Siman 143 – Mistakes in the sefer Torah

107. Krias haTorah requires a minyan of 10 Jewish men over bar mitzvah. Once the kria begins, no one may exit leaving less than 10 – even in between aliyos. If one does leave, the remaining ones (as long as 6 remain) may continue the kria with the berachos until the required amount of aliyos have been read. Do not add aliyos. Maftir is not called but some hold that the haftara should be read without its berachos. (ShA 1 – MB 5,6)
108. Those who leave are cursed with the verse  “Those who abandon Hashem will be finished off”. (MB 5)
109. The same holds true for haftara – if you begin with 10 and some exit, you are allowed to finish the haftara with its after-berachos. (MB 5)
110. If no sefer Torah is available, someone should read the entire sidra from a chumash without the aliyos and without the berachos. (MB 9)
111. A sefer Torah that is known to be possul may not be taken out to read l’chatchila, even if there is no other sefer Torah available.        (ShA 3 – MB 29)
112. If you found out about the p’sul during the kria and there is no other sefer Torah, then it depends:

1. If the p’sul is found after an oleh’s beracha achrona, the baal koray should read the remainder of the kria without any other berachos.
2. If the p’sul is found in the middle of an aliya, the kria continues until the end of the aliya. The oleh shouldn’t say a beracha achrona until the end of the entire kria. The oleh should stand by while the other olim are called up. They do not say any berachos, they just read along with the baal koray. The original oleh reads along with each of the aliyos not taking his mind off the kria until it is over. Then the original oleh recites the beracha achrona. The original oleh also recites the haftara (with or without the berachos? – the poskim argue). (MB 29)
3. If the p’sul is found only after the krias haTorah is over, b’dieved we rely on the poskim who hold that you may fulfil krias haTorah with a possul one. Therefore even if there is another kasher sefer Torah available, do not repeat the kria. (MB 14)

113. If there is another sefer Torah available:

a.If the p’sul was found in between aliyos (even between shvi’i and acharon), take out the kasher sefer Torah for the remaining aliyos. Do not repeat what was read in this b’dieved case. On Shabbos, try to add aliyos so 7 will have read from the kasher sefer Torah.               (ShA 4 – MB 15,16,23)

b. If the p’sul was found after an oleh’s beracha rishona, before beginning the kria, take out the kasher sefer Torah for the actual kria but the beracha rishona was valid. (If the minhag of the place is to repeat the beracha rishona do not protest.) (MB 20)

c.If the p’sul was found in a place where the oleh can stop (i.e. he read at least 3 p’sukim and he is not near a gap), he should stop there and say a beracha achrona. Take out the kasher sefer Torah only for the remaining aliyos. (Rama 4 – MB 22,23)

d.If the p’sul was found at a place where the oleh normally cannot stop (i.e. he hasn’t read 3 p’sukim yet or he is too close to a gap), take out the kasher sefer Torah, do not repeat the beracha rishona, read at least 3 p’sukim, and the oleh finishes his aliya with a beracha achrona. (ShA 4 –MB 18)

e. lf the p’sul was found in the last aliya before Kaddish, it depends: lf it’s in a place that you can’t stop, finish the aliya with the kasher sefer Torah. If you already read three pesukim and you can stop – stop, say the beracha acharona, and call another aliya “acharon” to finish up from the kasher sefer Torah. (MB 18)

f. If the p’sul was found after the kria, just before Kaddish – there is no need to take out the kasher sefer Torah since we rely on shvi’i to count as the maftir. Do not say Kaddish until after the end berachos of the haftara are recited. (MB 23)

g. If the p’sul was found after Kaddish, shvi’i cannot count for maftir. Nevertheless, we don’t take out the kasher sefer Torah just for maftir. The maftir should read 3 p’sukim from the possul one without the berachos and don’t repeat the Kaddish after the haftara. (MB 23)

h. If the p’sul was found during the maftir of a regular Shabbos, just complete the aliya and omit the beracha achrona. (MB 23)

i. If the p’sul was found in the maftir of Yom Tov or of the Arba Parshios (i.e. any seasonal obligation), it’s considered like you found a p’sul in a main Shabbos kria. (MB 23)

114. A mistake of a missing or added vuv or yud which affects neither the meaning nor the pronunciation does not justify taking out another sefer Torah. (Rama 4 – MB 26)
115. There are other similar mistakes that do not affect the meaning or pronunciation: Large and small letters, dots over words, backwards letters – if any of these traditions are missing, it doesn’t justify taking out another sefer Torah. (MB 26,27)
116. If in Hilchos Sefer Torah the mistake is clear, take out another sefer Torah. However if the poskim argue whether or not it is indeed a mistake, continue with the same sefer Torah. (MB 25)
117. If for some reason, only one person in the minyan can receive the aliya, he should have all the required number of aliyos with their berachos before and after. (ShA 5)