Congregation Beth Ha'Mashiach
(House of the Messiah) - Worshipping ADONAI
& His Messiah, Yeshua Ha'Mashiach
Living & teaching as our
Messiah taught us to Live
Messianic
Congregation serving Northeast Atlanta Georgia (Gwinnett, Barrow, Dekalb,
Rockdale, Walton)
Phone 770
554-2867 - email:
rabbi@cbhm.org
Messianic Congregation located
in Metro Atlanta serving Snellville, Lawrenceville, Loganville, Georgia
The
TORAH
The Torah contains the Five Books of Moses,
whose English and Hebrew names are: Genesis (Beresheet), Exodus (Sh'mot),
Leviticus (Vayikra), Numbers (B'midbar), Deuteronomy (Devarim)
The Torah is divided into parashot
(Torah portions) which are three to five chapters in length. The parashot are
read, in order, each Shabbat throughout the year, in a yearly cycle which begins
and ends on Simchat Torah (a holiday celebrated at the end of Sukkot). On holy
days, festivals and other special occasions, special passages outside the cycle
of reading are read.
Hebrew consists of consonants and vowels.
However, unlike English, most printed Hebrew contains only consonants.
Printed editions of the Torah contain vowels, as well as cantillation symbols
(called also trop) which signify the proper way to chant the text.
While printed editions of the Torah abound, in
both Hebrew and English translation, and with many different commentaries, when
the Torah is read in the synagogue on Shabbat and holidays, it is read from a
hand-written scroll, called a Sefer Torah, in keeping with age-old tradition. It
takes several months, and often as a long as a year to complete one Sefer Torah.
TheSefer
Torah is written by a scribe, special trained for this holy task, on sheets of
parchment. The parchment must derive from a kosher animal, usually a cow, and is
meticulously prepared by the scribe, who first soaks the skin in lime water to
remove hairs, and then stretches the skin over a wooden frame to dry. The scribe
scrapes the skin while it is stretched over the wooden frame to remove more hair
and smooths the surface of the skin in preparation for writing on it with the
use of a sanding machine. When the skin is dry, the scribe cuts it into a
rectangle. The scribe must prepare many such skins because a
Sefer Torah usually contains 248 columns, and one rectangle of parchment
yields space for three or four columns. Thus a Sefer Torah may require as many
as 80 skins in all.
When the parchment sheets are ready, the
scribe marks out lines and columns using a stylus, which makes a mark in the
skin but no color. Each sheet must have at least three columns, and there
must be a margin of three inches on the top, four inches at the bottom, and two
inches between columns.
The scribe makes the quills for writing a
Sefer Torah. The feathers must come from a kosher bird (usually a goose).
The scribe also prepares ink for writing the Sefer Torah by combining powdered
gall nuts, copper sulfate crystals, gum arabic, and water, preparing only a
small amount at a time, so that the ink will always be fresh. Fresh ink is a
deep black, and only this is acceptable for writing a Sefer Torah.
One the materials are prepared, the scribe
visits the mikveh (ceremonial washing) in preparation for such holy work, and
prays that the holy work about to be undertaken will be imbued with the sanctity
in the scribe's heart. While at work, the scribe is a vessel or vehicle for
God's holy words and thus intense concentration and cognizance of the sanctity
of the work are critically important. Moreover, the scroll may contain no errors
whatsoever. While some mistakes may be corrected by scraping off the ink of a
letter made in error and rewriting it, if a mistake is made in writing any of
the names of God, no correction may be made because God's name may not be
erased. The entire sheet of parchment must be destroyed, and the scribe must
begin that section of the Torah again. Once the sheets of parchment are
completed, the scribe checks them each three times with the help of someone else
who uses a Tikkun (a specially prepared printed text).
When the writing is complete, the scribe sews
the individual pieces of parchment together using a thread called giddin which
is made from the leg sinews of a kosher animal, most commonly a cow, a sheep, or
an ox. The scribe makes one stick every six lines of text, sewing the backs of
the parchment sheets, so that the stitches are not visible from the front. Then
the scrolls is sewn onto wooden rollers called Eitz Chaim (tree of life).
The Torah is then dressed and ready to be dedicated.
How is
Torah read?
