What is a Haftarah Scroll and how does one use it?

Responsa in a Moment

Volume 19, Number 3

February 2025 

What is a Haftarah Scroll and how does one use it?

(Orah Hayyim 284)

In memory of Menorah Rotenberg z”l
who received everyone with a
cheerful countenance (Avot 1:15)
who passed away 13 Kislev 5785.

And in memory of my Aunt Sue Cooper z”l
a gifted folksinger in Hebrew and Yiddish
On her eighth yahrzeit.

Question from Rabbi Gesa Ederberg from Berlin:

We have just received a Sefer Haftarot [Book of Haftarot] in the form of a scroll written on parchment with two wooden rollers, vowels and cantillation. It arrived together with a Torah scroll. Both were saved in the Berlin cemetery during the Holocaust and were given to a young American Army Chaplain in 1946, who used them mostly privately. After his death, his family wanted them to return to Berlin. In other words, this is a Scroll of Haftarot from Germany before the Shoah.

Members of my community want to read from it, but I am a bit hesitant. Is it appropriate to take it out of the ark, circle the sanctuary with it together with the Torah scroll, let someone hold it, and then read from it?

I know that some say that one should not read from a book of Haftarot but only from a complete book of Prophets.

Therefore, I am seeking advice: Should we use it, and if so, how? Should we keep it in the Ark with the Torah scrolls and circle the synagogue with it together with the Torah scroll, or should we keep it somewhere else and only take it out when we come to the Haftarah?

Responsum:

We will divide our answer into two parts:

1. The history of the custom of the Haftarot scroll from ca. 300 CE until today.
2. Halakhic questions for synagogues which read from a Sefer Haftarot.

I. The History of the Custom of Haftarah Scrolls from 300 CE until Today

We have learned in Gittin 60a:

Rabbah and Rav Yosef (Babylonian Amoraim, 3rd generation, ca. 300 CE) both said: It’s forbidden to read from this Sefer Haftarot on Shabbat. What is the reason? Because it was not meant to be written… But this is not so; it is permitted to move it and to read from it, for Rabbi Yohanan and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish would study from a book of Aggadah on Shabbat… Rather, since it is not possible, “It is time to act for the Lord; they have nullified Your Torah” (Psalms 119:126). Here too, since it is not possible, “It is time to act for the Lord; they have nullified Your Torah.”

In other words, Rabbah and Rav Yosef ruled that it is forbidden to read from a “Sefer Haftarot” on Shabbat because it is prohibited to write less than a complete book of the Prophets. However, the Talmud then asks how Rabbi Yohanan and Resh Lakish could study a book of Aggadah on Shabbat, which is also prohibited because it is forbidden to write the Oral Torah. The Talmud concludes that both are permitted due to the verse which became a halakhic concept “It is time to act for the Lord; they have nullified Your Torah,” meaning: there is no choice. Rashi explains: “Not every community has the ability to write a complete book of the Prophets.”

In the Talmud, a Sefer or “book” means a scroll written on parchment, as emphasized by Rashi in many places, Mahzor Vitry, and Rabbeinu Tam (Hamburger, pp. 123-125 and note 65). This is also evident from the sources cited in the Encyclopaedia Judaica. (Regarding scrolls and books in the pagan and Christian worlds, see Kenyon.)

Rabbah and Rav Yosef were attempting to abolish an already existing custom of a “Haftarot scroll.” Some have tried to argue that the Haftarot scroll was a book with translations, sermons, and legends )Shalom Albeck, Ri”tz Dinner, and Rabbi Ya’akov Weil in Hamburger, pp. 119-120, as well as Shir Rappaport and Abraham Berliner listed in the Bibliography below) but their theory is not convincing. The plain meaning is a scroll that contained all the Haftarot of the year, as explained by Rashi, Tosafot Rid, and Meiri ad loc (Hamburger, p. 120).

Beyond the fact that the Talmud rejects their ruling, we will see below that the Jewish people continued to write Haftarot scrolls during the Geonic period, in the Cairo Geniza fragments, and in many Jewish communities until today.

