Megillah 22a (כב.) — the Talmud in English

And if you say that

two should read

verses

from this

of “And on the day of Shabbat,”

and three from this

of “And on your New Moons,” then

two verses would remain for them in the passage,

and one may not leave fewer than three verses in a passage!

He said to him: This—

I have not heard.

But

something similar to it—

I have heard.

As we learned

with regard to the ma’amadot [corresponding to each of the twenty-four priestly watches that went up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices, there were twenty-four ma’amadot in the cities of Israel. When a watch was offering the sacrifice, the members of its ma’amad would pray that the sacrifice of their brethren be accepted favorably, fast, and read from the Torah, as explained in tractate Ta’anit 26a. See there]:

On the first day—

they read

“In the beginning,”

and

“And let there be a firmament.”

And it was taught concerning it: “In the beginning”—

by two,

by two readers.

“Let there be a firmament”—

by one.

And we raised a difficulty concerning this: Granted, “Let there be a firmament,”

it is possible to read

by one, as there are three verses.

But

the verses of

“In the beginning,”

how is it possible to read them

by two,

when

there are five verses, and it was taught: One who reads from the Torah—

may not read fewer than three verses.

If so, how shall we act?

And it was stated concerning this: Rav said—

he skips.

That is, the first reader reads three verses, and the second repeats and reads the third verse that the one before him read.

And Shmuel said:

the first reader reads half of the third verse and

stops,

and the second reads the other half of the verse.

And we raised a difficulty concerning this:

Rav said that he skips; why did he not say

like Shmuel, that he

stops?

And we explain: Because

he maintains that

a verse

that Moses did not divide—

we do not divide it.

And we ask:

And Shmuel said

that

we do divide it?!

But Rabbi Ḥananya the Bible reader said

I suffered great distress

in the presence of Rabbi Ḥanina the Great, and he did not permit me to stop

except for schoolchildren, since they are learning!?

And we answer:

There,

with schoolchildren,

what is the reason

did they permit it?

Because it is impossible

to do otherwise, as they are unable to read the entire verse

! Here too—

it

is impossible

to have two readers read properly without dividing the verse.

And Shmuel,

who

said that he stops, why did he not say that he skips?

As a decree because of those who enter

after the first reader has read: When they hear the second reading this verse, they will say: The first reader read only two verses.

And because of those who leave

after the first reader has read three verses: They will say that the second reader should read only two verses.

The Gemara raises an objection: A passage of six verses—

is read by two.

And one of five verses—

is read

by one.

If the first reader read three, the second reads

the

two

remaining

from this passage, and one from another passage.

And some say: Three

verses from the other passage,

because one does not begin a passage with fewer than three verses .

And if it is so

as we said above, then this is difficult for both opinions! For

according to the one who says that he skips—

let him skip,

so that the second reader repeats and reads the verse with which the first reader concluded;

and according to the one who says that he stops—

let him stop !?

And we answer:

The case there is different,

as it is possible to do so,

for the reader can read from the other passage, since there the reference is to the reading on Mondays and Thursdays, when everything concerns the day.

Rabbi Tanḥum said in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: The halakha is in accordance with the opinion of the Sages,

that one must read three verses from another passage.

And Rabbi Tanḥum said in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: Just as one may not begin a passage with fewer than three verses—

because of those who enter, who did not hear that he had read from the preceding passage and will say that he read only two verses—

so too, one may not leave fewer than three verses in a passage—

because of those who leave, who will think that the reader after him will read only the two remaining verses.

And we ask:

Is this not obvious? Now, if with regard to beginning,

to begin a passage with fewer than three verses,

the first tanna is lenient

and says that it suffices for him to read one verse,

the Sages are stringent

and say that he must read specifically three verses,

with regard to leaving, where the first tanna is stringent,

as it teaches: “And one of five verses is read by one,” and we do not say that he should read three and stop,

is it not all the more so that the Sages are stringent

in this matter,

as they say!?

And we answer:

Lest you say that those who enter

in the middle of the reading

are common,

and therefore the Sages were stringent with regard to beginning, so that one should not begin with fewer than three verses. But

those who leave are not common, for

the Torah scroll is

put away—

and they leave!

