Siman 143

We do not read from the Torah with fewer than ten Israelites, adults and free men, to exclude slaves. And even one who is half-slave and half-free, for we hold that we compel his master to set him free. Nevertheless, as long as he has not freed him—he does not join the quorum (Eliyah Rabbah, subsection 1). And if they began with ten and some of them left—they complete all the called readers according to the obligation and no more, as with prayer in siman 55. But they do not call for the Maftir, for this is a different matter (ibid., subsection 2). And there is one who says that the seventh reader is the Maftir, and he shall say the blessings with the Haftarah (Magen Avraham, subsection 1). And in the Yerushalmi Megillah, chapter four (halacha 4), it implies explicitly like the first opinion, as it says there: We do not read from the Torah with fewer than ten; if they began...—he completes. We do not conclude with the Prophet with fewer than ten; if they began...—he completes. And regarding all of them it says: "And those who forsake the Lord shall perish." Thus far his words. Behold, it is explicit that we do not conclude with the Prophet until there are ten at the beginning of the Maftir. However, it seems to me that if the Maftir read from the Torah with ten, and afterward individuals left—the Maftir is permitted to say the blessings of the Haftarah, for his reading from the Torah certainly constitutes a beginning.

One may only read from a complete and valid sefer Torah. If each Chumash is written individually, even if written on a scroll and on parchment like a sefer Torah – one may not read from it until all five Chumashim are sewn together, which constitutes the entire sefer Torah in its completeness. And so they said in Gittin (60a): One may not read from Chumashim in public due to the honor of the congregation. Our Chumashim, even when they are all together – they do not possess the sanctity of a sefer Torah and one may not read from them. And it is not only necessary to mention those printed on paper, but even those written on parchment, since they were not written with the sanctity of a sefer Torah – one may not read from them. All the laws of a sefer Torah are explained in Yoreh Deah from siman 271 to siman 276. And even in villages that do not have a valid sefer Torah – one does not recite a blessing over the Chumashim. Rather, they should read from it without a blessing, so that the law of reading should not be forgotten. The sheliach tzibbur reads the entire parashah and everyone listens, but Heaven forbid to recite a blessing over this (Magen Avraham, subsection 2). There is one who permits a complete Chumash when it was written according to the law of a sefer Torah, on parchment and a scroll and written lishmah – but it is not clear (the Eliyah Rabbah permits it occasionally because this is only due to the honor of the congregation). In a place where there is a sefer Torah, but there is no sheliach tzibbur proficient in the melody by heart, some are accustomed that the sheliach tzibbur reads from the Chumash in which the vowels and cantillation marks are written, and the one who ascends to the Torah reads after him from the valid sefer Torah. And if those who ascend also cannot do this, for they cannot read with the melody and cantillation marks even when they are prompted, and similarly according to our custom where those who ascend do not read but only the reader reads – the sheliach tzibbur stands next to the sefer Torah, and another stands next to the Chumash and prompts the sheliach tzibbur, and the sheliach tzibbur reads from within the sefer Torah. And as I wrote at the end of the previous siman, see there.

If a mistake is found in a sefer Torah in the middle of the reading, what should they do? Behold, the Rashba and the Rosh, and the Tur in Yoreh Deah siman 279 ruled that they must read anew from another sefer Torah, and what they read from the invalid one is as if they did not read at all. And so it appears explicitly from the words of the Rambam in the Laws of Sefer Torah. This is the wording of the Rosh in a responsum (Klal 3, Din 8): And regarding a sefer Torah in which a mistake was found, know: since it is invalid—the reading that they read is nothing. And it follows that also the blessing they recited is not a blessing… Thus far his words. And so wrote the Rashba in a responsum (siman 227), and this is his wording: Anyone who must return and read—returns and blesses, for the mitzvah is to read from a valid sefer Torah. And the blessing over the first one was in vain… Thus far his words. However, regarding the reading that they read from the invalid sefer Torah, we rely on the words of the Rambam in a responsum (siman 19), who ruled that one blesses over an invalid sefer Torah, and that such was the custom of the Geonim of the world. And so wrote the Kol Bo in the name of the Geonim of Narbonne (Beit Yosef ibid.). And we have adopted their words regarding the past for what they read, but not regarding what still needs to be read. And what should they do? And the opinions on this are many.