Rabbi Binyamin Shlomo Hamburger dedicated 116 pages to our topic (sic) in his book Shorshei Minhag Ashkenaz, Volume 3. There, he collects dozens of sources, but there is not enough distinction there between those who interpreted the Talmudic passage in Gittin, those who recommended this custom even though it was not practiced in their place, and those who actually used Haftarot scrolls. Furthermore, when the halakhic authorities talk about a Haftarot book, it is sometimes difficult to know if they mean a Haftarot scroll or a Haftarot book. For example, the author of Halakhot Gedolot ruled in the ninth century (ed. Jerusalem, 1972, Part 1, p. 187): “A Sefer Aftarata is saved from a fire [on Shabbat],” and this is quoted in Hiddushei Haramban to Shabbat 115a; in Hiddushei Harashba, ibid., and in the Responsa of the Rashba, Part 2, No. 281 = Part 5, No. 119. Yet there is no way to know if the author of Halakhot Gedolot meant a Haftarot book written in a scroll or in a book or codex.

The following sources testify to the use of Haftarot scrolls written on parchment:

Rav Hai Gaon (939-1038, quoted in Sefer Ha’itim, Krakow, 1903, p. 271 = Otzar Hageonim to Shabbat, Responsa, p. 26) deals with the issue of reading a Haftarah at Minhah on Shabbat. “There are still Haftarot books that include the Haftarah for Minhah for the entire year, and they call it ‘Nehemata;’ after the Haftarah of Shaharit, they write ‘Nehemata’ [from] Isaiah and ‘Nehamata’ [from] Jeremiah. And there are places in the land of Elam and the islands of Persia where this custom is still practiced.” From this, we learn that in Babylonia and Persia, there were Haftarot books with Haftarot for Shabbat morning and “Nehamot” for Shabbat Minhah. It is not definite, but it’s possible that Rav Hai Gaon is referring to scrolls.

Elsewhere (Rabbi Yitzhak Ibn Ghiyyat, Part 2, Furth, 1862, p. 105), Rav Hai Gaon testifies: “It was found in an ancient Haftarah book written in the days of the Persians that on the first day of Passover, the Haftarah is from (Joshua 5: – 6:1) ‘At that time’ until ‘no one went out and no one came in’…”. The Persian/Sassanian Empire fell in the year 637 or 651 CE. One can surmise from his style that this refers to an ancient Haftarah book in the form of a scroll from the Persian period.

Indeed, in the Cairo Geniza, such scrolls written on parchment with the Haftarot according to the custom of Eretz Yisrael were discovered (Hamburger, pp. 122-123 and all the literature cited in note 61).

Rabbeinu Gershom Meor Hagolah (Mainz, died ca. 1030) testifies in his  commentary on Bava Batra 13b (ed. Bnei Brak, 1998 based on manuscripts = Hamburger, pp. 121, 125, and 222, and cf. Rabbeinu Gershom’s commentary to Bava Batra 13b in the Vilna edition): “For they were accustomed to write their books in scrolls, similar to how we write Haftarot, and therefore it is called ‘krakh’, as it is wrapped around like a scroll.”

Professor S.D. Goitein published a list of sacred objects from the synagogues in Fustat from the year 4919 = 1159: “A pair of silver finials (Rimonim) for the Haftarot book… three Torah covers, gilded and smeared with black, and one small of their type, for the Haftarot book” (Goitein = Hamburger, p. 206).

Rabbi Tzidkiyahu Harofe (Italy, 13th century, Shibolei Haleket Hashalem, Paragraph 31, p. 30) reports: “And behold, in all the holy communities in the land of the West and in all the regions of the Ishmaelites and in Uscilia [= Sicily?], they read Haftarot from scrolls, and we read from those that are like our other Humashim [i.e., books or codices]… And what is the difference between these and those? “Both these and those are the words of the living God” and all are sacred writings…”.

