Halakhah Study Group 045

1:
One matter than makes the understanding of paragraph 2 of Section 147 a little more difficult is the fact that there are terms used in it that now hold for us a slightly different meaning. First of all we must recollect that in earlier times it was (and in very many orthodox synagogues to this very day it still is) the custom to pay money for the synagogue upkeep in exchange for the honour of performing ritual functions. (See paragraph 1 in last week's shiur.) As I mentioned in our last shiur, this custom is not now observed in most Conservative synagogues. One reason is certainly because it is not held to be conducive to the air of decorous reverence that nowadays one must associate with Divine worship. Another may be the consideration that selling these honours "to the highest bidder" is not only indecorous but also has the practical effect of disenfranchising those members of the congregation who are in a lower income bracket. However, we must also try to understand the psychology of the original custom: being prepared to offer a substantial sum of money for the privilege of performing a certain rite in the synagogue ritual is an expression of the extent to which a person cherishes those rites, loves them, honours them. But this positive consideration will inevitably have a negative counterpart: the more money I donate to the synagogue for these privileges the higher my social standing in the community will be perceived to be.

2:
Once we adjust our minds to this custom we can understand that those that had paid good money for their privileges would be jealous of their rights. On the other hand, the gabbaïm whose task it is to see that there is always enough money in the synagogue coffers to cover all communal needs, will wish to extend the number of rites that are purchasable to as much as possible. Thus, in addition to the honour of dressing the Torah scroll (which is the main subject of Section 147) it seems that in some localities an extra honour was introduced: that of passing to the "dresser" of the scroll the jacket with which the scroll is dressed. In such communities the person who purchased the honour of "dressing" the Torah scroll after use may not object that he has to share part of this honour with someone else.

3:
But the greatest mental adjustment that we must make in order to understand paragraph 2 of Section 147 is to recollect that more often than not in these paragraphs where the term used is "to roll" the scroll, or the honour of being "the roller", the reference is to what we would call today the honour of hagbahah, of raising the scroll so that the congregation can see the text of the Torah before it is dressed once again (by the person honoured with the rite of gelilah). As I wrote in our last shiur, the origin of this confusion is to be found in the different manner that Torah scrolls are housed in the various communities of Israel. By and large – but not exclusively – Sefaradi communities house their Torah scrolls in highly decorated wooden cases that can be opened while the scroll is held upright on the tevah [reading desk] and the Torah thus read. Thus, in Sefaradi congregations, the only reason that there is to raise the scroll (hagbahah) is to enable the congregation to see the text which is about to be read and to show it reverence. Thus in Sefaradi congregations the scroll is raised before the Torah reading begins. However, Ashkenazi communities have the custom of housing their scrolls in "jackets" of some costly material, and the Torah scroll has to be dressed in its jacket. It is but natural, then, that in Ashkenazi communities it was (and is) the custom to raise the Torah scroll after it has been read (hagbahah) so that it can then be dressed in its jacket (gelilah).

4:
Prior to the ceremony of reading the Torah it must be brought from the Ark to the desk, tevah, on which it will rest during the reading. The cantor approaches the Ark and a person designated for this honour takes out the scroll and hands it to the cantor. Inevitably, this honour too was purchased. The note in paragraph 2 of Section 147 points out that in such communities the cantor may not complain that his rights have been infringed: "the honour of taking out the Torah scroll from the Ark is not part of the prerogatives of the cantor" – whatever may have been the consideration before the custom of purchasing honours may have been.