Torah reading (; ) is a Jewish religious tradition that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the scroll (or scrolls) from the Torah ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillations (tropes), and then returning the scroll(s) to the Torah Ark.
This practice is also commonly called 'leyening, a loanword from . It is also spelt lain, leyn, layn, or otherwise, as the use of a standardized romanization of Yiddish in popular culture is irregular at best.
Regular public reading of the Torah was introduced by Ezra after the return of the Judean exiles from the Babylonian captivity BCE as described in the Book of Nehemiah.. In the modern era, Orthodox Jews practice Torah reading according to a set procedure almost unchanged since the Talmudic era. Since the 19th century, Reform and Conservative Judaism have made some adaptations to the practice of Torah reading, but the basic pattern has usually remained the same.
As a part of the morning or afternoon prayer services on certain days of the week or holidays, a section of the five books of the Torah is read from a scroll. On Shabbat (Saturday) mornings, a weekly section (known as a sedra or parashah) is read, selected so that the Torah is read consecutively each year. Conservative and Reform synagogues may read parashot on a triennial rather than annual schedule... On Sabbath afternoons, Mondays, and Thursdays, the beginning of the following the Shabbat portion is read. On Jewish holidays (including Hanukkah and Purim as well as the periods known as Chol HaMoed), Rosh Chodesh, and ta'anit (fast days), special readings connected to the day are read.
Many Jews observe an annual holiday, Simchat Torah, to celebrate the completion of the year's cycle of readings.
Origins and history of the practice
The introduction of public reading of the Torah by Ezra is described in Nehemiah 8. However, the reading of the Torah in sections three times a week is said to date back to the time of Moses, according to the Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Tefillah 12:1.
The mitzvah of Torah reading was based on the Biblical commandment of Hakhel in Deuteronomy 10–13, by which once every seven years the entire people was to be gathered, "men, women and children," and hear much of Deuteronomy, the final volume of the Torah, read to them by the king.
Torah reading is discussed in the Mishna and Talmud, primarily in tractate Megilla.
It has been suggested that the reading of the Torah was due to a desire to controvert the views of the Samaritans with regard to the various Jewish festivals, for which reason arrangements were made to have the passages of the Torah relating to those festivals read and expounded on the feast-days themselves.
Triennial cycle
An alternative triennial cycle of Torah readings also existed at that time, a system whereby each week a sedra was read; that portion was approximately a third of the current parasha. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the triennial cycle "was the practice in Palestine, whereas in Babylonia the entire [Torah] was read in the synagogue in the course of a single year.", citing Megillah 29b. As late as 1170, Benjamin of Tudela mentioned Egyptian congregations that took three years to read the Torah., and this is corroborated by Maimonides, who mentions in his Mishneh Torah that a few communities in his time still read the Torah in three years.Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot tefillah u-virkat kohanim 13:1, viewed on Sefaria on January 16, 2025.
Joseph Jacobs, in the Jewish Encyclopedia article mentioned, notes that the transition from the triennial to the annual reading of the Law and the transference of the beginning of the cycle to the month of Tishri are attributed by Sándor Büchler to the influence of the amora Abba Arikha (175–247):
The current practice in Orthodox synagogues follows the annual or 'Babylonian' cycle. At the time of the publication of the Jewish Encyclopedia (1901–06), the author noted that there were only "slight traces of the triennial cycle in the four special Sabbaths and in some of the passages read upon the festivals, which are frequently sections of the triennial cycle, and not of the annual one"..
In the 19th and 20th centuries, some Conservative (as evidenced in the Etz Hayim Humash) and most Reform,. Reconstructing,. and Renewal congregations have switched to a triennial cycle, where the first third of each parashah is read one year, the second third the next year and the final third in a third year. This must be distinguished from the ancient practice, which was to read each seder in serial order regardless of the week of the year, completing the entire Torah in three (or three and a half) years in a linear fashion.
Occasions when the Torah is read The beginning of each weekly Torah portion (usually the first segment of seven) from the Torah is read during Mincha on Shabbat and at Shaharit (morning services) on Mondays and Thursdays. The entire weekly parashah is read on Shabbat mornings. Most major and minor festival and fast days have a unique Torah reading devoted to that day. The Torah is also read during afternoon services on fast days and Yom Kippur.
When the Torah is read in the morning, it comes after Tachanun or Hallel, or, if these are omitted, immediately after the Amidah. The Torah reading is followed by the recitation of the Hatzi Kaddish.
When the Torah is read during Minha, it occurs immediately before the Amidah.
Procedure
The term "Torah reading" is often used to refer to the entire ceremony of taking the Torah scroll(s) from the ark, reading excerpts from it to a special tune, and returning the scroll(s) to the ark.
