18
Actually, Miketz does not always fall out on Chanukah. It appears that whoever told me that was mistaken. :)
I ran some code (using my JavaScript Hebcal API) and discovered that in the 100 years from 5700-5800, Miketz is not on Chanukah 10 times. In 5703, 5706, 5710, 5730, 5733, 5737, 5757, 5761, 5781, and 5784, Miketz fell out on the 4th of Tevet, just ...
15
Rashi to Shmuel Aleph 15:3 explains that the Amalekites were sorcerers and were capable of disguising themselves as animals - and for this reason Shaul was commanded to kill even the animals.
In his commentary to Devarim 25:19 he brings another explanation: The eradication of the memory of Amaleik had to be absolute, and even if animals remained alive they ...
10
The mefarshim on this portion of Navi (Targum, Rashi, Radak, etc.) explain that the man who died was actually Ovadiah (see Melachim Aleph 18). He was the man who kept 100 true prophets alive during their persecution by Jezebel. He hid them in 2 caves. He also provided for all of their physical needs. The cost of secretly supporting them, not only risked ...
8
Levush (Orach Chaim 669) says that it is because its first verse condemns the Jewish people על מכרם בכסף צדיק - for selling the righteous for money. This ties in, then, with the brothers' sale of Yosef (even though the simple meaning of the verse is referring to the kingdom of Yisrael some 900 years later).
Indeed, the next phrase, ואביון בעבור נעלים, "and ...
8
Wikipedia claims (with no source given) that
No one reads a special haftarah for a bridegroom any longer, except the Karaites.
This is a revised edition of something I myself added to that article in 2004. While I didn't cite any source (and, still, there's no citation for that claim in the Wikipedia article), I do remembering having researched the issue,...
8
The minimum number of verses that you'd need is at most three.
Yirmeyahu 32:8 (Haftara for Behar) to get Munach, Telisha-Gedola, Kadma, Azla, Zarka, Segol, Pazeir, Munach-Legarmeih, Revi'i, Gershayim, Darga, Tevir, Merkha, Tipcha, Etnachta, Zakeif-Gadol, Sof-Pasuk.
Yeshayahu 55:10 (Haftara for fast days at Mincha) to get Telisha-Ketana, Pashta, Zakeif-...
7
Asked and answered here.
it seems quite likely that this is a later interpolation; it doesn't
appear in early prints of Rashi.
In several places, though, Rashi refers to לשון כנען, which was a
popular term at the time for the Slavic languages (based on the
equation of "Slav" with "slave" and the association of the latter with
Canaan). These ...
7
A full list can be found here with ongoing updates and sources here. Many times we only know the opening verse and not the exact end point.
6
http://archive.org/details/Yetziv_Pisgam
Is that the one you've heard?
6
The simplest answer is that the haftoras go in the way the Torah ordered it in Melachim. (Tazria's being from 2 Kings ch. 4, and Metzora's from ibid. ch. 7.) (Not that this is always the case, see for example Behar and Bechukosai. )
In addition, the Gemara tells us (Sotah 47a) that the four lepers (discussed in the second haftora) are Gechazi and his sons (...
6
The Haftorah is very moving and probably hold the record for the most Jewish songs from one Haftorah! It especially relates to the Rosh Hashanah theme of Zichronos ("Memories").
First, (verses 1-13), the Haftorah discusses God bringing the redemption, which may connect to the theme of Zichronos, as it involves God "remembering" the Jews. Next (verses 14-16) ...
6
According to http://ohr.edu/1231, the Shlah says that their doing teshuvah inspires us to do it as well; and the Sefer HaTodaah ("The Book of Our Heritage") says that it's to show that you can't run away from G-d.
6
In Ashkenazi cantillation, the demarcation of the end of a recitation unit is technically no different than the end of any other verse vis a vis the cantillation marks themselves. There is therefore no strict requirement for them to be pronounced differently. However, it is a widespread custom that the concluding words of a recitation unit (whether a ...
6
You aren't the first person to wonder about this. The Levush wrote "All my days I wondered why I never saw in any place the practice to write the Haftarot like a proper book as we do for Esther" (OC 284).
In truth though having a full set of Neviim is expensive and already in the time of the Gemara (Gittin 60a) they permitted writing out just the needed ...
5
As it says in the Unetanneh Tokef, Yom Kippur is Judgment Day for all, not just for Jews:
וְכָל בָּאֵי עולָם יַעַבְרוּן לְפָנֶיךָ כִּבְנֵי מָרון. כְּבַקָּרַת רועֶה עֶדְרו. מַעֲבִיר צאנו תַּחַת שִׁבְטו .כֵּן תַּעֲבִיר וְתִסְפּר וְתִמְנֶה וְתִפְקד נֶפֶשׁ כָּל חָי. וְתַחְתּךְ קִצְבָה לְכָל בְּרִיּותֶיךָ. וְתִכְתּב אֶת גְּזַר דִּינָם:
בְּראשׁ הַשָּׁנָה ...
5
Mishnah Berurah (490:16), citing Pri Megadim, says that the difference is because each day of Sukkos is considered in a sense a separate Yom Tov, since the offerings in the Beis Hamikdash were different (each day there was one bull less than the day before). By contrast, the same offerings were brought every day of Pesach.
