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INTRODUCTION The haftarot (sg., haftarah) are the prophetic selections recited publicly on Sabbaths, festivals, and certain fast days after the reguired portion from the Torah (Pentateuch; Five Books of Moses). These communal readings developed as a component of classical Judaism-in both form and function. First and foremost, they are one ofthe three basic features ofthe ancient institution of the synagogue, wherein the sacred Scriptures were read aloud and interpreted. Primary among these features is the recitation ofthe Torah in a continuous seguence, from beginning to end during a fixed cycle, interrupted only when a holiday (or the intermediate festival week) falls on the Sabbath. Next in importance is a recitation from the prophetic literature, selected to complement the Torah reading in one way or another or to highlight the theme of a specific ritual occasion. For this reason, these prophetic readings are discontinuous and selective. And finally, the two recitations from Scripture were enhanced by a derashah, or homily, that variously interpreted the readings in the light of tradition, theology, or historical circumstance. The foregoing triad (Torah, prophecy, and homily) represents three levels ofauthority in Judaism and three modes of religious instruction. Of these, the Torah is the most important-being divine revelation and the teaching of Moses, the foremost of the prophets, with whom we are told God spoke directly and not in any mediated fashion. Scripture states that the Lord spoke to Aaron and Miriam, saying, "Hear these My words: When a prophet of the LORD arises among you, I make Myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses; he is trusted [neJeman] throughout My household. With him I speak mouth to mouth, plainly and not in riddles, and he beholds the likeness of the LORD" (Num. 12:6-8). According to later rabbinic tradition, this difference between the divine revelations to Moses and those granted other prophets was somewhat gualified-so that the distinction was not between a direct or indirect encowlter with God, which seemed much too stark and bold, but between two modes of refraction: Moses saw God clearly, through a shining mirror CispeklariaJmeJirah), whereas all the others perceived Him through a glass darkly, as in an unclear or unpolished mirror (cf. B. Yevamot 49b).1 The more mediated revelation ofGod to the prophets does not diminish the authority oftheir message, since this was also recited through divine inspiration. Nevertheless, by making such a formal distinction, the ancient Sages differentiated between the primary teachings ofMoses-the Decalogue and the Law-and the secondary teachings of the prophets, whose purpose was to exhort the people to return in faithfulness to the covenant or to a1Ul0W1Ce the conseguences of sin and the future fate of the people. The synagogue preacher could see his task as explicating the one or the other (the teachings ofMoses or the prophets), or both, on those occasions when God's message was recited before the congregation. The darshan (interpreter) thus added his human words of interpretation to the divine ones received in order to make their ongoing relevance and significance clear and immediate. Hence, even though he spoke on behalf ofMoses and the prophets, the darshanJs authority came from the class of Sages and their role as mediators of the divine word. In the synagogue, as in the study hall, their self-appointed task was to make Scripture a living word for the people. For these reasons, the Sages also saw themselves as the heirs of prophecy ("Since the day when the Temple was destroyed, prophecy has been taken from the prophets and given to the Sage" [B. Megillah 17b]). As teachers in the present, the Sages thus gave institutional stability to the ancient words of Moses and consoled their community with the future hopes and promises of the prophets ofIsraeI.2 XIX INTRODUCTION Public Recitation ofthe Torah Evidence for the earliest recitation of the Torah at communal gatherings is scanty and often obscure. Two biblical passages are of note. The first is Deut. 31:10-13. Here Moses instructs the priests, into whose keeping he has given a written copy of"this Teaching" (ha-torah ha-zo)t; namely, the Book of Deuteronomy), to "read" it "aloud in the presence of all Israel," "every seventh year," when they come before the Lord during the pilgrimage Feast of Booths (Sukkot). As this occasion also appears to coincide with the sabbatical year of debt remission (cf. Deut. 15:1),3the...

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