1 THE SECTION OF BLESSINGS AND CURSES. THE SECTION OF CURSES MUST NOT BE BROKEN UP, BUT MUST ALL BE READ BY ONE PERSON. ON MONDAY AND THURSDAY AND ON SABBATH AT MINHAH THE REGULAR PORTION OF THE WEEK IS READ, AND THIS IS NOT RECKONED AS PART OF THE READING [FOR THE SUCCEEDING SABBATH], AS IT SAYS, AND MOSES DECLARED UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. THE APPOINTED SEASONS OF THE LORD;’ WHICH IMPLIES THAT IT IS PART OF THEIR ORDINANCE THAT EACH SHOULD BE READ IN ITS SEASON. GEMARA. Our Rabbis taught: ‘On Passover we read from the section of the festivals and for haftarah the account of the Passover of Gilgal’. Now that we keep two days Passover, the haftarah of the first day is the account of the Passover in Gilgal and of the second day that of the Passover of Josiah. ‘On the other days of the Passover the various passages in the Torah relating to Passover are read’ What are these? — R. Papa said: The mnemonic is M'A'P'U’. ‘On the last day of Passover we read, And it came to pass when God sent, and as haftarah, And David spoke’. On the next day we read, All the firstborn, and for haftarah, This very day. Abaye said: Nowadays the communities are accustomed to read ‘Draw the ox’, ‘Sanctify with money’, ‘Hew in the wilderness’, and ‘Send the firstborn’. ‘On Pentecost, we read Seven weeks, and for haftarah a chapter from Habakuk. According to others, we read In the third month, and for haftarah the account of the Divine Chariot’. Nowadays that we keep two days, we follow both courses, but in the reverse order. On New Year we read On the seventh month, and for haftarah, Is Ephraim a darling son unto me.’ According to others, we read And the Lord remembered Sarah and for haftarah the story of Hannah. Nowadays that we keep two days, on the first day we follow the ruling of the other authority, and on the next day we say, And God tried Abraham, with ‘Is Ephraim a darling son to me’ for haftarah. On the Day of Atonement we read After the death and for haftarah,For thus saith the high and lofty one. At minhah we read the section of forbidden marriages and for haftarah the book of Jonah. R. Johanan said: Wherever you find [mentioned in the Scriptures] the power of the Holy One, blessed be He, you also find his gentleness mentioned. This fact is stated in the Torah, repeated In the Prophets, and stated a third time in the [Sacred] Writings. It is written in the Torah, For the Lord your God, he is the God of gods and Lord of lords, and it says immediately afterwards, He doth execute justice for the fatherless and widow. It is repeated in the Prophets: For thus saith the High and Lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity whose name is holy, and it says immediately afterwards, [I dwell] with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit. It is stated a third time in the [Sacred] Writings, as it is written: Extol him that rideth upon the skies, whose name is the Lord, and immediately afterwards it is written, A father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows. ‘On the first day of Tabernacles we read the section of the festivals in Leviticus, and for haftarah, Behold a day cometh for the Lord’. Nowadays that we keep two days, on the next day we read the same Section from the Torah, but what do we read for haftarah.? — And all the men of Israel assembled unto King Solomon. On the other days of the festival we read the section of the offerings of the festival. On the last festival day we read, ‘All the firstlings’, with the commandments and statutes [which precede it], and for haftarah, ‘And it was so that when Solomon had made an end’. On the next day we read, ‘And this is the blessing’, and for haftarah, ‘And Solomon stood’. R. Huna said in the name of R. Shesheth: On the Sabbath which falls in the intermediate days of the festival, whether Passover or Tabernacles, the passage we read from the Torah is ‘See, Thou [sayest unto me]’ and for haftarah on Passover the passage of the ‘dry bones’, and on Tabernacles, ‘In that day when Gog shall come’. On Hanukkah we read the section of the Princes and for haftarah [on Sabbath] that of the lights in Zechariah. Should there fall two Sabbaths in Hanukkah, on the first we read [for haftarah] the passage of the lights in Zechariah and on the second that of the lights of Solomon. On Purim we read ‘And Amalek came’. On New Moon, ‘On your new moons’. If New Moon falls on a Sabbath, the haftarah is [the passage concluding] ‘And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another’. If it falls on a Sunday, on the day before the haftarah is, ‘And Jonathan said to him, tomorrow is the new moon’. R. Huna said:ᵃᵇᶜᵈᵉᶠᵍʰⁱʲᵏˡᵐⁿᵒᵖᵠʳˢᵗᵘᵛʷˣʸᶻᵃᵃᵃᵇᵃᶜᵃᵈᵃᵉᵃᶠᵃᵍᵃʰᵃⁱᵃʲᵃᵏᵃˡᵃᵐᵃⁿᵃᵒᵃᵖᵃᵠᵃʳᵃˢᵃᵗᵃᵘᵃᵛᵃʷᵃˣᵃʸ
