Reading of the Shirah and the Ten Commandments

It is our custom to call the Chacham or Dayan or Rabbi for the Shirah and the Ten Commandments, both in Shemot as well as in Devarim and also on the 7^th day of Pesach and the 1^st day of Shavuot[1]. The Chazzan starts, but the Rabbi takes over, and reads the Shirah and the Ten Commandments himself.

As the third and the seventh aliyah are considered the most honorable, we call the rabbi as third or as seventh. Of course, if he is a Kohen or a Levi, we must call him first respectively, second. However, the normal partitioning, as indicated in Piza[2], doesn’t place the Shirah and the Ten Commandments in the third or seven’s Aliyah. Therefore, when there is a rabbi in the Synagogue, we change the partitioning, as indicated below. The Aliyah in bold is the one where the Shirah or the Ten Commandments are placed.

Shira: Beshalach

There are many possible situations. There is no rabbi, there is a Cohen and a rabbi, the rabbi is Cohen, there is a Cohen and the rabbi is Levi, there is no Cohen and the rabbi is Levi etc.

Before the war there always was a rabbi and a Cohen. Therefore only that case was described in Seder Hazzanut. In our post-war generation unfortunate there often is no Cohen. The division in case of a rabbi[3] without a Cohen is therefore needed. I (JBS) proposed a division for this case to rabbi Serfaty, but due to his departure we were not able to finalize this. The reasoning behind this has been documented (in Dutch). The many other cases are so uncommon that I didn’t work on them.

Recording שירה (MRP, some slight Philadelphia influences)

Ten Commandments: Jitro

As the rabbi is called משלים, he being a Cohen has no influence on the division.

Recording עשרת הדברות (MRP, some slight Philadelphia influences)

In case the Rabbi is a Cohen he is called with the addition: אף על פי שהוא כהן and when he is a Levi: אף על פי שהוא לוי

Ten Commandments: Va’etchanan

See above under Shirah for possible situations

Recording עשרת הדברות (MRP, some slight Philadelphia influences)

Remarks

·        On the 7^th of Pesach and on the 1^st day of Shavuot, the Shirah and the Ten Commandments are in the Mashlim, so no change of partitioning is needed. Only in case the Rabbi is Kohen or Levi he is called with addition: אף על פי שהוא כהן or אף על פי שהוא לוי.

·        On a Ta’anit Tsibur Minchah, the Chacham is called as 3^rd. The Chazzan reads till ‘Va’avor’, where that Chacham takes over and reads till ‘Venake’. The Chazzan then finishes. We have no traditions what to do in case the Chacham is a Kohen or Levi.

·        At a Meldadura, the regular partitioning is followed.

(Sources: MRP & SH)