Raising the Torah – Ask the Rabbi
Q. Why do we raise the Torah after it has been read?
A. Ashkenazi and Sephardi customs differ. The Sephardim raise the scroll before and the Ashkenazim after the reading. Both customs are explained by Samson Raphael Hirsch in these words:
“The Torah is the treasure which rules supreme over the congregation and which the congregation must uphold and raise on high”.
Hirsch adds, “To this very day we recognise it as the same Law which Moses placed before the Children of Israel” – implying that whatever the claims of other religions, the Torah given at Sinai remains, unchanged and unchallenged, the central feature of Judaism.
The V’zot HaTorah comes from Deut. 4:44 followed by part of Num. 9:23, denoting that the Torah is from God and was conveyed to us by Moses His servant. Once, the Deuteronomy verse was probably said by the person who raised the scroll and the second quotation was the congregational response.
Three verses follow (from Proverbs 3:18, 17 and 16 – in reverse order to that found in the Bible; a similar reversal of order is found in the Ashkenazi version of Tzid’kat’cha Tzedek on Shabbat afternoon, coming from Psalms 119:45, 71:19 and 36:7).