In other words, in Eretz Yisrael and all the Muslim countries and Sicily, they read the Haftarot from a Haftarot scroll, while in Italy, they read the Haftarot from books or codices. Both customs are valid and both are considered sacred books.

The Responsa of the Ritva (Rabbi Yom Tov Ashbili or Alashvili [1250-1330]; ed. Rabbi Kafih, No. 186), provide incidental evidence that Haftarah scrolls were similar to Torah scrolls. That responsum discusses a financial dispute over land between Reuven and a non-Jew: “And they obligated Reuven to swear by the Torah of Moses… And when Reuven came to swear, he removed a Torah scroll from his Ark and placed a Haftarot [scroll] in its place to deceive the non-Jew in his oath. And Shimon was present and informed the non-Jew of the matter and commanded to replace it and to give him a Torah scroll as appropriate [for such an oath].” As Rabbi Hamburger emphasized (pp. 125, 131), such an attempt to deceive the non-Jew could only have succeeded if the Haftarot scroll resembled a Torah scroll, rolled with two wooden rollers.

Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman Heller (1579-1654) testifies that the custom in Ashkenaz was that Haftarot books had two rollers like a Torah scroll, but he instituted in the communities of Vienna and Prague to make Haftarot books with one roller since we are told in Bava Batra 13b at bottom that they used to make one roller for scrolls of the Prophets (Malbushei Yom Tov to Orah Hayyim 284:2 quoted by Hamburger, pp. 130-131 and Rabbi Felder, p. 420; and see below).

Rabbi Yair Hayyim Bachrach (Ashkenaz, 1638-1702) testified (Mekor Hayyim 147:5 = Hamburger, pp. 125 and 223): “One should not read the Haftarot in public from Humashim, but they should be in a scroll on kosher parchment, and this is the custom here on Shabbat and Yom Tov.” And again: “The custom here on Shabbat and Yom Tov is to say the Haftarah from a Haftarot scroll made like a Torah scroll” (Mekor Hayyim, Kitzur Halakhot 284:4 = Hamburger, p. 223). This was also the custom at Minhah on Yom Kippur (Mekor Hayyim 622:2 = Hamburger, ibid.).

Rabbi Yaakov Reischer (Ashkenaz, 1670-1733; Shevut Yaakov, Part 3, No. 88 = Hamburger, pp. 126 and 223) was asked about a Haftarot scroll in which the name of God was written incorrectly and whether it was permissible to cut out the name. He permitted it, and it is clear from his response that it was a Haftarot scroll written on parchment like a Torah scroll.

Rabbi Gershon Koblenz (Metz, died ca. 1742; Kiryat Hannah, No. 5 = Hamburger, pp. 127 and 224) was asked about the custom “of writing the Haftarot in a scroll like a Torah scroll… and wrapping it in the covers and mantles of a Torah scroll, is this permissible in light of the principle of ‘we ascend in holiness and do not descend’?”

The Hida (Rabbi Hayyim Yosef David Azulai, Eretz Yisrael and Italy, 1724-1806; Ledavid Emet 18:6) relates that in the Holy City of Jerusalem, when he was a child, “they made a Haftarot scroll, and Rabbi… Eliezer Nahum (the Rishon L’tziyon, 1662-1744) ordered that the finials (Rimonim) be changed from those of the Torah scroll in a noticeable fashion, and it seems they were made of copper” (for additional discussions by the Hida, see Rabbi Felder, p. 420).

Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Geiger was a Dayan and Shliah Tzibbur [rabbinic court judge and Cantor] in Frankfurt am Main (1792-1878). He described how the Haftarah was read in his city (Divrei Kohelet, Frankfurt am Main, 1862, p. 74, and cf. p. 443 = Hamburger, p. 224): “Sefer Haftarot written with vowels and cantillation and made like a Sefer Torah.” Indeed, Prof. Ismar Elbogen testified in his book Hatefillah B’yisrael first published in German in 1913 (p. 432, note 20) that he only saw the custom of reading the Haftarah from a scroll in Frankfurt am Main.

