הקורא בתורה לא יפחות מג׳ פסוקים ולא יקרא למתורגמן יותר מפסוק אחד ובנביא ג' ואם שלשתן של שלש פרשיות קורא אחד אחד כגון (ישעיהו נ״ב:ג׳) [כי] כה אמר ה׳ חנם נמכרתם (וכגון) [וגו׳ כי] כה אמר ה׳ [אלהים] מצרים ירד עמי בראשונה (וכגון) [וגו׳] ועתה מה לי פה נאם ה׳. עיר שאין בה קורא אלא אחד קורא הוא הקריות ובלבד שישב בין קריאה לקריאה: One who reads the Torah [in public worship] should read not less than three verses,1The number corresponds to the three main divisions of the Bible: the Pentateuch, Prophets and Hagiographa; Meg. 24a (Sonc. ed., p. 143). and he should not read for the interpreter2Who translated and expounded the Heb. text into Aramaic for the congregation. more than one verse [at a time].3So that the interpreter, who had no book before him, should not become confused. In the case of [the lection from] a Prophet, however, three [verses at a time may be read];4If desired. Since no instruction in law is involved in the lection from the Prophets as in the Torah, a mistake would not be serious. but if the three verses constituted three different paragraphs, he may read one verse at a time5For the interpreter.—for instance, For thus saith the Lord; Ye were sold for nought6Isa. 52, 3. … [39b] For thus saith the Lord God: My people went down aforetime into Egypt7ibid. 4. … Now, therefore, what do I here, saith the Lord.8ibid. 5.
In a city where only one person is able to read [from the Torah scroll] he reads all9‘All’ is added by GRA, M and H. the prescribed sections, provided he sits down between the reading of one section and the next.10lit. ‘between reading and reading’. The number of times he sits down corresponds to the number of persons who are to be called up for the reading. This ruling applies to the time when only the first and last who were called up recited the benedictions before and after the reading. At the present time, when each person called up recites the benedictions before and after his portion, there is no need for the sitting down.
מדלגין בנביא ואין מדלגין בתורה לפי שגוללין נביא ברבים ואין גוללין ספר תורה ברבים וכן אמר ר׳ ירמיה בשם ר"ש בן לקיש אין גוללין ספר תורה ברבים ר׳ יוסי פתר לה כגון שהיתה הפרשה קטנה כדי שישמעו ישראל את התורה על הסדר והא תנינן קורא באחרי מות ואך בעשור שניי' היא שהוא סדרו של (עולם) [יום] ותדע לך דר' שמעון בן לקיש אומר בכל מקום אינו קורא על פה וכאן הוא קורא על פה: It is permitted to skip from place to place in [a scroll of] a Prophet,11Omitting the intermediate portions. but not in a Torah scroll, because [the scroll of] a Prophet may be unrolled in public but not of the Torah.12The unrolling of which might disturb the congregation. Similarly ruled R. Jeremiah in the name of R. Simeon b. Laḳish: A Torah scroll may not be unrolled in public.
R. Jose enquired: Suppose13GRA in agreement with j.Meg. IV, 5, 75b. V and H read ‘interpreted it, as for instance’. there was only a small section [which one wished to skip]!14And consequently no unrolling is required. Why, then, should skipping in such a case be forbidden? The real reason15lit. ‘but’ added by GRA. V and H omit. is that Israel shall hear the Torah in its proper order. But have we not learned: [The High Priest] reads [in public] aḥarë moth16lit. after the death, designating the section Lev. 16. and ’ak be‘asor?17lit. howbeit on the tenth, designating the section beginning Lev. 23, 27. These sections are far removed from one another and the Torah scroll must consequently be unrolled in public. Why is this permitted? [With these two sections] it is different,18Therefore unrolling in public is permitted. because they deal with the statutory order [of the reading] of the day.19i.e. the Day of Atonement. As they form one subject, skipping from place to place is allowed. You can see the reason20lit. ‘and you may know’. for yourself, because R. Simeon b. Laḳish ruled, ‘No part of the Torah may be21lit. ‘in every place one may not’. read by heart’, and yet here22The section beginning And on the tenth day (Num. 29, 7). [the High Priest] reads by heart.23For the reason stated above.