The opinion of our teacher, the Beit Yosef, in section 4 is that they bring out another sefer Torah, and they begin from the place where the error was found, and they complete the number of callers with those who read from the erroneous one. And this is when the error was found after the final blessing of one of the callers, and regarding this, there is no one who disagrees. However, if the error was found in the middle of the reading—there is no difference whether he already read three verses, or had not yet read—he stops there without a final blessing, and begins in the valid one at the place where he stopped in the invalid one. And he does not recite a blessing before it, for in this he relies on the blessing of the invalid one. And our teacher, the Rema, agrees with him when he has not yet read three verses. But when he has already read three verses and it is possible to stop there, such as when they are not two verses adjacent to a parsha—he stops there and recites the blessing after it, and they complete the count in the other sefer Torah that they bring out. And nevertheless, he did not write this in the language of a dispute with our teacher, the Beit Yosef, but rather as one explaining his words, because in the words of our teacher, the Beit Yosef, it was not explicitly explained that even when he read three verses he does not recite the blessing after it. Therefore, he did not write it in the language of a dispute, and such is his way in several places (and with this, the difficulty of the Taz, subsection 1, is settled). And we have already explained this in Yoreh Deah, siman 279.

But many rejected these words entirely, for how is it possible not to recite a blessing before the kosher one and to rely on the blessing of the disqualified one? For even from one kosher scroll to another kosher scroll, another blessing is required, since his intention at the time of the blessing was not for another sefer Torah at all (Bach and Magen Avraham subsection 4). Therefore, they ruled as the Mordechai wrote, that one always recites the final blessing over the disqualified one. That is, if he already read three verses—he recites the blessing, and if he had not yet read three verses—he reads in the disqualified one until three verses, and says the error by heart, and recites the final blessing, and they take the kosher one and complete the number of called-up readers. And so too even if he already read three verses, but he cannot stop there because they are two verses adjacent to a parsha—he reads in the disqualified one until the parsha, and recites the final blessing as I have written. And thus conducted themselves all the gaonim of the world. And thus we conduct ourselves and so is the primary law, and we have already explained this in Yoreh Deah there. And there we explained what the law is if an error is found in the Maftir, see there, for there is a distinction between the Maftir of all Shabbatot where he reads what was read before him, and the Maftir on Yom Tov and the like where he reads a different matter.

One does not bring out another sefer Torah unless there is a clear error, even if there is no change in its meaning, such as "keves"-"keshev," "rochbo"-"rochbah" where one can read "rochbah" with a cholam and it is like "rochbo," or "migrasheihem"-"migrasheihen" and so too anything similar to this—one brings out another since the error is clear. However, if the error is in missing or extra letters—one does not bring out another, for our sifrei Torah are not so precise that we can say the other will be more kosher. Thus ruled our teacher, the Rema. And this is its explanation: even if here the error of the missing or extra letter is clear, nevertheless, who is to say that the other which we bring out does not have some error of missing or extra letters? Therefore, even though this is a clear disqualification, and they are obligated to repair it after Shabbat, nevertheless, since in this we are not certain of the other—it is necessary to rely on the Geonim who permit reading from it, like the words of the Rambam in the responsum we cited. (And so wrote the Magen Avraham, subsection 7. And regarding what he wrote from the Tzemach Tzedek on "migrasheihem"-"migrasheihen" that one does not need to bring out another—the Chacham Tzvi, siman 54, already refuted him.)

The great authorities further wrote that if they found a disqualification in the middle of the reading, and there is no other sefer Torah—they may complete the seven olim with this sefer Torah, and rely on the Geonim who are lenient as I have written (Taz subsection 2 and Magen Avraham subsection 8 in the name of Maharam of Lublin, see there). And more than this wrote our teacher, the Rema: That in a time of pressing need when the congregation has only the disqualified sefer Torah, and there is no one there who can fix it—some say that one should read from it in the congregation and recite the blessing over it, and some disqualify it. And if one chumash is complete without error—one may be lenient to read from that chumash even though there is an error in the others. Thus far his words. And in practice we hold like the "some disqualify it." And regarding one chumash...—one may be lenient in a time of pressing need, for so wrote the Ran in Gittin (60a) that since the reason is due to the honor of the congregation one may be lenient in a time of pressing need. And this too he wrote as a matter of law and not for practical application, see there. Therefore, in a time of pressing need one may be lenient occasionally and not permanently. (So it appears to me, and so is implied by the opinion of the Magen Avraham in subsection 9.)

Our teacher, the Beit Yosef, wrote in section 5: Synagogues that do not have anyone who knows how to read except for one person – he shall recite the blessing and read a few verses and recite the blessing after them, and return to recite the blessing at the beginning and read a few verses and recite the blessing after them. And he shall do so several times, according to the number of those who ascend for that day. Thus far his words. And it appears that this law is not applicable in our times, for the ones who ascend do not read for themselves; rather, the shaliach tzibbur reads. For in such a case, behold, everyone is able to ascend to the Torah, and the one who knows how to read shall be the reader. And so we practice.