Rabbi Yehiel Michel Epstein (Navarudok, 1829-1908, Arukh Hashulhan, Orah Hayyim 284) dedicates five paragraphs to our topic, and he reports at the end of paragraph 6: “In Lithuania, there are many places that write the complete Prophets [as a scroll, i.e., the Vilna Gaon’s method which we shall mention below], and there are those who write only the Haftarot, and this is our obligation and this is good for us, but they should be warned not to make two rollers like a Torah scroll but one roller.” In other words, he prefers reading the Haftarah from a parchment scroll, but like Rabbi Eliezer Nahum mentioned above, he requires a physical distinction between a Torah scroll and a Haftarot scroll.

Rabbi Yosef Hayyim of Baghdad (1833-1909; Rav Pe’alim, Part 4, No. 34) was asked by someone who wanted to write “Vezot Hatorah” and other verses on the parchment of a Haftarot scroll. He responded: “Even though these Haftarot mentioned in the question are written in Torah script on parchment with ruled lines, etc., like a Torah scroll, nevertheless, they are invalid because they do not have the status of actual [Holy] books…” In other words, it was a Haftarot scroll written on parchment like a Torah scroll.

Rabbi Ya’akov Hayyim Sofer (Baghdad and Jerusalem, 1869-1939; Kaf Hahayyim to Orah Hayyim 284, subparagraph 3), a student of Rabbi Yosef Hayyim of Baghdad, summarizes the opinions of the Levush, Magen Avraham, and Eliyah Rabbah on the matter and concludes: “However, there are places where the custom is to write the Haftarot on parchment or gevil [another type of parchment] in a scroll like a Torah scroll, and each place follows its custom.”

Rabbi Shem Tob Gaguine (Jerusalem and London, 1884-1953; Keter Shem Tov, Part 1, p. 388 = Hamburger, p. 209): “And I myself saw in the town of my birth Zion, in the synagogue called ‘the Hurva’ of Rabbi Yehudah Hehassid, where I used to pray occasionally, and I saw that the one who read the Haftarah read it from a Haftarot scroll written by hand, just like a Torah scroll.”

Some claim that in past generations, it was customary in Yemen to read from a Haftarot scroll on parchment with Babylonian supralinear punctuation, either bound like a book or rolled like a Torah scroll. However, over time, they began to read the Haftarot from printed Humashim (Hamburger, p. 210 and the literature there).

Finally, Rabbi Hamburger proved (p. 225) – mostly on the basis of personal testimony from Jews born in those cities – that the Haftarah was read from Haftarot scrolls in the following communities: Worms, Mainz, Cologne, Hamburg, Paris, Nirenberg, Georgensgemind, Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Hanau, Basel, Copenhagen, Strasburg, Bergheim, and more. We can only add a Haftarot scroll written by Abraham Schwob in Obernai, Alsace, in northeastern France in 1867 which is featured at the beginning of this responsum.  (My thanks to Josh Shuman from the Schechter Institute who found this picture.)

In our day, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef ruled in Yehaveh Da’at, Volume 5, that it’s “a mitzvah to make an effort to read the Haftarah from a book written by hand in holiness on parchment, even if it’s only a compilation of the Haftarot of the Shabbatot of the year, and not a complete book of the Prophets.”

It’s worth noting that the Gaon of Vilna (1720-1797) invented a new approach, which stands in opposition to what we have seen above in the Talmud and in all the sources cited. He instituted a new custom, that one should read the Haftarah from a complete book of the Prophets written like a Torah scroll on parchment. Indeed, this custom spread to many communities in Lithuania and to the “Perushim” in Jerusalem who were influenced by the Gaon of Vilna’s students who made Aliyah 200 years ago and it is still practiced by certain congregations. (See Ma’aseh Rav, paragraph 136; Rabbi Avraham Danzig, Hayyei Adam 31:40; Rabbi Yisrael Meir Hacohen, Mishnah Berurah to Orah Hayyim 284, subparagraph 1; Ya’akov Gellis, Minhagei Eretz Yisrael, Jerusalem, 1968, p. 74; Hamburger, pp. 172-175, 216-222.)

