16
votes
Accepted
Bow during Hagba?
The Beis Yosef Simman 135 writes regarding the halacha of hagbah (Sefardim do it at the beginning of the Torah service, and Chazal call hagbah "gelilah")
וכתוב עוד במ"ס פרק הנזכר (פי&...
- 18.9k
15
votes
Accepted
Who broke the parshiyot into aliyot and how?
In terms of the history of division of Aliyot, you should see Ilana Katzenellenbogen's survey article in Sinai 119 (1998), pp. 224-45. She looks at 33 different division customs from the last 1000 ...
- 96k
12
votes
Accepted
Are there any communities in which the oleh still leins his own aliyah?
I have seen this practice in action in a Yemenite shul in Rosh Ha'ayin, Israel. I got called up for an 'aliya, and the gabbai leined on my behalf, but I was the ignorant exception.
They also had a ...
- 47.3k
12
votes
Accepted
How long does it take to learn to layn Megillas Ester?
I've been a Torah reader for about 45 years, and have read Megilla for about 20 years. This is tough to give you an exact assessment, here, because there are several factors here. So, take what I ...
- 69.4k
11
votes
Accepted
Must one wait for a Cohen, Levi or Yisra'el during public Torah reading?
To answer question 1:
Magen Avraham writes that they should not wait for the Kohen because of tirchah di'tzibbura (135:6) or because of the honor of the congregation (135:7).
If you don't wait, ...
- 5,558
11
votes
Accepted
Why is Az Yashir printed smaller in the tikun korim?
In a standard Torah scroll they are indeed the same height as the rest of the columns, but they are wider than the regular columns. To keep the proportions right and have it fit on one page, it looks ...
- 96k
11
votes
Why do we leyn before mincha but after shacharis?
This question was asked on kipa.co.il.
The answer given by R. Ronen Lebovitz was:
וזאת משום שבשחרית יש לסמוך את קריאת שמע לעמידה, ולכן קריאת התורה באה רק לאחר העמידה. טעם נוסף הוא שהתפילות תוקנו ...
- 39.6k
11
votes
Accepted
Catching up the missing weeks of Krias Hatorah
The Rama to Orach Chayim 135:2 writes that if a whole tzibbur missed last weeks laining they should lain both this weeks parsha and last weeks. With regards to a tzibbur missing many shabbasim it is a ...
- 40.2k
10
votes
Sitting During Laining accd to R Abadi
Because the Halacha is that you can sit (and such was the custom in the majority of synagogues in the period of the Rishonim), and everyone in a given place should follow the same custom. (Or Yitzchak ...
- 96k
10
votes
Accepted
Why does the weekday Torah reading for Va'etchanan end in the middle of the Shabbat's 2nd aliyah?
I asked this question to one of my Rabbeim when I was a teenager. His response was "We do not want to finish an Aliya with the name of an Avoda Zara וַנֵּשֶׁב בַּגָּיְא מוּל בֵּית פְּעוֹר therefore ...
- 138k
10
votes
Accepted
Fulfilling Kri'at Shema by reading it as a Torah reader
Mishna Berakhot 2:1
היה קורא בתורה, והגיע זמן המקרא--אם כיוון את ליבו, יצא; ואם לאו, לא יצא.
If he was reading in the Torah and it came time to read [Shema]: if he intended, he fulfilled his ...
- 96k
9
votes
Accepted
Have any of you ever heard anyone pronouncing ayin as "ng"?
I believe that @YeZ is correct. When I lived in Washington Heights (upper Manhattan, NYC), I occasionally attended Cong. Sha'arei Hatikvah, which, I understand, still exists in the same location - ...
- 69.4k
9
votes
Accepted
Which groups of people read the 10 Commandments using the "lower" trope?
It would seem that original Minhag Ashkenaz was to use ta'am elyon only on Shavu'ot, but on shabbat parashat yitro and shabbat parashat va'etchanan to use ta'am tachton. This can be seen in the ...
- 39.6k
9
votes
Which woman false prophet is the Baal Haturim referring to?
The parsha deals with a false prophet and uses exclusively male verbs. This might lead one to think the relevant laws only apply to a male prophet. Therefore the Midrash Sifrei 83:3 says:
בקרבך. ...
- 18.9k
9
votes
Accepted
What rule governs the varying nikkud in words מִשְׁתֶּה and מִשְׁתֵּה?
