Halakhah Study Group 024

2:
The Talmud of Eretz-Israel [Megillah 27b] recounts further:

3:
From this we understand that showing respect for the Torah reading by standing is not enough: the manner in which we stand is also important. The person reading the Torah must stand while doing so and may not lean on anything. This means that the reader may not support himself or herself in any way – not on the barrier that marks the edge of the bimah and not on the table (lectern) on which the Torah scroll itself is resting.

4:
All this is required lekhatĥilah – as the most preferable manner in which the Torah is read publicly. However, we are but human and it is not always possible to maintain such a high standard. If someone has to support himself while reading for reasons of health this would not be considered to be a mark of disrespect for the Torah. The text of the Shulĥan Arukh gives the example of an honoree who is so obese that he cannot standing without support; but the later authorities expand this permission to include anyone who is too weak to be able to stand without support: the aged, the infirm, the invalid and so forth. (However, even here, the support such a person permits himself or herself should be the minimum necessary.)

5:
Again, all this is required lekhatĥilah. However, bedi-avad if this strict ruling was not adhered to for any reason, even if the honoree read the Torah while sitting down this does not invalidate the reading. For example, one could hardly view an honoree who is confined to a wheelchair as being disrespectful to the Torah or its public reading. Nor could one see an honoree who had to support himself with a walking stick as lacking in respect for the occasion.

6:
All that we have said so far in this paragraph has been with reference to the honoree himself (or herself). In his additional note Rabbi Moshe Isserles states that the same respect for the Torah reading that we expect from the honoree we expect from the cantor who is actually reading the Torah. He or she should, ideally, read standing and without support.

7:
Later authorities have pointed out that the cantor should pay special attention to the requirement that he or she not support themselves in any way when reading from a large scroll. If the scroll is lengthy (i.e. the columns are long) it is possible that the cantor might accidentally lean on the lectern in order to read the top lines of the column. However, if this is necessary for the reading of the Torah obviously it is not forbidden, since all these rulings are only lekhatĥilah, and bedi-avad the lenient view may be automatically adopted.

8:
It is not only the cantor who must ideally observe these marks of respect: all those associated with the public reading of the Torah should observe them. Thus not only the honoree and the cantor, but also the synagogue functionaries who are present on the bimah should also observe these strictures and make sure as much as possible that their stance is one of respect and reserve.