Hot answers tagged torah-reading
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Four times in Chumash:
ויתמהמה (Vayeira, Gen. 19:16)
ויאמר (Chayei Sarah, Gen. 24:12)
וימאן (Vayeishev, Gen. 39:8)
וישחט (Tzav, Lev. 8:23)
and three times in the rest of Tanach (excluding Tehillim, Mishlei, and Iyov, which use a different system of trop):
ונבהלו (Is. 13:8)
ויאמר (Amos 1:2)
ואמר-לה (Ezra 5:15)
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As with all questions of practical halachah, CYLOR (especially since there may be public policy issues involved). However:
Responsa Hillel Omer (Yoreh De'ah 144) addresses such a case. He says that the boy is certainly allowed to have an aliyah, considering that it's not his fault that he is uncircumcised; at that age the responsibility still rests on his ...
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My method has changed with time. I don't think that my current method is inherently better, it is just better now for my changed mind. I used to break up an aliya into roughly 1/4 column length segments and practice the whole segment with vowelizations and intonation marks, and then go ahead and try it on the Torah-like printed side. I would go back and ...
8
The Radak that is mentioned is from Shmuel II 15:21.
We find in the Talmud (Nedarim 37נ):
אמר רבי יצחק מקרא סופרים ועיטור סופרים וקריין ולא כתיבן וכתיבן ולא קריין הלכה למשה מסיני
R. Yitachak said: The textual reading, as transmitted by the scribes, their stylistic embellishments,
[words] read [in the text] but not written, and words written but ...
8
The Shulchan Aruch OC 145:3 says that:
האידנא לא נהגו לתרגם, משום דמה תועלת בתרגום כיון שאין מבינים אותו:
And nowadays the custom is not to translate [to Aramaic] because what benefit is there to do so since we do not understand it.
Additionally, the Tur there quotes a Yerushalmi that says that the meturgeman is not me'ackeiv (prevents the ...
8
Based on observations in a Sepharadic environment:
I have signed ta'amim for several readers using systems they taught me. They all seem to be based around the same signs, even if there are nuances between various methods. They are more or less imitations of the ta'am symbol, using your hand against the inside edge of the Sefer Torah case (upright, of ...
8
The reason we have double parshiyos in the first place is in order to satisfy the four basic rules (given in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 428:4) about the distribution of parshiyos throughout the year. In particular, the first two are: that the Shabbos before Pesach has to be Parshas Tzav in a regular year, or Metzora in a leap year; and that the Shabbos ...
7
When Rosh Hashanah is on Thursday and Friday (as it was this year). Then you have:
Thursday - reading for 1st day Rosh Hashanah (Gen. 21:1-34, Num. 29:1-6)
Friday - reading for 2nd day Rosh Hashanah (Gen. 22:1-24, Num. 29:1-6)
Shabbos - Parshas Haazinu (Deut. 32:1-52)
Sunday - reading for (postponed) Tzom Gedaliah (Ex. 32:11-14,34:1-10)
Monday - first ...
7
Perhaps by rights it's true that on the first day (or two days) we should start with 28:17, but then we'd be violating the rule that we don't begin an aliyah within three verses of a parashah break (open or closed). On the other hand, verse 19 is already three verses away from the parashah break, and so there's no problem starting there on Chol Hamoed.
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The Sefer Taamei Haminhagim brings three reasons:
(1) The Mederash says of the pasuk in Yehoshua (1:8), "this book of the torah shall not leave your mouth"; the word "this" implies that Yehoshua was actually holding a sefer torah at the time. Yehoshua had just completed it, and therefore Hashem said to him "chazak ve'ematz" (1:6,7). Abudraham infers from ...
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On a Kabbalistic level, the ksiv represents עלמא דאתכסיא, the hidden realm of G-d's thought, while the kri represents עלמא דאתגליא, the revealed realm of His speech.
(R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi, Likkutei Torah 6d, citing his teacher the Maggid of Mezeritch)
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Levush (Orach Chaim 669) says that it is because its first verse condemns the Jewish people על מכרם בכסף צדיק - for selling the righteous for money. This ties in, then, with the brothers' sale of Yosef (even though the simple meaning of the verse is referring to the kingdom of Yisrael some 900 years later).
Indeed, the next phrase, ואביון בעבור נעלים, "and ...
6
While it proceeds to list leniencies/exceptions, the Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 146:2 states initially that it is prohibited even to speak Divrei Torah even in between aliya's (i.e. while the Torah reading has paused).
One leniency is for one for whom "Torah is his occupation" but the M.B. 9 cites the Elya Rabba (who cites many Rishonim) that no one today ...
6
If I understand him correctly, Igros Moshe (OC4 22, IIRC) says that one may stand during the dibros so as to accord them honor and must do so if the rest of the congregation is doing so but that if he is concerned that that makes it seem like they're the only important part of the tora then he should stand also during the rest of the reading that day. As ...
6
The source is in the Talmud, Megillah 31a (link). It is a statement of Rav Huna, in the name of Rav:
אמר רב הונא אמר רב שבת שחל להיות בחולו
של מועד בין בפסח בין בסוכות מקרא קרינן
ראה אתה
Rashi explains:
מקרא קרינן ראה אתה - שיש שם מצות שבת
ורגלים וחולו של מועד דכתיב את חג המצות
תשמור ומכאן למדנו איסור מלאכת חולו של
מועד במסכת חגיגה (דף ...