Therefore, he says, we end the ...
5
I don't know about 2 of repentance, but about 3 of punishment and 7 consolation I've heard the following explanation from the lecture of Rav Pinkus.
When we see a number 10 that is splited to 3 and 7 it means the cause and effect. The source if this is in sfiros (I don't undarstand that part much, but anyway) 3 high sfiros are the source and the rest 7 are ...
5
The book שערי נחמה (page נ"ה section ט) says the following verses are the ones which are read in regular (non-sad) trop, according to the custom of the yeshivot (the ashkenazi ones, I assume) in Eretz Yisrael:
verse 1
verses 16 to 19
verses 24 to 27
All other verses are read in sad trop.
5
Supplemental to the answer, above, that lists the specific years, here's the general scenario:
The months of Cheshvan and Kislev can have either 29 or 30 days, each, and there are 3 configurations. To understand when and why they occur, see this Wikipedia article.
Briefly, if the 1st day of Rosh Hashannah occurs on Shabbat, and the year is "deficient", ...
5
According to this article at shemayisroel.co.il it is permitted for a blind person to read the Haftora from a Braille book or even by heart.
The one called to the Torah for maftir must know how to recite the
haftarah properly; he must therefore prepare the reading beforehand.
He should read the haftarah out loud with the rest of congregation
reading ...
5
Kol Dodi on the Haftaros, by Rabbi David Feinstein.
According to the publisher:
In this masterpiece, the Rosh Yeshivah introduces each Haftarah, explains its historical context where necessary, shows its relationship to the Parashah, and offers an enlightening commentary in his own unique, original manner.
5
Read the Beur Halacha commentary on the same page in your link. He explicitly states that even if you make a mistake as the one you listed, the Haftarah is still the Chanukah haftarah. The reason is because of Pirsumei Nisa (proclaiming the miracle of Chanukah.)
He states that even if you accidentally recited the Rosh Hodesh haftarah in error, it's fine.
4
The Malbim Melachim B, 4:29 deal with this. He explains that Elisha Hanavi thought the boy just fainted (because Hashem didn't tell him through prophecy), so he so called "loaded" Gechazi with the adequate powers and thought that Gechazi would be able to use Elsiha's "stick" and cure the boy. From pasuk 32, as explained by the Malbim, we see that Elisha ...
4
משנה ברורה in ס' רפד ס'ק ב says that it began as a custom to say when public torah reading was banned, and was subsequently enacted as a גזרה. This would appear to be backed by earlier authorities, as רמ'א quotes תשובות הרמב'ן in that סימן describing the 'תקנה' of הפטרה, as opposed to just a מנהג.
4
To learn from the Teshuvah of the city of Ninveh (Siddur Rashi, Machzor Vitri, Rokeach). The Tzeidah Laderech adds: if the inhabitants of Ninveh who were not Jewish could fully repent, how much more so us who stood before Har Sina etc.
To learn that one cannot flee from Hashem (Abudraham, Chofetz Chaim in Shaar Hatziyon 622:6)
The fact that the ship was in ...
4
Absolutely nothing! The reason the three pesukim are added at the beginning is so that we don't have to add at the end.
To explain, consider Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 284:
מפטירין בנביא מענינה של פרשה ואין פוחתין מכ"א פסוקים אלא אם כן סליק ענינא בבציר מהכי כגון עולותיכם ספו על זבחיכם.
"We read the Haftarah from the Navi from the subject matter of ...
4
We read Haftarot from all the 8 Nevi'im scrolls, at various times during the year. See Wikipedia for a list.
Three of the 12 minor prophets - תְּרֵי עֲשַׂר - are not included in any Haftarah.
Nachum - נחום
Zefania - צפניה
Chagai - חגי
4
In the קיצור ש''ע ילקוט יוסף in סימן רפד - קצת מדיני ההפטרה it says:
ה קטן יכול לעלות למפטיר ולקרוא את ההפטרה.
ולכתחלה אין להעלות למפטיר אלא מי שיודע לקרוא ההפטרה בעצמו. אולם בדיעבד אם זה שעלה מפטיר אינו יודע לקרוא את ההפטרה, יקרא אדם אחר, ומי שעלה מפטיר יקרא עמו בלחש. אבל לא יקראו שנים ביחד בקול רם, דתרי קלי לא משתמעי.
"Preferably the person ...
4
I believe the short-and-sweet explanation is that the Haftorah of Acharei includes the gist of the Haftorah of Kedoshim.
Thank you Fred, for pointing to the Mordechai, Megillah 831 as well as the Mishna Brurah 428.26.
The Haftorah for Kedoshim refers to "the sinning city", and is just a litany of its faults.
We basically make that a closet Haftorah as ...
4
See the bottom of p. 3 – p. 4 of this article:
Avudraha”m explains that it does come from the meaning “to exempt”. At the time when the Haftarah was first instituted (some theories state that it was in effect during the period of the first Temple), Jews were prohinited from reading the Torah. Thus, reading from the prophets exempted them from reading from ...
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