Haftara

Common card · No. 432805

The haftara or (in Ashkenazic pronunciation) haftorah (alt. haftarah, haphtara, Hebrew: 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 "ta'amim" in Hebrew, "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...

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