Haftarot - הפטרות

This page is dedicated in memory of Meyer "Mickey" Kairey A"H

a man who dedicated his whole life to teaching the content on these recordings

Images of the Haftarot are from the Sefer HaHaftorot, copyright Kehot Publication Society and are reproduced here with permission.

The Haftarah (Hebrew: הפטרה; "parting," "taking leave", plural haftarot) is a series of selections from the books of Nebi'im ("Prophets") that is publicly read in synagogue. The Haftarah reading follows the Torah reading each Sabbath and Yom Tob.

Typically, the haftarah is thematically linked to the Perasha (Torah portion) of the week.

The origin of haftarah reading is lost to history, and several theories have been proposed to explain its role in Jewish practice.

The most common explanation, accepted by some traditional Jewish authorities is that in 168 BCE, when the Jews were under the rule of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, they were forbidden from reading the Torah and made do with a substitute. When they were again able to read the Torah, they kept reading the haftarah as well.

 The Talmud mentions that a haftarah was read in the presence of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, who lived c.70 CE, and in the Christian New Testament several references suggest this Jewish custom was in place during that era.

 An alternative explanation, offered by Rabbis Reuben Margolies and Samson Raphael Hirsch, is that the haftarah reading was instituted to fight the influence of those sects in Judaism (i.e. Samaritans) that viewed the Hebrew Bible as consisting only of the Torah and denied the canonicity of the Prophets.