II. Halakhic questions for synagogues which read from a Sefer Haftarot

In this section, we shall discuss various practical questions which arose in connection with this custom throughout the generations. The over-arching question is: should we treat a Sefer Haftarot in the way in which we treat a Sefer Torah, or should we treat it differently so that the congregation will understand that it is not as holy as a Sefer Torah

1. Do we place the Sefer Haftarot in the Holy Ark and take it out with the Sefer Torah, or do we keep it in a separate Ark or cabinet? Rabbi Ovadia Yosef ruled in Yehaveh Da’at, Volume 3, that since it’s permissible to keep a Sefer Torah which is pasul (disqualified) in the Ark even though it no longer has the sanctity of a Sefer Torah, the same is true of a Sefer Haftarot. On the other hand, Rabbi Hamburger (pp. 141-144) shows that this was a subject of debate for hundreds of years, some permitting putting a disqualified Sefer Torah and Humashim and other ritual objects in the Holy Ark and some forbidding.

   Rabbi Hamburger writes that in our day, most Sefardic synagogues put the Sefer Haftarot in the Holy Ark next to the Torah scrolls, but some Sefardic authorities are not happy about this. On the other hand, in Ashkenazic synagogues in recent generation, they did not put the Sefer Haftarot in the Holy Ark. It was placed in a special cabinet which also housed Kiddush cups, the Havdalah set and the like. Since your congregation is in Berlin and since we are discussing an Ashkenazic Sefer Haftarot from before the Shoah, I suggest that you follow the Askenazic custom by keeping the Sefer Haftarot in another cabinet and not in the Holy Ark.

2. Does one carry the Sefer Haftarot around the sanctuary together with the Sefer Torah or not? Most of the sources which I found did not discuss this question (cf. Hamburger, p. 141). If you want to emphasize that a Sefer Haftarot is not as sacred as a Sefer Torah, I suggest not to march with it around the synagogue.

3. Does a Sefer Haftarot need one roller or two (see Hamburger, pp. 130-133)? We have learned in a baraita in Bava Batra 14a: “All scrolls are rolled from the beginning until the end [i.e., on one roller], but a Sefer Torah is rolled towards the middle and he makes a roller on both sides. Rabbi Eleazar b”r Zadok said: Thus did the scribes in Jerusalem write their scrolls.” In other words, Torah scrolls had two rollers and were rolled towards the middle, while all other scrolls were rolled on one roller. As a result, Rabbi Yom Tov Lipmann Heller (1579-1664), Rabbi Shmuel Strashun in Vilna (1794-1872), and Rabbi Yehiel Michel Epstein in Nuvaradok (1829-1908) ruled that a Sefer Haftarot should have one roller. On the other hand, it appears from the story we quoted above from the responsa of the Ritba (Seville, fourteenth century) that a Sefer Haftarot looked like a Sefer Torah with two rollers. And so ruled Rabbi Yaakov Yukeb Weil in Ashkenaz (died 1851), that the custom is that a Sefer Haftarot has two rollers both because that is the way he understood the Talmudic passage in Bava Batra and also for practical reasons, that it’s difficult to find a specific Haftarah if there is only one roller. Therefore, before the fact it’s better to make a Sefer Haftarot with one roller according to the Baraita, but if it already has two rollers, there is a basis for that custom.

4. Does one use Rimonin (finials) from a Sefer Torah or different Rimonim? We have already seen above the opinion of Rabbi Eliezer Nahum of Jerusalem in the 18^th century quoted by the Hida, that one must use different Rimonin for a Sefer Haftarot in order to emphasize that its sanctity is different. And so ruled Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in our day in Yehaveh Da’at, Volume 3, “that the honor of the Torah and of the Prophets should not be the same.” I agree with them.

