[Avodah] The Arba Parshiyos

[Zev Sero via Avodah]

On 04/06/2016 04:26 PM, Micha Berger via Avodah wrote:
> As we do it today, there are also gaps between the parshios. Between
> Sheqalim and Zakhos is inevitable, as one is at the latest 1 Adar, and the
> other is the Shabbos of the 14th. Between Parah and haChodesh is also
> possible.

It's not inevitable; If Shekalim is the 1st then Zachor is the 8th.
However in such a year the 15th is a normal Shabbos, except in Y'm.
There is always at least one normal Shabbos in Adar; this year there
are two.

> The mishnah seems to imply otherwise.

I don't think so.  I think it refers to the set of shabbosos that we
know how to identify.  On the gap shabbos/os, of course, we read
whichever sidra is next on the roster, but we are not back on track
because we still have some of the four parshiyos coming up.  Only on
the shabbos after Hachodesh are we "back on track", at least until
Pesach comes.


>> This would be in accordance with the minhag of Eretz Yisrael to keep a
>> 3-year cycle. I suspect that the minhag changed to the standard one year
>> cycle with the Aliyah of the Baalei Tosafos and their influence on the
>> Community in Eretz Yisroel.

This explanation is missing a major piece of the puzzle.  It's not
that the Baalei Tosfos had such enormous influence on Bnei EY that
they induced them to change their minhag.  They never had such an
influence.  Rather, the crusaders completely wiped out the Yishuv
of EY.  By the end of the 12th century there were essentially no
Jews left; the only place minhag EY survived was at the EY shul in
Cairo.   Slowly EY began to be repopulated, mostly by Ashkenazi olim.
When the Ramban arrived there was a small community in Akko (which
was under Xian rule) but not even a minyan of Jews living in Y'm.
Thus the new EY community that developed, and that the Sefardim
found there when they came after 1492, was composed of European olim
with European minhagim, including reading the Torah on the Bavli cycle.


> Qeri'as haTorah and (to pick up a topic from later) piyut are two of
> the stronger pieces of evidence utilized by those who believe that
> Ashkenazi practice shows the effects of a grater influx of Jews from
> EY than among Sepharadim.

How does Qeri'as haTorah do that?  On the contrary it seems to argue
for a Bavli origin of Ashkenazim.



-- 
Zev Sero               All around myself I will wave the green willow
zev at sero.name          The myrtle and the palm and the citron for a week
                And if anyone should ask me the reason why I'm doing that
                I'll say "It's a Jewish thing; if you have a few minutes
                I'll explain it to you".