Haftorah 3 yr cycle (Avram Israel Reisner, 2014)
How long must a haftarah be?
Megillah 23a reports a baraita that requires 21 verses in the haftarah, parallel to the
minimum of seven aliyot of three verses in the Torah reading. That ruling is represented as the
halakhah by Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 284:1. But a careful reading of the Talmud text
suggests that the matter may be less clear.
The baraita is not reported by the Talmud as a matter of law. It is used by the Talmud,
there, to attempt to bring a proof about the number of aliyot that there are. But Rava sees it as a
”עולותיכם ספו“ ruling and challenges it on factual grounds, citing the haftarah
, the haftarah of
parashat Tsav, which he points out is less than 21 verses. Several other haftarot today are
likewise less than 21 verses (the haftarah of Ki Tetze, “רני עקרה,” Isaiah 54:1-10, 10 verses; the
haftarah of Vayak-hel “ויעש חירום,” I Kings 7:40-50, 11 verses, to name a few). The talmud’s
anonymous response to Rava’s challenge is: “That is different, because the issue comes to an end
Baraita, also spelled Baraitha (Hebrew: “Outside Teaching,” or “Exclusion”), plural Baraitot, Baraitoth, orBaraithoth, any of the ancient oral traditions of Jewish religious law that were not included in the Mishna (the first authoritative codification of such laws).