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My Simanim Tikkun does have seven aliyot marked in V'zot Habracha (the sixth starting at "Meona", and the seventh at "Vaya'al Moshe"), but perhaps this is because it is the Israeli version of the tikkun. All other tikkunim I've seen (in Israel) have seven aliyot as well.
The custom I've seen, when Simchat Torah falls on shabbat, is to indeed add an extra ...
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Open up a shulchan aruch, and you'll see the criteria for breaking the Torah portion into readings:
Rule 1: As an absolute requirement, end at a paragraph mark as found in a Torah scroll; or, if you want to end in the middle of a paragraph, not within 3 sentences of the paragraph's end.
Rule 2: Attempt, when reasonably possible, to end on a ...
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Asher Laufer (אשר לאופר) wrote a paper "תנועות ידיים וראש בשעת קריאת התורה" on this subject. He describes (in my own very loose translation and sometimes condensation):
In Rabat, Morocco, the Torah reader himself moved his right hand or his head when reading words with mafsik (pausal) cantillation. That is, the motions constituted an "accompaniment":
...
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Your question is really the other way around. Generally speaking it's the person who does the mitzva action that says the bracha (Rambam Brachot 11:10). In the case of an aliyah, you are right that in most congregations an appointed reader is designated to read each persons portion out loud and with proper cantillation; however Shulchan Aruch (OC 141:2) ...
5
Not really.
Jewish law treats a male as an adult as soon as they reach age 13 (assuming they've also had the onset of puberty). There is no official "bar mitzvah" ritual; you're an adult, you're an adult.
It's become normal to demonstrate to everyone that the young man is an adult by calling up the fellow for an aliyah (i.e. saying the brachas before and ...
5
Sukkot through Simchat Torah - 8 days (In Israel, first day of Sukkot through Shemini Atzeret = Simchat Torah. Outside, second day of Sukkot through Simchat Torah.)
Bereishit - Beginning read on Simchat Torah.
Shemot - Passage from 33-34 read on Shabbat Chol Hamo'ed Sukkot. (Assuming there is one. If not, we have to go back to Tzom Gedalya for Shemot and ...
5
I'm sure someone has written on this, but I think many people's details of shnayim mikra aren't well defined.
Sure, why not use the aliyah-ending notes?
There are two reasons suggested for Shnayim Mikra:
Prepping yourself to read the Torah publicly this week if needed.
A yearly system of studying the Torah
If we apply only reason #1 to all its ...
5
The printed version of Tur (end of Orach Chaim 688) says that in that case the parshiyos would not have to be read again, and Beis Yosef there agrees. However, Darchei Moshe and Bach there argue that this version is incorrect, and that indeed they would have to be reread in (or, for Shekalim, before) Adar Sheni.
5
The Chayei Adam (31:11) writes:
צ״ע אם כלם שמעו קריאת התורה ויש איזה ב״א שלא שמעו אם מותר לקרות עוד הפעם בשבילם ול״ד לפריסת שמע בסי׳ ס״ט דהתם כל יחיד מחויב אותה ברכה אבל הכא החיוב רק שישמע קריאת התורה וחכמים תקנו שיברך משום כבוד הצבור וי״ל דלא תקנו אלא כשכל הצבור חייבין בקריאה אבל לא בשביל יחיד וצ״ע.
It seems that קריאת התורה is an individual ...
5
In response to both your queries:
but [an onen] does not act as Chazzan, read the Torah, or receive an Aliyah
from here.
Even if the only Kohen in shul is an onen, he still doesn't get an Aliyah
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I'm told there are Sephardic communities in which an Arabic translation was read until not long ago.
I've heard that Rabbi Joseph Dov Soloveichik proposed the following reason for the cessation of translation in Ashkenazic communities: in many towns in Medieval France & Germany, there weren't that many knowledgeable people around, so the translator ...
5
The Rama (OC 143:2) writes:
בחומשים שלנו, אפילו כל ה' ספרים ביחד אין לברך עליהם, ובמקום שיש ס"ת ואין ש"ץ הבקי בנגינה בעל פה, ראיתי נוהגים שהש"ץ קורא מן החומש בנקוד והעולה קורא אחריו מן הס"ת הכשר.
In our Chumashim [which are printed] even if all 5 Books [of the Torah] are included, one cannot recite a blessing over [reading from] them. In a place ...
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This is discussed in Chakirey Minhagim (Rabbi Eliyahu Yochonan Gurary, vol. 2 pg. 90):
Eshel Avraham (OC 219:3) debated this and although he begins by saying that it would seem to be a interruption to say Hagomel between the brochos and kadish, he concludes that where there is no existing custom it is perhaps preferable to say Hagomel first. His explanation ...
4
Consult your local Orthodox Rabbi.
The other answer already gave reasons to forbid. I'll give a broader picture as to why one might permit.
1
The basic gemara in question regarding speaking during leining or between one aliyah and the next is in Sotah 39a:
Raba son of R. Huna said: When the Torah-scroll is unrolled it is forbidden to converse even on ...
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This tradition is actually becoming less common in the more "yeshivish" communities. The idea is that the enormous amount of time and effort spent memorizing the leining could be better spent learning gemara. This is probably true, but on the other hand, if you learn how to lein instead of just memorizing, that is also a very valuable skill and benefits the ...
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