Read the wrong haftara. Now what?
Suppose someone started reading a haftara for a different week, or according to a different custom for the same week, or a piece of navi that's not a haftara at all. What should the community do?
I suspect the answer may depend on when the mistake was caught (after the closing benedictions were made after the haftara, before them but after a few verses were read of the mistaken haftara, immediately after the mistaken haftara was started) as well as on which haftara is being mistakenly skipped (specifically, whether it's one of the three of retribution, seven of consolation, and two of return that we read each summer, which I understand may be more mandatory than other haftaros). I'd appreciate answers that address as many of these cases as possible.
1 answer
Sha'arei Efraim (9:19) writes that if the error was noticed before the blessings following the haftara were read, the correct haftara should be read at that point, and the blessings should be said after that. If the blessings were already read, then the correct haftara should be read without any blessings.
1 comment
He's talking about a specific case (ר״ח).
4 comments
We had something a little similar in shul once. The bar mitzva teacher of a non-religious kid had gotten the haftarot mixed up (there was some sort of special haftarah that shabbat, perhaps מחר חודש?) so to not embarrass the kid, they let him read the haftarah he prepared. Most of the people in shul only found this out during and after the reading. — Harel13 about 2 months ago
Igrot Moshe OC 1:36 — AA about 2 months ago
@AA , that sounds like a (partial) answer. Thanks! Might I suggest you post it as such? — msh210 about 2 months ago
There is a link (automatically generated?) in @AA's comment, above, which refers to a (nonexistent) passage in Shulchan Aruch rather than Igros Moshe. To benefit the next person who might click on the link in the hopes of viewing the cited source, here is a link to the cited responsum in Igros Moshe. — MTL about 2 months ago