessings, and then they can read whatever they want from Mahar Hodesh without blessings at the beginning or at the end.
According to this approach, the procedure in our case should be as follows:
a. The blessing before the haftarah is recited by the bar mitzvah boy;
b. The haftarah of Mahar Hodesh is read by the rabbi or someone else;
c. The blessings following the haftarah are recited by the bar mitzvah boy;
d. The haftarah for Bereishit is then read by the bar mitzvah boy.
This solution also entails tirha d’tzibbura, and it may also seem strange, but it’s permissible from a halakhic point of view.
III. Summary and Practical Halakhah
To summarize, it is clear that lekhathillah [before the fact] one should read Mahar Hodesh, as established in Tractate Megillah, and the Babylonian Talmud is the ultimate authority in Jewish law. (4) However, bediavad [after the fact], if the Bar Mitzvah boy learned the haftarah for Bereishit instead of Mahar Hodesh and is unable to learn Mahar Hodesh, there are three possible solutions to the problem:
In any event, the rabbi will have to tactfully explain to the congregation why this procedure is being followed and the sources for the change. None of these solutions are ideal, but all three will enable the boy to read the haftarah that he has learned with considerable effort in honor of his Bar Mitzvah.
David Golinkin
Jerusalem
9 Tammuz 5766; 26 Tishrei 5787
Notes
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Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin was born and raised in Arlington, Virginia. He made aliyah in 1972, earning a B.A. in Jewish History and two teaching certificates from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He received an M.A. in Rabbinics and a Ph.D. in Talmud from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America where he was also ordained as Rabbi.
Prof. Golinkin is President Emeritus of The Schechter Institutes, Inc. and President Emeritus of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem, where he also serves as a Professor of Talmud and Jewish Law. For twenty years he served as Chair of the Va’ad Halakhah (Law Committee) of the Rabbinical Assembly which writes responsa and gives halakhic guidance to the Masorti (Conservative) Movement in Israel. He is the founder and Director of the Institute of Applied Halakhah at The Schechter Institute whose goal is to publish a library of halakhic literature for Jews thoughout the world. He is the Director of the Center for Women in Jewish Law at the Schechter Institute whose goal is to publish responsa and books by and about women in Jewish law. He is also the founder and Director of the Midrash Project at Schechter whose goal is to publish a series of critical editions of Midrashim.
In June 2014, Rabbi Golinkin was named by The Jerusalem Post, as one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world. In May 2019, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Jewish Theological Seminary. In November 2022, he received the Nefesh B’Nefesh Bonei Zion Award for his contributions to Israeli society in the field of education
Prof. Golinkin is the author or editor of 65 books dealing with Jewish law, Talmud, Midrash and prayer, as well as hundreds of articles, Responsa and sermons.
For a complete bio click here.
