October 9, 2024
Sefer Haftarah is a way for your congregation and each person who chants a haftarah to find a greater connection to the text they are chanting by reading it from a handwritten parchment scroll – just as the Torah and all holy books were written in ancient times,
Rabbi Bell of Temple Emunah (Lexington, MA)

What looks like a Torah Scroll, smells like a Torah Scroll and even feels like a Torah Scroll, but isn’t? I hold in my hands the Federation of Jewish Men’s Club’s traveling Sefer Haftarah, a scroll that contains all of the Haftarot for the entire year and this week it will be at Temple Emunah. The FJMC Sefer Haftarah scroll contains all of the vowels as well as all of the trope cantillation marks and can be read instead of reading out of the regular Etz Chayim Chumash.

Scott Pass, Fair Lawn Jewish Center Men’s Progress Club with Sefer Haftarah

The FJMC Sefer Haftarah Scroll contains a collection of every Haftarah read during the year, including those from holidays and Rosh Chodesh. The Haftarot are scripted by a sofer on a parchment scroll in the same manner as a Torah. In fact, when rolled up and covered by its mantle, the Haftarah scroll looks exactly like a Torah scroll but not as thick. But unlike a Torah, the Haftarah scroll contains vowels and the trop. In addition, there are dedications of the various Haftarot in English and Hebrew. Since it was first unveiled during the 2003 FJMC Biennial Convention in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, the FJMC Sefer Haftarah scroll has travelled around North America to Men’s Clubs and Brotherhoods, to regional retreats and to FJMC conventions., visiting synagogues from West Coast to East Coast, from Florida to Canada. At services, it is treated very much like a Torah. It is housed in the Ark, undressed and redressed like a Torah, and carried around the congregation in the Torah procession. For more information about the FJMC Sefer Haftarah project visit: https://fjmc.org/for-clubs/sefer-haftarah/.

FJMC Webmaster Andy Alper holding the FJMC Sefer Haftarah

The FJMC Sefer Haftarah scroll is scheduled to travel throughout Florida Region FJMC during the first Quarter of 2025 with confirmed appearances in Boynton Beach, Maitland, Margate, Melbourne, Orlando, Ormond Beach, Tampa Bay and West Palm Beach. Florida Region FJMC wants to offer every affiliated Men’s Club and Brotherhood in the State of Florida an opportunity to get up close and personal with the FJMC Sefer Haftarah scroll as it makes it way through the Sunshine State. For more information contact the Florida Region FJMC Sefer Haftarah Program Chair Richard Nebb at RichNebb@gmail.com.

This message is brought to you by the Florida Region of the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs (FJMC). We serve the needs of affiliated Men’s Clubs and Brotherhoods throughout the State of Florida. Learn more about the FJMC Florida Region and our growing network of Jewish Men’s Clubs and Brotherhoods at: www.floridaregionfjmc.org and please visit & LIKE our Facebook Group at: www.facebook.com/FloridaRegionFJMC.

The FJMC is a confederation of over 200 Jewish Men’s Clubs and Brotherhoods representing over 20,000 members across the United States, Canada, Latin America, and beyond. Learn how YOUR Jewish Men’s Club or Brotherhood can affiliate with the FJMC at: https://fjmc.org/for-clubs/affiliating-with-the-fjmc/.

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