One who reads the Torah [in public worship] should read not less than three verses,¹ and he should not read for the interpreter² more than one verse [at a time].³ In the case of [the lection from] a Prophet, however, three [verses at a time may be read];⁴ but if the three verses constituted three different paragraphs, he may read one verse at a time⁵—for instance, For thus saith the Lord; Ye were sold for nought⁶ … [39b] For thus saith the Lord God: My people went down aforetime into Egypt⁷ 4. … Now, therefore, what do I here, saith the Lord.⁸ 5. In a city where only one person is able to read [from the Torah scroll] he reads all⁹ the prescribed sections, provided he sits down between the reading of one section and the next.¹⁰

footnotes: ¹ The number corresponds to the three main divisions of the Bible: the Pentateuch, Prophets and Hagiographa; Meg. 24a (Sonc. ed., p. 143). ² Who translated and expounded the Heb. text into Aramaic for the congregation. ³ So that the interpreter, who had no book before him, should not become confused. ⁴ If desired. Since no instruction in law is involved in the lection from the Prophets as in the Torah, a mistake would not be serious. ⁵ For the interpreter. ⁶ Isa. 52, 3. ⁷ ibid. ⁸ ibid. ⁹ ‘All’ is added by GRA, M and H. ¹⁰ lit. ‘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.

It is permitted to skip from place to place in [a scroll of] a Prophet,¹¹ but not in a Torah scroll, because [the scroll of] a Prophet may be unrolled in public but not of the Torah.¹² Similarly ruled R. Jeremiah in the name of R. Simeon b. Laḳish: A Torah scroll may not be unrolled in public. R. Jose enquired: Suppose¹³ there was only a small section [which one wished to skip]!¹⁴ The real reason¹⁵ is that Israel shall hear the Torah in its proper order. But have we not learned: [The High Priest] reads [in public] aḥarë moth¹⁶, designating the section Lev. 16. and *’ak be‘asor?*¹⁷, 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,¹⁸ because they deal with the statutory order [of the reading] of the day.¹⁹ You can see the reason²⁰ for yourself, because R. Simeon b. Laḳish ruled, ‘No part of the Torah may be²¹ read by heart’, and yet here²² (Num. 29, 7). [the High Priest] reads by heart.²³

footnotes: ¹¹ Omitting the intermediate portions. ¹² The unrolling of which might disturb the congregation. ¹³ GRA in agreement with j.Meg. IV, 5, 75b. V and H read ‘interpreted it, as for instance’. ¹⁴ And consequently no unrolling is required. Why, then, should skipping in such a case be forbidden? ¹⁵ lit. ‘but’ added by GRA. V and H omit. ¹⁶ lit. after the death ¹⁷ lit. howbeit on the tenth ¹⁸ Therefore unrolling in public is permitted. ¹⁹ i.e. the Day of Atonement. As they form one subject, skipping from place to place is allowed. ²⁰ lit. ‘and you may know’. ²¹ lit. ‘in every place one may not’. ²² The section beginning And on the tenth day ²³ For the reason stated above.

R. Jose gave the following instruction to Bar²⁴ ‘Ula, the precentor of the Babylonian Synagogue [in Sepphoris]:²⁵ When only one Torah scroll is available the unrolling²⁶ should be done in front of the ark curtain,²⁷ but when two scrolls are available you should carry the first [back to the ark] and then take out the other.²⁸ To what extent [is skipping in the Torah permitted]? R. Jose said: As, for instance, the sections²⁹ [read on the Day of Atonement] by the High Priest.³⁰ The reading of V is ‘Jehoiada the priest’.

footnotes: ²⁴ So j.Meg. IV, 5, 75b, the text of which is followed here. V has ‘Mar’. ²⁵ In Upper Galilee. ²⁶ When skipping is necessary from one passage to another. ²⁷ There 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. ²⁸ The 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. ²⁹ Which 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. ³⁰ So GRA and H in agreement with j.Meg. loc. cit.

If the precentor read in the Torah on a Sabbath for less than seven persons,³¹ having forgotten and thought that he had already read for³² seven persons, he should read again completing the number of seven, and call up an eighth as mafṭir; provided always that the lection³³ 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]³⁴ an addition should be made to the section from the one following it.³⁵

footnotes: ³¹ lit. ‘readings or callings’, i.e. the lection was allocated to less than the minimum number. ³² Or, ‘had called up’. ³³ lit. ‘the order’, the prescribed section for the reading of the day. ³⁴ This 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. ³⁵ lit. ‘from another portion’.

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 break³⁶ 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 Festivals³⁷ less than ten verses³⁸ 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]?³⁹ In the regular order where [the Torah reading] was interrupted before the Festival.⁴⁰

footnotes: ³⁶ At the end of the third verse. ³⁷ On which occasion three persons are called to the reading of the Torah. ³⁸ According to some authorities, if nine verses were read no repetition of the reading is necessary (cf. ’Oraḥ Ḥayyim ³⁹ On a Festival which occurs on a week-day there is no reading from the Torah in the afternoon service. ⁴⁰ i.e. from the beginning of the lection of the next Sabbath.

If in the course of public reading he skipped a verse and omitted to read it, should he have read ten verses exclusive⁴¹ of the verse skipped, he need not go back; but if less than⁴² 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,⁴³ Sabbath afternoon and Festival afternoon;⁴⁴ but on a Sabbath [morning] if he forgot and passed over a verse and then realized [his mistake], he must stop⁴⁵ 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,⁴⁶ need not be repeated.

footnotes: ⁴¹ So GRA and H. V has ‘from’. ⁴² lit. ‘within’. ⁴³ i.e. Monday and Thursday. ⁴⁴ Since the omitted verses will be read on the following Sabbath morning in the course of the lection. ⁴⁵ Added by GRA. ⁴⁶ So GRA. V inserts ‘because’ which cannot be justified.