Megillah

THE SECTION OF BLESSINGS AND CURSES.1 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],2 AS IT SAYS,3 AND MOSES DECLARED UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. THE APPOINTED SEASONS OF THE LORD;’4 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 festivals5 and for haftarah the account of the Passover of Gilgal’.6 Now7 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.8 ‘On the other days of the Passover the various passages in the Torah relating to Passover are read’9 What are these? — R. Papa said: The mnemonic is M'A'P'U’.10 ‘On the last day of Passover we read, And it came to pass when God sent,11 and as haftarah, And David spoke’.12 On the next day we read, All the firstborn,13 and for haftarah, This very day.14 Abaye said: Nowadays the communities are accustomed to read ‘Draw the ox’, ‘Sanctify with money’, ‘Hew in the wilderness’, and ‘Send the firstborn’.15 ‘On Pentecost, we read Seven weeks,16 and for haftarah a chapter from Habakuk.17 According to others, we read In the third month,18 and for haftarah the account of the Divine Chariot’.19 Nowadays that we keep two days, we follow both courses, but in the reverse order.20 On New Year we read On the seventh month,21 and for haftarah, Is Ephraim a darling son unto me.’22 According to others, we read And the Lord remembered Sarah23 and for haftarah the story of Hannah.24 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,25 with ‘Is Ephraim a darling son to me’ for haftarah. On the Day of Atonement we read After the death26 and for haftarah,For thus saith the high and lofty one.27 At minhah we read the section of forbidden marriages28 and for haftarah the book of Jonah.29 R. Johanan said:30 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,31 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,32 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,33 and immediately afterwards it is written, A father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows. ‘On34 the first day of Tabernacles we read the section of the festivals in Leviticus, and for haftarah, Behold a day cometh for the Lord’.35 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.36 On the other days of the festival we read the section of the offerings of the festival.37 On the last festival day we read, ‘All the firstlings’, with the commandments and statutes [which precede it],38 and for haftarah, ‘And it was so that when Solomon had made an end’.39 On the next day we read, ‘And this is the blessing’,40 and for haftarah, ‘And Solomon stood’.41 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]’42 and for haftarah on Passover the passage of the ‘dry bones’,43 and on Tabernacles, ‘In that day when Gog shall come’.44 On Hanukkah we read the section of the Princes45 and for haftarah [on Sabbath] that of the lights in Zechariah.46 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.47 On Purim we read ‘And Amalek came’.48 On New Moon, ‘On your new moons’.49 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’.50 If it falls on a Sunday, on the day before the haftarah is, ‘And Jonathan said to him, tomorrow is the new moon’.51 R. Huna said: Galuth. 24); P = pesol (Hew thee two tables of stone, Ex. XXXIV, 1); U = wayedaber (And God spoke, Num. IX, 1). All these passages go on to speak of Passover. 24; Ex. XXXIV, 1; Num. IX, I; Ex. XIII, 17; Deut. XV, 19. Cf. Tosaf. (Rashi). Cf. Tosaf. firstling,’. A better reading is: ‘We read commandments and statutes and all the firstling. before the time (Rashi). on the first day of Tabernacles (Rashi).