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Concept
Haftara
Summary
The haftara or (in Ashkenazic pronunciation) haftorah (alt. haftarah, haphtara, הפטרה) "parting," "taking leave" (plural form: haftarot or haftoros), is a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im ("Prophets") of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) that is publicly read in synagogue as part of Jewish religious practice. The haftara reading follows the Torah reading on each Sabbath and on Jewish festivals and fast days. Typically, the haftara is thematically linked to the parashah (weekly Torah portion) that precedes it. The haftara is sung in a chant. (Chanting of Biblical texts is known as "trope" in Yiddish or "cantillation" in English.) Related blessings precede and follow the haftara reading.
The origin of haftara reading is lost to history, and several theories have been proposed to explain its role in Jewish practice, suggesting it arose in response to the persecution of the Jews under Antiochus IV Epiphanes which preceded the Maccabean Revolt, wherein Torah reading was prohibited, or that it was "instituted against the Samaritans, who denied the canonicity of the Prophets (except for Joshua), and later against the Sadducees." Another theory is that it was instituted after some act of persecution or other disaster in which the synagogue Torah scrolls were destroyed or ruined, as it was forbidden to read the Torah portion from any but a ritually fit parchment scroll, but there was no such requirement about a reading from Prophets, which was then "substituted as a temporary expedient and then remained." The Talmud mentions that a haftara was read in the presence of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurcanus, who lived c. 70 CE, and that by the time of Rabbah bar Nahmani (the 3rd century) there was a "Scroll of Haftarot", which is not further described. Several references in the Christian New Testament suggest this Jewish custom was in place during that era.
No one knows for certain the origins of reading the haftara, but several theories have been put forth.
Official source
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