רבי יוסי הוה מפקיד לרב עולא חזנא דכנישתא דבבלא כד (היה קורא) [היא חדא] אורייתא תהא גיילאה אחורי פרוכתא וכד אינון תרתי תהא מוביל חדא ומייתי חדא עד היכא א"ר יוסי כגון פרשת יהוידע הכהן: R. Jose gave the following instruction to Bar24So j.Meg. IV, 5, 75b, the text of which is followed here. V has ‘Mar’. ‘Ula, the precentor of the Babylonian Synagogue [in Sepphoris]:25In Upper Galilee. When only one Torah scroll is available the unrolling26When skipping is necessary from one passage to another. should be done in front of the ark curtain,27There is no need to return the scroll to the ark after the first reading had concluded and then take it out again for the second section. but when two scrolls are available you should carry the first [back to the ark] and then take out the other.28The present custom is to take both scrolls from the ark at the same time and to keep the second rolled and wrapped until the completion of the reading from the first. To what extent [is skipping in the Torah permitted]? R. Jose said: As, for instance, the sections29Which are not so far from one another as to cause the interpreter to stop and keep the congregation waiting while the scroll is being unrolled to the second section, and deal with the same subject, thus causing no confusion to the hearers. [read on the Day of Atonement] by the High Priest.30So GRA and H in agreement with j.Meg. loc. cit. The reading of V is ‘Jehoiada the priest’.
החזן שהוא קורא בתורה בשבת פחות משבע קריות ושכח כסבור שקרא ז׳ יחזור ויקרא וימלא שבע קריות ויפטיר (שמיני) ובלבד שיהא בסדר עשרים ואחד פסוקים ליתן לכל קורא וקורא ג׳ ואם פחות יוסיף על הסדר הזה מפרשה אחרת : If the precentor read in the Torah on a Sabbath for less than seven persons,31lit. ‘readings or callings’, i.e. the lection was allocated to less than the minimum number. having forgotten and thought that he had already read for32Or, ‘had called up’. seven persons, he should read again completing the number of seven, and call up an eighth as mafṭir; provided always that the lection33lit. ‘the order’, the prescribed section for the reading of the day. consists of [a minimum of] twenty-one verses and allows three verses for each of the seven persons who are called up. And if a section consists of less [than three verses for each of the seven persons]34This apparently refers to ancient Synagogues where only short portions of the Torah were read or where it was completed once in three years, not annually as is the present custom. Then the section for a Sabbath may sometimes have been very short. an addition should be made to the section from the one following it.35lit. ‘from another portion’.
ואם היתה הפרשה של ארבעה חמשה פסוקים קורא את כולה אבל פרשה של ששה פסוקים קורא ומפסיק לפי שיש בה שיעור שתי קריות ואם קרא בשני ובחמישי ובשבת במנחה ובמנחה של י"ט פחות מי' פסוקים יחזור ויקרא עד שישלים עשרה פסוקים ובמה קורין במנחה של י"ט בסדר שפסק לפני הרגל: If a section consisted of four or five verses, he reads the whole of it, but with a section of six verses he may read and make a break36At the end of the third verse. because it has the [minimum] length for two readings. If on a Monday or Thursday, or the Sabbath afternoon service or the afternoon service of Festivals37On which occasion three persons are called to the reading of the Torah. less than ten verses38According to some authorities, if nine verses were read no repetition of the reading is necessary (cf. ’Oraḥ Ḥayyim CXXXVII, §1 and commentaries ad loc.). Others maintain that in general ten is the minimum number. were read, he should repeat the reading to complete ten verses. From where [in the Torah] does one read in the afternoon service of a Festival [when it occurs on a Sabbath]?39On a Festival which occurs on a week-day there is no reading from the Torah in the afternoon service. In the regular order where [the Torah reading] was interrupted before the Festival.40i.e. from the beginning of the lection of the next Sabbath.
ואם קרא ודילג על פסוק ולא קראו אם קרא עשרה מן הפסוק המדולג ביניהם אינו חוזר ואם בתוך עשרה הוא יחזור ויקרא עשר כראוי על שטתן שאין מדלג זו בחול ובמנחה בשבת ובמנחה של יום טוב אבל בשבת אם שכח ועבר על פסוק ואח"כ נודע לו חוזר וקורא אפי' לאחר שהפטיר בנביא והתפלל מוסף מפסיק מיד וקורא שאין מעמידין תפילת המוספין פעם שנייה: If in the course of public reading he skipped a verse and omitted to read it, should he have read ten verses exclusive41So GRA and H. V has ‘from’. of the verse skipped, he need not go back; but if less than42lit. ‘within’. ten, he must go back and read ten verses in correct order so that none is left out. This is the case with [the reading of] a week-day,43i.e. Monday and Thursday. Sabbath afternoon and Festival afternoon;44Since the omitted verses will be read on the following Sabbath morning in the course of the lection. but on a Sabbath [morning] if he forgot and passed over a verse and then realized [his mistake], he must stop45Added by GRA. and re-read [the passage in full]. Even after one had read the hafṭarah in [a Book of] a Prophet and recited the musaf, he must stop forthwith and read [the Scriptural passage]. The musaf, however,46So GRA. V inserts ‘because’ which cannot be justified. need not be repeated.