2 If the new moon of Ab falls on a Sabbath the haftarah is [the passage with the verse] ‘Your new moons and your appointed seasons my soul hateth, they are a burden unto me’. What is the meaning of ‘they are a burden unto me’? God said: ‘It is not enough for Israel that they sin before Me, but they impose on Me the burden of considering what punishment I shall bring upon them". On the Ninth of Ab itself what is the haftarah? — Rab said: ‘[The passage containing], How is she become a harlot’. What is the section from the Torah? — It has been taught: Others say, ‘But if ye will not hearken unto me’; R. Nathan b. Joseph says, ‘How long will this people despise me’; and some say, ‘How long shall I bear with this evil congregation’. Abaye said: Nowadays the custom has been adopted of reading [from the Torah] ‘When thou shalt beget children’, and for haftarah, ‘I will utterly consume them’. ON MA'AMADOTH THE ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION. Whence is this rule derived? — Said R.. Ammi: But for the ma'amadoth, the heaven and earth would not be firmly established, as it says, But for My covenant [which continues] day and night, I had not set the statutes of heaven and earth, and it is written, And he said, O Lord God, Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it. Said Abraham before the Holy One, blessed be He: Sovereign of the Universe, perhaps God forbid, Israel will sin before Thee and Thou wilt do to them as Thou didst to the generation of the Flood and the generation of the Division? He answered, Not so. He then said before Him: Sovereign of the Universe, by what shall I know this? He said: Take me a heifer of three years old etc. He then said before Him: Sovereign of the Universe, This is very well for the time when the Temple will be standing, but in the time when there will be no Temple what will befall them? He replied to him: I have already fixed for them the order of the sacrifices. Whenever they will read the section dealing with them, I will reckon it as if they were bringing me an offering, and forgive all their inquities. ON FAST DAYS [THE PORTION OF] BLESSINGS AND CURSES IS READ, AND THERE MUST BE NO BREAK IN [THE READING OF] THE CURSES. Whence is this rule derived? — R. Hiyya b. Gamda replied in the name of R. Assi: Because Scripture says, My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord. Resh Lakish said: It is because a blessing should not be said for chastisement. How then is the reader to do? A Tanna taught: He commences his reading with a verse before them and concludes it with a verse after them. Said Abaye: This rule was laid down only for the curses in Leviticus, but in the curses in Deuteronomy a break may be made. What is the reason? — In the former Israel are addressed in the plural number and Moses uttered them on behalf of the Almighty; in the latter Israel are addressed in the singular, and Moses uttered them in his own name. Levi b. Buti was once reading the curses [in Deuteronomy] in the presence of R. Huna hesitatingly. Said R. Huna to him: Do just as you please, the rule [against making a break] applies only to the curses in Leviticus, but in those in Deuteronomy a break may be made. It has been taught: R. Simeon b. Eleazar says: Ezra made a regulation for Israel that they should read the curses in Leviticus before Pentecost and those in Deuteronomy before New Year. What is the reason? — Abaye — or you may also say Resh Lakish said: So that the year may end along with its curses. I grant you that in regard to the curses in Deuteronomy you can say, ‘so that the year should end along with its curses’. But as regards those In Leviticus — is Pentecost a New Year? — Yes; Pentecost is also a New Year, as we have learnt: ‘On Pentecost is the new year for [fruit of] the tree’. It has been taught: R. Simeon b. Eleazar says: If old men say to you, throw down’, and young men say to you ‘build up’ throw down and do not build up, because destruction by old men is construction, and construction by boys is destruction; and the example is Rehoboam son of Solomon. Our Rabbis taught: The place [in the Torah] where they leave off in the morning service on Sabbath is the place where they begin at Minhah; the place where they leave off at Minhah [on Sabbath] is the place where they begin on Monday; the place where they leave off on Monday is the place where they begin on Thursday; the place where they leave off on Thursday is the place where they begin on the next Sabbath. This is the ruling of R. Meir. R. Judah, however, says that the place where they leave off in the morning service on Sabbath is the place where they begin on [Sabbath] Minah, on Monday, on Thursday, and on the next Sabbath. R. Zera said: The halachah is that the place where they leave off in the morning service on Sabbath is the place where they begin at Minhah, on Monday, on Thursday and on the next Sabbath. Why does he not say, ‘the halachah follows Rabbi Judah’? —ᵃᶻᵇᵃᵇᵇᵇᶜᵇᵈᵇᵉᵇᶠᵇᵍᵇʰᵇⁱᵇʲᵇᵏᵇˡᵇᵐᵇⁿᵇᵒᵇᵖᵇᵠᵇʳ