When משתה is in construct state it has a tzere instead of a segol and would mean "drinking-party of" instead of just "drinking-party".
- 96k
9
votes
Accepted
What did it use to mean for a kohen to get a second aliyah?
Tosfot (Gittin 59b) answers (based on a similar case in Tosefta Megilla 3:6) that to distinguish the two sections, the kohen would go sit down back in his seat and then stand up again and go up to the ...
- 96k
9
votes
Accepted
What would be a case where a shul would read from the Torah for five consecutive days?
If Rosh Hashanah falls on Thursday, then both days of Rosh Hashanah the Torah reading for R.H. would be read, the following day would be Shabbos so the Parsha would be read, and Tzom Gedaliah would be ...
- 6,394
8
votes
Seeking online audio for "Mas'ei trope"
YUTorah.org has free, streaming Torah reading recordings by R' Jeremy Weider. He enunciates and intones extremely clearly. He performs the two features you're looking for:
The masa'ot start at 06:00 ...
- 47.3k
8
votes
Accepted
Why are there varying vowels on proper nouns in Megillas Ester?
There are grammatical rules in general, but for your case:
It's always שושַן הבירה, otherwise שושָן.
It's always מרדכַי except on an esnachta, sof pasuk, or in exactly one case a zakeif katon ויגידו ...
- 9,019
8
votes
Mil'al vs. Milra on "Lamah"
The word is spelled לָמָה (without a dagesh and stressed on the final syllable) when the following word begins with an א or ה or ע,* and spelled לָמָּה (with a dagesh and stressed on the penultimate ...
- 23.8k
8
votes
Parshas Zachor when one can't get a Minyan?
The Rama 685:7 writes that one should still read it with its correct tune.
הגה: ואם אי אפשר להם לבוא, מכל מקום יזהרו לקרותם בנגינתם ובטעמם (מצא כתוב).
The Kaf Hachaim 685:35 writes one should read ...
- 40.2k
8
votes
Final Pay ף ??? - Exists or Not?
It does exist and appears precisely once in Tanach, in Mishlei 30:6:
אַל־תּ֥וֹסְףְּ עַל־דְּבָרָ֑יו פֶּן־יוֹכִ֖יחַ בְּךָ֣ וְנִכְזָֽבְתָּ׃
- 39.6k
7
votes
Reading zeicher, zecher, or both during the regular Torah reading
The Mishna Berura (685 sk 18) only recommended this practice for Parashat Zakhor, seemingly because it may be a biblical obligation (ShA OC 685:7). Betzel HaChokhma (6:50) said this applies to any ...
- 96k
7
votes
Accepted
Are there any leniencies for shortening the torah reading so the cycle takes more than a year?
I heard from R. Nota Greenblatt, the posek of the South that if the baal korei has trouble reading the whole thing you can further subdivide the parsha, as the original enactment of krias hatorah ...
- 35.1k
7
votes
Online Tikkun Makers?
Try https://www.tikkun.io.
Full disclosure: I'm the creator of this site. As a software developer and avid Torah reader, I found nothing online that I enjoyed using and that was free. This one will ...
- 171
7
votes
Accepted
Looking for a good tikkun kor'im
I decided to get the Simanim tikkun. It's really cool. It provides all of the requirements in the question, and more.
This is an example of the beginning of parshat Shmot in the pocket-sized edition. ...
- 22.9k
7
votes
Accepted
What's the difference between קסת הסופר and מנחת שי?
Keset HaSofer, by R Shlomo Ganzfried, discusses the laws of writing as a Sofer STaM. Topics include: how to make Kosher parchment, shapes of the letters, intent when writing, what sorts of corrections ...
- 96k
7
votes
Accepted
Are women explicitly forbidden from handling and reading the Torah?
You are asking two related but different questions. One about touching the Torah, one about reading it.
Regarding touching a sefer Torah there is an explicit Rambam (Laws of Sefer Torah 10:8 based on ...
- 44.5k
7
votes
Accepted
Tephilin during krias hatorah on the third day of Pesach
This seems to start with an idea brought by the Chok Ya'akov, although he doesn't quite describe the current practice which you mention.
He writes (in 490:2) that the prevalent custom (in his day and ...
- 39.6k
7
votes
Accepted
Is there a list of the haftorot for the tri-annual torah reading cycle?
A full list can be found here with ongoing updates and sources here. Many times we only know the opening verse and not the exact end point.
- 96k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible