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Concept
Torah reading
Summary
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 cantillation (trope), and returning the scroll(s) to the ark.
It is also commonly called "laining" (lein is also spelt lain, leyn, layn; from the Yiddish , which means "to read").
Regular public reading of the Torah was introduced by Ezra the Scribe after the return of the Judean exiles from the Babylonian captivity (537 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 CE, Reform and Conservative Judaism have made adaptations to the practice of Torah reading, but the basic pattern of Torah reading 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 Pentateuch is read from a Torah scroll. On Shabbat (Saturday) mornings, a weekly section (known as a sedra or parashah) is read, selected so that the entire Pentateuch is read consecutively each year. On Sabbath afternoons, Mondays, and Thursdays, the beginning of the following Sabbath's portion is read. On Jewish holidays, Rosh Chodesh, and fast days, special sections 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.
The introduction of public reading of the Torah by Ezra the Scribe after the return of the Judean exiles is described in Nehemiah Chapter 8. However, the reading of the Torah three times a week (albeit not as many verses) goes back to the times of Moshe.
The mitzvah of Torah reading was based on the Biblical commandment of Hakhel (Deuteronomy 31:10–13), by which once every 7 years the entire people was to be gathered, "men, women and children," and hear much of Deuteronomy, the final volume of the Pentateuch, read to them (see the closing chapters of the Talmudic tractate Sotah) by the King.
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