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Watch the INTRODUCTORY FILMS -- Haftarah-Ta'amim-Trainer / for the list of disjunctives and connectors see the torah page.

**Download the HAFTARAH-LEARNING SHEET (with musical notations) (pdf) **

** Listen to the phrases of the Learning Paper (mp3) [download with right mouse button] **

HAFTARAH

The Torah Reading on Shabbat and Festivals concludes with a passage from the Prophetic Books (from Joshua to TreAsar) that is related to the point of time (usually that is the shabbat's torah portion, but as soon as we have a festival, a special day or a special time of the year the haftarah would relate to this. (Therefore we also mention the special time in the blessing after the Haftarah Reading - that is the shabbat or the festival.)

The general sound of the Prophetic Reading is very different from the Torah Cantillation. Whereas the Torah Cantillation reminds us of the sound of study mode, the Haftarah reminds us of the Psalm modes used in the prayers of the Festivals and the High Holiday Selichot. The sound of the Haftarot is the sound of forgiveness, even if the texts may be admonitions to call us to our tasks.

It is common that a bat /r mitzvah chants the haftarah, as this is a very special day for her/him and the haftarah marks the point of time.

WHAT IS DIFFERENT

The special Haftarah sound is created by specific modulations of the tunes of the signs. Their characters stay the same. Where the melody goes up or down - is similar to the Torah tunes.

Seven signs have the same melodies as in the Torah (therefore they are tricky ... be careful to continue in the right way afterwards.). These signs stay the same: sarqa, segol, tevir, tlisha-qetanah, zaqef-gadol, tlisha-gedolah, yetiv.

There are none of the "4 rare ones" in the Haftarot. Thus it's less to learn.

The Haftarah is always chanted from a book, so you do not need to memorize the tunes. When you can read the ta'amim, you can read without much preparation just using the printed text. Therefore practise by chanting some texts using them.