Q. Is there a reason for the strange tradition that many a shul have that one must scream out ka’eylah! when the ba’al koreh reads that maftir part?

A. It could be that it is done to stress that it is not a repetition of the same word and thus should be read separately. It may also emphasize that as the Yom Tov advances and becomes continual and repetitive, one should keep the original joy of novelty and simcha one felt when reading it first time.

However, care should be taken that after the loud scream of “ka’eylah” by the congregants, the reader from the Torah, should also repeat the word slowly an correctly, since it is after all part of the Torah reading.

Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit’a.