Pages

pp. 562-563

Shaharit for Shabbat and Yom Tov

Removing the Torah

hotza-at sefer Torah

הוצאת ספר תורה

Israeli: ' marks a reduced vowel that Israeli speech drops (b'rachah); when the vowel is pronounced it is written e (lefanecha). - separates syllables that would otherwise run together.

How to read the transliterations

הוצאת ספר תורה

REMOVING THE TORAH FROM THE ARK

Deut. 4

Hebrew

אַתָּה הָרְאֵתָ לָדַעַת, כִּי יְהֹוָה הוּא הָאֱלֹהִים, אֵין עוֹד מִלְבַדּוֹ:

Israeli

atah hare-eta lada-at, ki Adonai hu ha-Elohim, ein od milvado:

Ps. 86

Hebrew

אֵין־כָּמוֹךָ בָאֱלֹהִים, אֲדֹנָי, וְאֵין כְּמַעֲשֶׂיךָ:

Israeli

ein-kamocha va-Elohim, Adonai, ve-ein k'ma-asecha:

Ps. 145

Hebrew

מַלְכוּתְךָ מַלְכוּת כָּל־עֹלָמִים, וּמֶמְשַׁלְתְּךָ בְּכָל־דּוֹר וָדֹר:

Israeli

malchutcha malchut kol-olamim, umemshaltecha b'chol-dor vador:

Hebrew

יְהֹוָה מֶלֶךְ, יְהֹוָה מָלָךְ, יְהֹוָה יִמְלֹךְ לְעֹלָם וָעֶד.

Israeli

Adonai melech, Adonai malach, Adonai yimloch le-olam va-ed.

Ps. 29

Hebrew

יְהֹוָה עֹז לְעַמּוֹ יִתֵּן, יְהֹוָה יְבָרֵךְ אֶת־עַמּוֹ בַשָּׁלוֹם:

Israeli

Adonai oz le-amo yiten, Adonai yevarech et-amo vashalom:

Ps. 51

Hebrew

אַב הָרַחֲמִים, הֵיטִיבָה בִרְצוֹנְךָ אֶת־צִיּוֹן תִּבְנֶה חוֹמוֹת יְרוּשָׁלָיִם:
כִּי בְךָ לְבַד בָּטַחְנוּ, מֶלֶךְ אֵל רָם וְנִשָּׂא, אֲדוֹן עוֹלָמִים.

Israeli

av harachamim, heitivah virtzonecha et-tziyon tivneh chomot Yerushalayim:
ki v'cha levad batachnu, melech El ram venisa, adon olamim.

The Ark is opened and the congregation stands. All say:

Num. 10

Hebrew

וַיְהִי בִּנְסֹעַ הָאָרֹן וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה
קוּמָה יְהֹוָה וְיָפֻצוּ אֹיְבֶיךָ וְיָנֻסוּ מְשַׂנְאֶיךָ מִפָּנֶיךָ:

Israeli

vayehi binsoa ha-aron vayomer Mosheh
kumah Adonai veyafutzu oyvecha veyanusu mesanecha mipanecha:

Is. 2

Hebrew

כִּי מִצִּיּוֹן תֵּצֵא תוֹרָה וּדְבַר־יְהֹוָה מִירוּשָׁלָיִם:

Israeli

ki mitziyon tetzei Torah udvar-adonai mirushalayim:

Hebrew

בָּרוּךְ שֶׁנָּתַן תּוֹרָה לְעַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל בִּקְדֻשָּׁתוֹ.

Israeli

baruch shenatan Torah le-amo Yisra-el bikdushato.

On Shabbat, continue with “Blessed is the name” on page 566.

Commentary

… study as well as prayer. During the Second Temple period and later eras, the reading was accompanied by verse-by-verse translation into the vernacular, mainly Aramaic. Over the course of time, the act of taking the Torah from, and returning it to, the Ark became ceremonial moments in their own right.

אַתָּה הָרְאֵתָ You have been shown: A collection of verses and phrases from the Tanakh.

וַיְהִי בִּנְסֹעַ הָאָרֹן Whenever the Ark set out: A description of the Ark during the journeys of the Israelites in the wilderness. The parallel verse, “When it came to rest,” is recited when the Torah is returned to the Ark. Thus, the taking of the Sefer Torah from the Ark and its return recall the Ark of the covenant which accompanied the Israelites in the days of Moses.

כִּי מִצִּיּוֹן תֵּצֵא תוֹרָה For the Torah shall come forth from Zion: part of Isaiah’s famous vision (2:2–4) of the end of days.

READING OF THE TORAH Since the revelation at Mount Sinai, the Jewish people has been a nation defined by a book: the Torah. The Mosaic books are more than sacred literature, they are the written constitution of the house of Israel as a nation under the sovereignty of God, the basis of its collective memory, the record of its covenant with God, the template of its existence as “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” and the detailed specification of the task it is called on to perform: to construct a society on the basis of justice and compassion and the inalienable dignity of the human person as the image of God. Just as the Torah is central to Jewish life, so the reading of the Torah is central to the synagogue service.

The Tanakh records several key moments in Jewish history when national rededication was accompanied by a public reading of the Torah, most famously in the days of King Josiah (II Kings, chapter 23) and Ezra (Nehemiah, chapter 8). According to tradition, Moses ordained that the Torah be read regularly and publicly; a long reading on Shabbat morning and shorter readings on Mondays and Thursdays. Ezra, reinstituting this practice, added the reading on Shabbat afternoon. Thus from its earliest days the synagogue was a place of …