The Torah scroll is stored in an ornamental cabinet, a Torah ark, designed specifically for scrolls. The Holy Ark is usually found in the front of the sanctuary, and is a central element of synagogue architecture. When needed for reading, the Torah is removed from the ark by someone chosen for the honor from among the congregants; specific prayers are recited as it is removed. The Torah is then carried by hazzan to the bima, a platform or table from which it will be read. The congregation recites further prayers while this is done.
Ikuv keriah, rarely practiced today, was a procedure by which community members could have their grievances addressed by interfering with the service at the time the Torah was removed from the ark.
Hagbaha
In the Sefardic tradition, the Torah is lifted before the reading, a practice called levantar, Judaeo-Spanish for "to lift up". In the Yemenite tradition, the Torah remains in a resting position while just the parchment is raised.
In Ashkenazi tradition, lifting is called hagbaha and is usually done after the reading, although some Nusach Sefard communities, especially in Israel, have adopted the Sephardic custom of doing it before the reading. The order was a matter of medieval dispute, but the position of the Kol Bo, lifting before, eventually lost to that of Moses Isserles, and is followed in only a few Ashkenazic communities. Two honorees are called: the magbiah 'lifter' performs hagbaha, displaying the text for all to see,.. after which the golel 'roller' performs the gelila 'rolling [of the Torah]' and puts on the cover, belt, crown, and/or other ornaments (this role, originally distinguished, is now often given to minors). In Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and some Open Orthodox congregations, these roles may also be performed by a woman. The respective titles for women are "Magbihah" and "Golelet". Rashi says on Megillah 32a that these roles were originally performed by the same honoree.
As the Hagbaha is performed, the congregation points toward the Torah scroll with their pinky fingers and recites Deut. 4:44, " ", adding, "on the word of YHWH, by hand of Moses." The custom of pointing has no clear origin. The medieval Ashkenazi custom, according to Moses Isserles, was to bow toward the scroll during Hagbaha; pointing is mentioned by Mordechai Krispin of Rhodes () in a work published by his grandson in 1836; pointing with the pinky, first recorded as a "Russian" custom by the 1912 Jewish Encyclopedia, was codified by the Me'am Lo'ez in 1969. Twentieth-century additions to the Me'am Loez were written by an Ashkenazi, Shmuel Kroizer, but the Sephardic prestige of the work has helped the custom become near-universal among both Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews.
In Ashkenazic congregations, the magbiah will usually sit holding the scroll until after the haftara is performed and the chazzan takes it from him to return it to the ark. In some congregations, the scroll is instead placed on the bima or handed to a different honoree (frequently a minor) to sit and hold.
Aliyot
A synagogue official, called a gabbai, then calls up several people (men in most Orthodox and some Conservative congregations, and any adult in others) in turn, to be honored with an aliyah (, pl. aliyot; 'ascent'). The honoree, or oleh (plural olim), stands at the bima and recites a blessing, after which either the oleh or, more usually, a designated reader reads a section of the day's Torah portion, followed by another blessing recited by the oleh.
There are always at least three aliyot in a given Torah-reading service:
Number of aliyotOccasion3Mondays and Thursdays, Shabbat afternoon, fast days (morning and afternoon), Hanukkah, Purim, Yom Kippur afternoon4Rosh Chodesh, Chol HaMoed5Passover (Yom Tov days only, excluding the chol hamoed), Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot (Yom Tov days only, excluding chol hamoed), Shemini Atzeret, Simchat Torah6Yom Kippur morning7Shabbat (Saturday) morning
On Saturday mornings, there are seven olim, the maximum of any day, but more may be added if desired, by subdividing these seven aliyot or repeating passages (according to the custom of some communities). When a festival or Yom Kippur coincides with Shabbat the readings are divided into seven aliyot instead of five or six.
In most congregations, the oleh does not read the Torah aloud. Rather, he stands near it while a practiced expert, called a ba'al qeri'ah ("one in charge of reading"; sometimes ba'al kore), reads the Torah with cantillation for the congregation. The oleh follows along with the expert, reading in a whisper. In Yemenite communities, the oleh reads the portion himself, while on the Sabbath and Festival mornings another person, usually a young boy, recites the targum after each verse.
In both Orthodox and Conservative congregations, it is common practice to give out an aliyah to a man (or woman, in Conservative congregations) who has just recovered from a serious illness, or returned from a long trip, or survived some other significant danger, in order to allow him (or her) to recite a special blessing, known as "benching gomel", although technically one can "bench gomel" even without receiving an Aliyah.
Aliyot are also given to a groom-to-be, or, in egalitarian congregations, to the bride-to-be and groom-to-be together, in a pre-wedding ceremony known as an aufruf.
In Jewish custom, baby boys are named in a special ceremony, known as a brit milah, but baby girls are often named during the Torah reading, with the father (in non-egalitarian congregations) or both parents (in egalitarian congregations) being called up for an aliyah prior to the naming, and a special blessing for the baby.
The first Aliyah