5. Is it permissible to write vowels and cantillation marks in a Haftarot scroll (see Hamburger, pp. 133-141)? On the one hand, important halakhic authorities such as Rav Hai Gaon, a responsum found in Mahzor Vitry, the Rashba and Rabbi Yehezkel Landau forbade writing vowels in a Sefer Torah. On the other hand, there is no such prohibition regarding the Prophets and the Haftarot. Indeed, both in Ashkenaz and among Sefardic Jews it was common to add vowels and cantillation to Haftarot scrolls.

6. Does one lift and roll a Haftarot scroll after reading it? In Karlsruhe, Germany there was a custom for boys to lift and roll the scroll after the reading (Hamburger, p. 141). On the other hand, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef ruled in Yehevah Da’at, Volume 3, that one should not lift and roll a Haftarot Scroll “so that the honor of the Torah and of the Prophets should not be the same.” On the other hand, in a synagogue where they already had a custom of lifting and rolling the Haftarah scroll, he made an effort to justify the custom (Yehaveh Da’at, Volume 7) and suggested that they first lift the Torah scroll and then the Haftarot scroll in order to emphasize “that the honor of a Sefer Torah is preferable to that of a Sefer Haftarot.” I agree with him. If the custom does not already exist, one should not lift a Haftarot scroll. Furthermore, the verse “V’zot Hatorah,” which is chanted when the Torah is lifted, is not at all appropriate for a Sefer Haftarot.

 III. Summary and Halakhic Conclusions

In summary, Haftarot scrolls were customary in Babylonia in the Talmudic period, in the Geniza fragments, and in various Jewish communities throughout the world until today. Therefore, I encourage your synagogue to read from a Sefer Haftarot which was used in Berlin before the Shoah. You are thereby “returning the crown to its former glory” (see Yoma 69b) and reviving a 1700-year-old custom.

David Golinkin
Jerusalem
19 Shevat 5785

Bibliography

יצחק משה אלבוגן, התפילה בישראל, תל אביב, תשל”ב, פרק 26, סעיף 7, עמ׳ 135-134 ועמ’ 432

    Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 4, cols. 1225-1227, s.v. Books — אנציקלופדיה יודאיקה

אנציקלופדיה תלמודית, כרך עשירי, ערך הפטרה, טורים ה-ו עם תמונה של מגילת הפטרות מן הגניזה

הרב אברהם ברלינר, כתבים נבחרים, כרך שני, ירושלים, תש”ט, עמ’ 143-142

הרב שם טוב גאגין, כתר שם טוב, חלק א’, קיידאן, תרצ”ד, עמ’ שפ”ז-שפ”ח

ש”ד גויטיין, “בית הכנסת וציודו לפי כתבי הגניזה”, ארץ ישראל ז’ (תשכ”ד), עמ’ 95, מסמך י’

הרב בנימין שלמה המבורגר, שרשי מנהג אשכנז, כרך שלישי, בני ברק, תשס״ב, עמ’ 228-112

הרב עובדיה יוסף, שו״ת יחוה דעת, חלק ג’, סימן י”א; חלק ה, סימן כ”ו; חלק ז’, סימן קכ”ה

עם סיכום אצל בנו הרב יצחק יוסף, ילקוט יוסף, חלק ב’, עמ׳ קפ”ב-קפ”ג.

הרב גדליה פלדר, יסודי ישרון, חלק רביעי, ניו יורק, תשכ״ב, עמ׳ 420-419

 Fredric G. Kenyon, Books and Readers in Ancient Greece and Rome, second edition, Oxford, 1951, Chapter IV — קניון

רב שלמה יהודה (שי”ר) רפפורט, ערך מילין, מהדורה שנייה, וורשה, תרע”ד, עמ’ 328, ערך אפטרתא 

image: Abraham Schwob in Obernai, Alsace, in northeastern France in 1867, photo by Dieter Hofer, collection of Jewish Museum of Switzerland (via wikicommons CCA Sa 4.o international license)

To Purchase Rabbi Golinkin’s Volumes of Responsa: CLICK HERE