In most congregations, the Torah is chanted
according to a musical system called trop, which can found in many
printed editions of the Torah. While the notation for the text is, by and large,
standardized, there are many different musical systems employed for chanting the
Torah. In other words, there is general agreement about the specific trop
symbols which apply to the words of the Torah, but many different tunes, and
versions of tunes, by which the trop are sung. In some congregations, the Torah
is either read without chanting, or read in Hebrew accompanied by a simultaneous
translation.
It is challenging to learn to learn to read
from a Sefer Torah, which contains no vowels, and even more challenging to chant
Torah, because one must know not only the proper vowels, but the musical
notation, as well.
A Tikkun (which means "correction") is
a specially printed book which contains two columns on each page. One column
contains a printed text of the Torah, with vowels and trop (cantillation) marks.
The person preparing to read or chant the Torah learns the text from this
column. In the facing column is a photographic reproduction of the same text
(one column's worth) from a hand-written Sefer Torah. The person preparing a
Torah portion practices from this column after studying the printed column.
Who may
read from the Torah?
The one who blesses and reads from the Torah
must be an adult in the eyes of the community, for the reader is fulfilling a
commandment on behalf of all those assembled. The reader must be at least 13
years and one day of age. "Bar Mitzvah" and "Bat Mitzvah" mean "one who is of
the age of commandment" and is the status which one attains at the age of 13 and
a day. Thus, a young person may bless and read from the Torah only upon reaching
this age. This is the reason that the ceremony marking becoming Bat Mitzvah or
Bar Mitzvah centers on blessing and reading from the Torah.
Dressing the Torah
The Torah is dressed because it is holy and is
considered the core of God's communication with Israel. The manner in which it
is dressed is symbolic of the garb worn by the High Priest of old when he served
God in the sanctuary of the Temple in Jerusalem. Once, Jewish worship centered
on the sacrificial system in the Temple, as described extensively in the Torah.
After the Destruction of the 2nd Temple in 69/70 C.E., non-Messianic Jews
believe daily prayer replaced the sacrifices as the focus of Jewish service of
God.
Chapter 28 of the Book of Exodus contains a
description of the garb of the High Priest. His special clothing included a
tunic (the Torah mantle, or covering), a belt (the sash around the Torah
scroll), a miter (the crown of the Torah), and a breastplate. Each of these has
been reproduced in some fashion for dressing and decorating the Sefer Torah.
The mantle, symbolic
of the High Priest's tunic, resembles a cylinder with one closed end that
contains two small, round holes, through which the wooden rolls protrude. The
mantle may be decorated as the congregation
chooses, and often verses about the importance of Torah are embroidered on the
front of the mantle.
The sash of the High Priest is symbolized by
the sash which ties the scroll together before the mantle is placed over the
scroll. This sash, or belt, holds the scroll tightly rolled and protects it when
it is being held or standing in the ark. The belt is fastened by a hook or
sometimes by velcro. Sometimes, a child's swaddling cloth is embroidered and
decorated and sewn into a sash and given as a gift to the congregation.
The High Priest wore a special breastplate,
encrusted with 12 precious- and semi-precious stones symbolizing the 12 Tribes
of Israel when he was engaged in his sacred duties. In this manner, it was clear
that the High Priest served God on behalf of the entire people Israel. Torah
scrolls are often similarly dressed, with a breastplate which is hung over the
top of the eitz chaim (wooden rollers), though it can have a wide variety of
designs and inscriptions. This symbolizes that the Torah is the inheritance of
the entire Jewish people.
One does not touch the parchment scroll, both
because of its sanctity and because the oils of our hands can damage the
delicate writing. Therefore, a pointer called a yad is used. It may be
made of wood or metal, and is shaped like a right hand with a finger pointing.
The reader keeps his/her place in the scroll using the yad.
Finally, just as the High Priest wore a miter
on his head, the Torah wears either a crown, which covers both wooden rollers,
or two rimonim (meaning "pomegranates"), one on each eitz chaim. The crown and
rimonim are often decorated with small bells that emit a jingling sound when the
Torah is carried through the congregation. So, too, the robe of the High Priest
had small bells sewn around its hem so that people could hear the High Priest as
he moved about the sanctuary in performance of his duties in the Tabernacle.
Many Messianic Believers consider the crown to be symbolic of
Messiah Yeshua's future role as the King of Kings & L-rd of L-rds.
