Chapter Three

chapter three

A TRADITIONAL HAFTARAH CYCLE1

The object of the present chapter is to show the overwhelming degree of correlation between Philo’s rare citations from the Prophets and the traditional Haftarah string ‘Admonition, Consolation, and Repentance’ (äáåùúå äîçð ¬àúåðòøåô). These are the Haftarot recited between the 17th of Tammuz and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)—at least according to the Ashkenazi and Sephardi (but not the Italian) rites.2

Explanation of Relevant Dates in the Jewish Calendar

[The terms explained: Rosh Hodesh; Three weeks of Admonition that include the 17th of Tammuz, Shabbat Hazon,andthe9th of Av; Seven Sabbaths of Consolation and three weeks of Repentance that include: Rosh Hashanah (the New Year), Shabbat Shuva and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement)]

1 This is a revised and slightly corrected version of my article, “Earliest Evidence of the Haftarah Cycle for the Sabbaths between æåîúá æ§§é and úåëåñ in Philo,” JJS 48/2 (Autumn 1997), 225–249 [Cohen, ‘Haftarah Cycle’ JJS 1997]. The thesis was ﬁrst pro- posed by me in a paper delivered as a Guest Lecturer at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Yeshiva University under the auspices of the Rabbi Gilbert Klaperman Sym- posium Fund, and in a much abbreviated form at the 12th World Congress of Jewish Studies (Jerusalem 1998), see Proceedings. And see also some preliminary remarks in Cohen, Philo Judaeus, Endnote J: “Philo and Haftarot,” 303–305. 2 The Haftarot are usually topically related to the weekly reading from the Penta- teuch, with the exception of special periods such as this one. The period under con- sideration (that between the 17th of Tammuz, till after the Day of Atonement), has three Sabbaths of Admonition, seven of Consolation, and three of Repentance. A table listing the readings of all the major rites customary today is found in the Encyclopedia Judaica,vol.15,s.v.Torah, Reading of, 1250–1251;alsotheTalmudic Encyclopedia (Hebrew; Jerusalem 1947 and ongoing) vol. 10 (1961), s.v. Haftarah. There is a very detailed chart at the end of volume 10 respecting diﬀerent customs including relatively local ones. It also includes the incipit of the Haftarot.AttheendofmanystandardHebrewBibles published in Israel, there is also a list of the Haftarot. 56 chapter three

Rosh Hodesh: The Jewish calendar is a lunar one, and the beginning of the Lunar month is called Rosh Hodesh, the beginning of the month. The three weeks of Admonition commemorate the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the First (and later also the Second) Temple. They begin and end with fast days: the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av.3 The intermediate Sabbath before the fast of the 9th day of Av is called Shabbat Hazon after the opening words of its Haftarah—Isa. 1:1 “The vision (Hazon) of Isaiah.” Seven weeks of Consolation follow immediately upon the 9th of Av. They commence with Shabbat Nahamu,socalledbecauseoftheincipit of its Haftarah—Isa. 40:1. They celebrate the return to Zion from the Babylonian Exile and the rebuilding of the Temple in the wake of the Cyrus declaration (See IIChron. 36:22–23 and Ez. 1:1–4). The Ten Days of Repentance follow immediately. This period begins with Rosh Hashanah (the New Year).4 It includes Shabbat Shuva,so called after the opening words of its Haftarah:Hos.14:2 “Return (Shuva), O Israel.” This is the Sabbath between Rosh Hashanah (New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), the most solemn day of the year.

Although our knowledge of the history of Jewish liturgical practices has advanced signiﬁcantly, far more remains buried in the seemingly impenetrable mists of antiquity. Until now the Pesikta d’Rav Kahana,5 whose redaction scholarly consensus places, at the very earliest, several

3 These fasts are already attested in Zech. 8:19:MT:éòéáøä íåö ºúåàáö §ä øîà äë íéáè íéãòîìå äçîùìå ïåùùì äãåäé úéáì äéäé éøéùòä íåöå éòéáùä íåöå éùéîçä íåöå (both KJV and JPS: “Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: The fast of the fourth (month), and the fast of the ﬁfth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness”). See further below, n. 45. 4 Although this is not its biblical name, for in the Pentateuch it is referred to as äòåøú íåé …ùã÷-àø÷î (a day of “holy convocation” and “a day of blowing the horn”) (Num. 29:1). 5 See Bernard Mandelbaum, Pesikta de Rav Kahana [íéåáìãðî áåã, àðäë áøã àú÷éñô] Vol. I (New York 1987), Introduction.