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When two Sifrei Torah (when the second sefer is needed for a special maftir) are placed on the bimah just before hagbah for the first Torah, should the first sefer read from be on the left or the right?
Our gabbai is sure there is a custom but can't remember it.
If it makes a difference, our shul follows minhag Anglia.
The Shaare Efrayim does not address this anywhere, which leads me to believe there is no halacha about it. Nor do Taame Haminhagim or the recent books Ishe Yisrael (A. Y. Pfoifer (?), 5758) and Hak'ria Batora V'hilchoseha (Akiva Meler (?), 5769); Aroch Hashulchan and Mishna B'rura seem not to, either.
AFAIR, every time I've noticed which way it was done, the second sefer was on the right, in hasidic and non-hasidic Ashkenazic congregations in the States and Israel.
In my shul, we put the first one on the left.
I'm really not sure what minhag is followed though, because it's a mixed shul.
According to minhag Ashkenaz the next sefer Torah is placed on the bimah to the left of the previous before the hagbahah of the previous.
Source: Rabbi Binyamin Shlomo Hamburger in Guide to Minhag Ashkenaz.
