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Due to the pandemic some communities are having weekday services on Zoom. (There seem to be leniencies that support this. That is not what this question is about.) We can't read from the torah s...
#2: Post edited
by
Monica Cellio
·
2020-07-17T13:32:56Z (almost 4 years ago)
clarified that the public aspect is a factor, versus chanting in private study
- Due to the pandemic some communities are having weekday services on Zoom. (There seem to be leniencies that support this. That is not what this question is about.) We can't read from the torah scroll except in the presence of a *minyan*, and the communities I know about who are meeting on Zoom are holding by that and not having a torah service. However, some of them are *studying* torah at that place in the service by having somebody read the day's *aliyot*, without the blessings.
Assuming this torah-study approach is permitted in the first place (and if it's not, please address that), my question is: is there a preference either for or against the reader *chanting* the portion? On the one hand, chanting might be an enhancement and thus a benefit. On the other hand, chanting it when we're *not* actually reading torah from the scroll as part of a torah service might mislead or confuse people. On the third hand, we chant the *Sh'ma*, which is torah text too, outside of any torah service, so maybe people are expected to pay attention to context and we needn't be concerned with the appearance of having a torah service.
- Due to the pandemic some communities are having weekday services on Zoom. (There seem to be leniencies that support this. That is not what this question is about.) We can't read from the torah scroll except in the presence of a *minyan*, and the communities I know about who are meeting on Zoom are holding by that and not having a torah service. However, some of them are *studying* torah at that place in the service by having somebody read the day's *aliyot*, without the blessings.
- Assuming this torah-study approach is permitted in a service in the first place (and if it's not, please address that), my question is: is there a preference either for or against the reader *chanting* the portion publicly? On the one hand, chanting might be an enhancement and thus a benefit. On the other hand, chanting it when we're *not* actually reading torah from the scroll as part of a torah service might mislead or confuse people. (This concern doesn't arise if you are chanting in your private torah study.) On the third hand, we chant the *Sh'ma*, which is torah text too, outside of any torah service and in public, so maybe people are expected to pay attention to context and we needn't be concerned with the appearance of having a torah service.
#1: Initial revision
by
Monica Cellio
·
2020-07-17T00:08:06Z (almost 4 years ago)
Due to the pandemic some communities are having weekday services on Zoom. (There seem to be leniencies that support this. That is not what this question is about.) We can't read from the torah scroll except in the presence of a *minyan*, and the communities I know about who are meeting on Zoom are holding by that and not having a torah service. However, some of them are *studying* torah at that place in the service by having somebody read the day's *aliyot*, without the blessings. Assuming this torah-study approach is permitted in the first place (and if it's not, please address that), my question is: is there a preference either for or against the reader *chanting* the portion? On the one hand, chanting might be an enhancement and thus a benefit. On the other hand, chanting it when we're *not* actually reading torah from the scroll as part of a torah service might mislead or confuse people. On the third hand, we chant the *Sh'ma*, which is torah text too, outside of any torah service, so maybe people are expected to pay attention to context and we needn't be concerned with the appearance of having a torah service.