Rosh Yeshiva Responds
Rabbi Linzer answers halakhic questions from rabbis and community members
QUESTION
Baltimore, MD
Can one adopt the Sephardic custom of haftarah reading for one week to accommodate a bar mitzvah?
ANSWER
I think it should be totally fine, based on Iggerot Moshe OH 1:103. Rav Moshe Feinstein lets a bar mitzvah boy who prepared one haftarah say it another week when Sephardim read that same haftarah, as the bar mitzvah boy wasn’t be able to say it the week of due to another boy’s bar mitzvah. Since it at was the appropriate
If there are a pair of brothers (Reuven and Shimon) who’s father is a kohen and Reuven decided to forego his kohen status to marry someone, is Reuven still called to the Torah as Reuven ben Ploni haKohen, or just Reuven ben Ploni? (Shimon is in the same kehillah and is called up as the kohen he identifies as).
First of all – there IS NO SUCH THING as giving up your kohen status. You can violate your kohen status, but you are still a sinning kohen, not a non-kohen.
My nervous-about-leining 13 year old asked me this theoretical question: On Monday or Thursday (of course this couldn’t be done on Shabbat), could a well placed projector be used to project the nekudot/ta’amim onto the Torah klaf during the leining?
Absolutely. You could also have earbuds on and listening to someone read it and saying it along with them, as long as you were looking at the Torah and actually reading the words. This is my general advice for Purim when someone or a community has
When taking an aliyah from one’s seat and not standing next to the ba’al korei, should the oleh read the text from their chumash? Or is it better to just stand there and listen intently?
I don’t see any (halakhic) benefit in reading from the chumash. I actually think it is worse if it disconnects you from the connection to the reading itself.
Not looking in the Sefer Torah is based on the discussions around a blind person, and ultimately relies
If calling up a Bat Mitzvah for the maftir aliyah, should you change חזק to חזקי? Is it a command? Or is it an adjective and should be חזקה? Or is it an adverb/exclamation and should just stay חזק?
I’m assuming you mean at the end of a sefer. It’s a command wish, “Be strong!” So yes, it should be חזקי (for those women who read Torah at women’s Torah readings or partnership minyanim), based on the pasuk שמואל ב י:יב,
Does a shulchan require a cloth covering for when the Torah is being read? Or can the Torah be read directly on wood?
No, a cover is not strictly needed. The Gemara talks about it being put down directly on a chair or the like. See Megillah 26b, Shulchan Arukh YD 282:12 (and the Tur/Beit Yosef there).
To clarify, if it is read directly on the wood, then the bimah becomes a tashmish kedushah, not just a tashmish DeTashmish. This is a larger discussion if it was only used
Is there an issue with rolling sifrei Torah on Shabbat in preparation for Yom Tov? Would the tircha detzibura override any hachanah or quasi-hachanah concerns?
Well, someone could always get to shul early on Yom Tov morning, so not really tircha detzibura. But if you read (not keriah, just read like from a chumash) from the section you rolled it to, then you are using it on Shabbat. You can even point out to someone some interesting feature, like how the days are each a separate paragraph.
I see a lot of non-Orthodox shuls have a practice of unrolling the Torah entirely on Simchat Torah (I think this started with the Renewal movement). Is this a kavod to the Torah or it a bizayon to the Torah? Are there any halakhic issues with this practice?
Regarding holding the entire Torah open – the first and primary concern that I would have is the issur to hold the klaf of the sefer Torah directly with your hands, based on Shabbat 14a, that a person cannot hold a sefer
Which of the Keriat HaTorah options that allow for distancing (the ba’al korei gets all aliyot; oleh takes it from their seat; oleh approaches but does not stand at the Torah; something else) makes the most sense halakhically?
They are all legitimate. I prefer 7 olim getting it, especially if they can see the ketav and/or make a move towards the Torah.
Rosh Yeshiva Responds
Rabbi Dov Linzer will be answering shailas from YCT rabbis and community members on video each week.