Question: What should a shul do if it forgets to lein one of the four parshiyos (Sh’kalim, Zachor, etc.) on Shabbos?
Short Answer: There is a machlokes whether it may be read the following week. The Mishnah B’rurah rules that it may not be read the following week.
Explanation:
I. The Source
The Mishnah (Megillah 29a) lists the four additional parshiyos that are recited around Adar time: Sh’kalim, Zachor, Parah, and HaChodesh. These parshiyos are read as the maftir, with a corresponding haftarah. The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 685:1-5) codifies this enactment.
The Mishnah B’rurah (1) elaborates on the enactment. Sh’kalim is read around the time that the half-shekel was donated to the Beis HaMikdash to pay for the publicly brought korbanos. Zachor is read right before Purim to first remember Amaleik and then “act” on its destruction via destruction of Haman, an Amaleik descendant, on Purim. Parah is read on the Shabbos before HaChodesh, the time when it was burned in the desert, in order for B’nei Yisrael to be tahor for the Korban Pesach. HaChodesh is read on the Shabbos before Nisan, thereby fulfilling the Torah’s dictum to be m’kadeish the month of Nisan.
The Mishnah B’rurah (2) adds that if you forget to lein one of the four parshiyos, but you remember immediately after completing the brachah after maftir, a new sefer Torah is taken from the aron kodesh, Kaddish is recited, and the proper maftir (i.e., one of the four parshiyos) is recited. If you only remember after Hashem’s name is recited in the brachah before the (incorrect) haftarah, then the brachah is completed and a few p’sukim from the wrong haftarah is recited. No brachah is recited after the haftarah. Instead, a new sefer Torah is taken out and the correct maftir is recited, Kaddish is then recited, and then the proper haftarah is recited WITHOUT a brachah recited beforehand. After the proper haftarah is completed, the end brachah on the haftarah is recited.
Finally, the Mishnah B’rurah (2) explains that if you don’t remember until after the incorrect haftarah is completed and the end brachah recited, then you should nevertheless take out a new sefer Torah and read the proper maftir (with both a brachah before and afterwards). Kaddish is recited, and the proper haftarah is also recited, but without any brachos.
II. Minchah Time
But what happens if the shul does not realize its error until Minchah time? Until the following week? As an initial matter, the Mishnah B’rurah appears to hold that there is nothing to do at this point, as he does not comment on this case. See Nit’ei Gavriel (Purim 17:4, n. 5).
The Hisorerus T’shuvah (4:68) discusses a case where a shul forgot to lein Sh’kalim during Shacharis, but only remembered before Minchah. He ruled that they should lein regular Kohen and Levi for the upcoming parshah (which was T’rumah) at Minchah, but then roll to Sh’kalim (in the beginning of Ki Sisa) for the third aliyah. Notably, the Hisorerus T’shuvah adds that even if the shul only remembered after Shabbos, they should lein Sh’kalim the following Shabbos. Since the reason for Sh’kalim is to commemorate the collecting of the sh’kalim, which occurred at this time during the time of the Beis HaMikdash, there is no problem with reading Sh’kalim the following week, as the collection of the Sh’kalim spanned until Nisan. The only hiccup is when the next week is supposed to be Zachor (such as when Purim falls out on Friday). However, this issue can be solved if that week is T’tzaveh, as you can lein T’tzaveh and include Sh’kalim in the final aliyah, as they are consecutive in the Torah. The Maftir can then be Zachor.
Similarly, the Maharam Shick (Orach Chayim 335) agrees that Sh’kalim may be read the following Shabbos if it is forgotten on the proper Shabbos. Since the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 135:2) rules that generally a missed parshah may be made up the following week, the four parshiyos are no different. Further, the Yerushalmi provides a different reason why Sh’kalim is read around Adar: because we want to give our sh’kalim before the time period when Haman weighed out his sh’kalim to give to Achashveirosh in exchange for permission to kill the B’nei Yisrael. Accordingly, Sh’kalim may be read any time before Purim.
III. The Dissenting Opinion
The Shaarei Efraim (8:95) disagrees and states that if you forget one of the four parshiyos, there is no opportunity to make it up next Shabbos. Even though other parshiyos may be made up the following week, that is because there was no specific reason why the parshah was to be read that week. Indeed, in Eretz Yisrael, it would take three years to complete the entire Torah, proving that there is no set parshah to be read on any given week. The four parshiyos, on the other hand, were specifically designated to be read on a certain week; if you forget them, there is no opportunity to make them up on the following week.
The Mishnah B’rurah (2) codifies this Shaarei Efraim, holding that it may not be read the following week. See also Nit’ei Gavriel (Purim 17:4, n. 5). The footnotes (fn. 6) to Dirshu Mishnah B’rurah note that the Mishnah B’rurah implies that it may be read by Minchah on the Shabbos you were supposed to read it.
Similarly, the Chida (Yosef Ometz 27) holds that it may not be read the following week, or even by Minchah of that week. However, he agrees that the shul should reconvene and read it before chatzos ha’yom if they forgot to read it in the morning. Once “z’man Minchah” arrives, it is too late. The Sheivet HaLevi (4:71) appears to adopt this ruling of the Chida, at least with respect to Sh’kalim. For Parah, there is room to be lenient and read it the next week.
IV. Explanation
The Ratz KaTzvi (Chanukah-Purim, siman 18) suggests that this machlokes, whether you can make up Sh’kalim the following week, is based on the reason for the enactment of our reading of Sh’kalim. If the enactment was to commemorate the “announcing” of the requirement to start bringing Sh’kalim to the Beis HaMikdash, then Sh’kalim may only be read on the date of the announcement, which was on Rosh Chodesh Adar, or the Shabbos closest to it. However, if the reason was to commemorate the bringing of the sh’kalim, it may even be read into Adar. This fits with the language of the Mishnah B’rurah, that the reason is to commemorate the announcement of the sh’kalim, and therefore it may not be read the following Shabbos.
The sefer Hashma’as Kil’ayim (Halachah 18) gives a different explanation. He suggests that this machlokes is based on a machlokes Bavli and Yerushalmi whether all four parshiyos are four separate mitzvos (Bavli) or one mitzvah (Yerushalmi). According to the Bavli, one may only read each parshah on its proper week, at the time set for it. According to the Yerushalmi, as long as the parshiyos are read within the timeframe of the mitzvah – i.e., in between these weeks – you have satisfied your obligation. However, he then backtracks and suggests the opposite: According to the Bavli, you can read the parshah a different week if available, while according to Yerushalmi, they were spaced in a specific manner and may not be moved.
V. Another Application
Interestingly, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt”l (cited in the new Batei Yosef, Chanukah-Purim, p. 60) also suggests that all four parshiyos are one mitzvah based on the Yerushalmi (Megillah 3:3) that compares the four parshiyos to the four cups of wine at the Seder. Just as the four cups are one mitzvah, so, too, the four parshiyos are one mitzvah. Accordingly, there are certain required “breaks” in the weeks when they are read, just as there are certain spots in between certain cups when you cannot drink.
This author wonders whether, according to the Yerushalmi (according to Rav Soloveitchik), a shul that forgets one of the four parshiyos needs to even read the other parshiyos? If all are one mitzvah, perhaps the mitzvah is lost.
Rabbi Ephraim Glatt, Esq. is Associate Rabbi at the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills and a practicing litigation attorney. Questions? Comments? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
