[Avodah] Questions about Krias Ha Torah

Micha Berger via Avodah avodah at lists.aishdas.org
Tue Nov 8 07:24:30 PST 2016


On Tue, Nov 08, 2016 at 02:27:49PM +0000, Professor L. Levine quoted
me and replied:
:> There wasn't really all that standard of a triennial cycle either. Some
:> read from Shavuos to the third Shavuos. Others completed the Torah twice
:> per shemittah (every 3-1/2 years, not 3). Etc...

: I have posted selections from two seforim that discuss this issue at
: https://web.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/levine/krias_ha_torah.pdf

: While they agree in part to what Reb Micha wrote, they do not agree
: entirely. In fact, they do not even agree with each other. The first
: selection from Avraham Ya'ari's sefer Toldos Chag Simchas Torah mentions
: two triennial cycles in EY - one for 3 years and one for 3 and a half
: years.

Which fits what I wrote quite well... As I said, it wasn't all that
standard, and both practices existed.

: The second selection from Yesodos Ha Tefillah by Rav Eleazar Levi
: does not mention the 3 and half year cycle at all (as far as I can see).

Perhaps it was a minority practice, and he was just interested in the
more common minhag.

: In addition this sefer asserts that during the time of the Tanaim Krias
: Ha Torah in EY was done yearly (He gives no source for this assertion.)
: and that during the time of the Amaraim it changed to the triennial cycle.
: Ya'ari does not mention this at all.

I don't see how this can be.

: Thus, as far as I can see, I still do not have a definitive answer
: as to how the Torah was read before the first Bais Ha Mikdash, during
: the first Bais Ha Mikdash, and during the Second Bais Ha Mikdash.

That's because there is no one answer. You're asking for a standard when
there was none. Different shuls or towns had different minhagim. All
people can do is describe their notion of the range. And if one author
thinks some practice is an outlier, far from any of the norms and another
does not, they both could end up describing the same history differently.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             It is our choices...that show what we truly are,
micha at aishdas.org        far more than our abilities.
http://www.aishdas.org                           - J. K. Rowling
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