Halakhah Study Group 018

1:
The provisions of this paragraph obviously originate in the earlier custom of having each honoree read his own passage when the length or brevity of the passage read was determined to a large extent by the honoree himself. Originally the first honoree would recite the blessing before the reading and the last honoree, upon completing the reading for the day, would recite the blessing after the reading. It was sensible to ensure that the honoree would know where he was to start reading, so that there would not be a hiatus between the blessing and the reading. When it later became the custom for every honoree to recite the blessings it was but natural that each one would be required to open the scroll, find the place and only then recite the first blessing.

2:
We can also understand the preoccupation of this section with the opening and closing of the scroll by reference to Sefaradi custom. The Sefaradi communities have preserved the ancient custom of enclosing the Sefer Torah in a wooden box, which is usually highly decorated. The Torah in its box is stood upright on the lectern for reading. The box is hinged in such a way that when it is opened the scroll will be facing the reader, ready for immediate reading. It is not as convenient to handle these boxed Sifré Torah as it is to handle the kind of Torah scroll favoured by Ashkenazi custom, where the scroll is simply covered with an easily removeable cloth cover. Thus this paragraph requires the honoree to open the box housing the Sefer Torah, find the correct place and then recite the first blessing. Upon completion of the reading he must swing the box closed on its hinges and then recite the concluding blessing.

3:
Rabbi Moshe Isserles adds a note reflecting the Ashkenazi bias. Just as it is best to understand the rule discussed in the previous paragraph as originating in the realia of everyday life (the housing of Sifré Torah), so it is best to understand the comment of the Rema in a similar light; but in this case the rule does not depend on the Sefer Torah but on the lack of printed prayerbooks. Until the late middle ages there were no readily available printed prayerbooks and both the cantor and the congregant had to recite their prayers from memory. The Rema cites an Ashkenazi ruling from the compendium "Kol Bo" (which dates from the early 14th century) which requires the honoree not to look at the Sefer Torah while he is reciting the blessing before the reading, "so that it will not seem as if they are reciting the blessing from the Torah". In the commentary called "Mishnah Berurah" (which dates from the late 19th century and early 20th century) this fear is already dismissed because "nowadays everybody knows that the blessings are not written in the Torah".

In HSG 016, concerning the Torah reading on Rosh Ĥodesh, I described the order of reading as suggested by the Vilner Ga'on and then I added: I do not know why this solution has not been more widely accepted, since it does solve the problem … quite neatly. In the Conservative Movement, Rabbi Isaac Klein in his Guide to Jewish Religious Practice, page 264, gives the allocation given in the Shulĥan Arukh without comment. I cannot see any reason why those congregations who wish to follow the Talmudic rule exactly should not adopt the solution offered by the Vilner Ga'on. Josh Greenfield writes:

I would assume that this solution hasn't been adopted since it is not the one found in our printed books (siddurim, chumashim, etc.). With the advent of printing, standardization is more easily achieved; more importantly, I think we now have a presumption of standardization, so people coming in during the middle of Torah reading would be more likely to assume that the Torah reader followed the divisions in a printed text rather than chose starting and stopping places on a whim. Does this presumption of standardization then obviate the worries we might have about people coming in and assuming one could, for example, read an aliyah of only two verses?

I respond:

I think that Josh is probably right about the influence that printed prayerbooks and Ĥumashim have had over our synagogual habits. More's the pity, I think. Perhaps we would all become a little more learned if we tried to revert to the earlier, more elastic, forms. However, somehow I don't think that is going to happen. Josh is wrong in his second question: the minimum of three verses for each Aliyyah is not a 'suggestion' but a requirement, derived directly from the Gemara in Megillah 21b.

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Yiftah Shapir also writes concerning the same issue, but from a different perspective:

You gave the suggestion [of how to resolve the allocation of Torah reading on Rosh Ĥodesh – SR] of the GR"A [the Vilner Ga'on – SR]: oddly enough, I noticed long ago that in my siddur both versions are noted, and the GR"A's suggestion is marked as "In Eretz Yisrael"… yet as you mentioned – I never witnessed this order being implemented…

I respond:

The Ga'on set out to make Aliyyah to Eretz-Israel but had to return home. However, he always encouraged his students to make Aliyyah and after his death many of them did. Thus the very first Ashkenazi settlement in Eretz-Israel in modern times was that of the disciples of the Vilner Ga'on. They did not adopt the customs of the Sefaradi Jews already living in Israel (which to this day is a major halakhic complaint of Rabbi Ovadya Yosef), but continued to follow the customs of their revered teacher. The liturgical customs and innovations of the Vilner Ga'on, therefore, are the basic customs of the Ashkenazi communities of Eretz-Israel, and they differ in minor points from the established Ashkenazi custom in most of the diaspora (which derives from the Polish communities of the 18th century). (Of course, the Ĥassidic courts in Eretz-Israel follow their own customs – and certainly not those of the Vilner Ga'on!)