And we might have thought that we do not decree that one may not leave fewer than three verses in a passage, since those who leave are uncommon, and people will not err and say that the second reader read only two verses.

It teaches us

that we do issue this decree.

And we raise a difficulty concerning this:

And according to the first tanna, what is the difference between leaving

fewer than three verses in a passage

that

we do not leave

because of those who leave, and beginning

with fewer than three verses,

also

should we not decree that one may not do so

because of those who enter!?

They say: One who enters

the synagogue and hears that the second reader read three verses, while the first reader had read only two verses from this passage,

will ask

how the first reader read only two verses, and they will tell him that he read from the preceding passage. But one who leaves will not ask, and will mistakenly think that only two verses are read.

Rabba son of Rava sent to Rav Yosef:

With regard to the reading of the ma’amadot,

what is the halakha ?

Should one skip or stop?

He sent him this reply: The halakha—

is that he skips, and

the

middle reader skips them,

as he repeats and reads the verse that the first reader read. For if he does not skip, he will have to read fewer than three verses from the second passage. And if he reads three verses from the second passage, he will have read the entire passage .

We learned in our Mishna:

This is the general rule: Any

day

on which there is an additional offering, etc.

four read from the Torah.

They raised a dilemma before them: On a communal fast, how many

readers read from the Torah?

Might we say that specifically on

the New Moon and on a Festival, when there is an additional offering,

we read

four, but here, where there is no additional offering,

we do not; or perhaps,

since

here too there is

at least

an additional prayer,

namely the prayer of “Answer us” , we should have four read?

Come and hear

from the Mishna. For we learned:

On New Moons and on the intermediate days of a Festival—

four read.

It follows that

on a communal fast

three

read!

Say instead the first clause: On Mondays, Thursdays, and on Shabbat at the afternoon service—

three read.

It follows that

here,

on

a communal fast—

four

read!

Rather,

necessarily,

from this

nothing can be inferred.

Come and hear,

that four read on a fast:

Rav

happened to be in Babylonia on a communal fast. He stood and read from the Torah scroll. He began

with a blessing and concluded—

but did not recite a blessing. Everyone fell on their faces

[they all fell on their faces].

And Rav—

did not fall on his face

[and below we explain all these things that he did].

And now,

since Rav

read as an Israelite,

for he was neither a kohein nor a Levite, and therefore he must have read as the third reader,

why did he conclude with a blessing but not begin with one? Was it not because he intended that

someone

else read after him

as the fourth reader? We see that four read on a communal fast!

And we reject this:

No. Rav

read as a kohein,

although he was not a kohein.

For Rav Huna,

who was an Israelite,

also read as a kohein, since the kohanim honored him by allowing him to read from the Torah first

[as explained in tractate Gittin 59b].

And we ask: What comparison are you making?

Granted, Rav Huna

read as a kohein, for even Rav Ami and Rav Asi, who were distinguished kohanim of Eretz Yisrael,

were,

forced

to

submit to Rav Huna .

But Rav—there was Shmuel

in Nehardea, which was in Babylonia,

who was a kohein, and he was accustomed to stand above him [Shmuel’s custom was to stand above Rav]!?

[it was customary for Shmuel to rank above Rav]!

And we answer: In truth,

Shmuel too—

was forced to submit to Rav. It was Rav who accorded him

to Shmuel

the honor

of having him stand above him.

And when he accorded him

honor, it was

in his presence,

but

not in his presence—

he did not accord him this honor.

And here it was not in his presence, since Shmuel was not in Babylonia but in Nehardea.

And we say:

This too is reasonable—

that Rav read as a kohein. For if you suppose that he read as an Israelite, why did he recite a blessing before it?

Only the one who begins and the one who concludes recite blessings, as we see that he concluded but did not recite a blessing, because of the reader who followed him!?

And we reject this: This is no proof, for it is speaking

after

the

ordinance

was instituted that all the readers recite blessings before and after the reading, and therefore he recited a blessing.

And we ask:

If so,

if it is speaking after the ordinance,

why did he not recite a blessing afterward as well?

And we answer:

The case where Rav was present is different, since they would

come

enter

the synagogue after the reading had already begun,