Halakhah Study Group 044

1:
At the very end of Tractate Megillah [Megillah 32a] we find the following statement of Rabbi Yoĥanan which is twice amended by the Gemara:

Rabbi Parnakh appears only seven times in the whole of the Babylonian Talmud and on each of these seven occasions he is quoting his teacher, the great Amora of Eretz-Israel, Rabbi Yoĥanan. Clearly, the Gemara has difficulty in accepting the original admonition of Rabbi Yoĥanan, to bury without shrouds anyone who touches a Torah scroll with his bare hands. Nevertheless, however much his statement is watered down – and it is watered down twice! – that problem is only in regards the fate of one who touches a Torah scroll bare-handed. All agree that one may not do so. This is why Rabbi Karo starts off this section with the plain statement that "it is forbidden to touch a Torah scroll with one's bare hands".

2:
It is not made clear why this prohibition is so important – or, indeed, why it is at all. One possibility may be that it is a practical precaution: the more a Sefer Torah is touched by peoples' bare hands the grubbier it becomes and the greater the danger that letters will be mutilated, thus rendering the scroll pasul, unfit for ritual use. Another possibility is that the prohibition is intended to enhance the sanctity of the Torah scroll in the understanding of those engaged in the Torah reading ceremony: what may not be touched barehanded must be of surpassing importance and sanctity – different from any other scroll or book.

3:
Obviously, the Torah scroll has to be handled otherwise it would not be possible to read from it. An indication of how the Torah scroll was meant to be handled is given in the continuation of the quotation given above. The Gemara [Megillah 32a] continues:

Clearly, a kerchief, a piece of material, is to be held in the hand whenever it is necessary to touch the Torah scroll. To this day it is the custom in Sefaradi communities to attach a chiffon kerchief to the Bereshit-handle of the Sefer Torah, so that it will be immediately available for the use of those engaged in the Torah Reading ceremony. It seems to have become the custom in Ashkenazi communities to use one's tallit when required to touch the Torah scroll. However, many people are not conversant with this ruling, and it should surely be the task of the Gabbai to gently prevent an honoree from touching the scroll with his bare hands. (Obviously, this rule applies only to the parchment itself, and not to the wooden handles to which it is attached.)

4:
When the Torah has to be handled professionally the rule cannot be stringently applied. When a scribe is writing a scroll, or when a scroll is being checked, mended, sewn and so forth, it is certainly permissible to touch the parchment barehanded. However, scribes have accustomed themselves, nevertheless, to show reverence for the scroll even when handling it thus by washing their hands before starting their work on the scroll.

5:
In their comments of Tractate Shabbat the Tosafists suggest that this same rule should apply to all other sacred scrolls. (In many orthodox congregations even today it is customary to read the five megillot and the haftarot from a scroll. I would assume that in Conservative congregations all over the world it is only the scroll of Esther that is still read from a parchment scroll.) But, as Rabbi Isserles points out in his note, this stringency concerning scrolls other than a Torah scroll either never caught on at all or has since died out.

6:
The rest of this paragraph (and most of the rest of Section 147) is concerned with the ceremony which we now call hagbahah. This involves the raising of the Torah scroll aloft so that three columns of text are visible to the congregation. In Sefaradi congregations this is done before the commencement of the Torah reading, so that the congregation can quite literally see the text that is about to be read. In Ashkenazi congregations hagbahah is performed at the end of the Torah reading, when the scroll is to be rolled closed and redressed, gelilah. Rabbi Karo states that originally the honour of raising the Torah scroll was given to the most prominent of those honoured with an aliyyah. However, it later became the custom to give a charitable donation towards the synagogue upkeep in order to secure this most honoured function. (In Talmudic times hagbahah was held to be the most desirable of all the honours available!) Nowadays the vast majority of Conservative congregations hold that the 'buying' of an honour is not consonant with the dignity of the service. However, perhaps we should note that since we have stopped 'buying' the honour of hagbahah it has lost its aura of importance completely, which is a shame.

7:
Rabbi Isserles adds a note that is applicable only to the kind of Torah scroll used in Ashkenazi congregations, where a "jacket" (me'il) is used to dress the Torah scroll when it is not in use. (Sefaradi congregations house their Torah scrolls in decorated wooden cases which are a kind of permanent cover.) These Ashkenazi "jackets" are usually of an impressive velvet; but in earlier times it seems that they were made of linen lined with silk. Isserless states that the silken side must be put next to the parchment, so that it is the more expensive material that comes into direct contact with the Torah scroll.