Where is torah kept

On festivals, special selections are read outside of this order that either mention the particular holiday or highlight a theme of the festival. The Torah is also read twice each week, on Mondays and Thursdays, when ancient market days were held in the land of Israel; on Saturday afternoons, the Torah is also read. The service for removing the Torah from the ark, parading it around the congregation, reading it, and then returning it became an opportunity to symbolically reenact the history of Israel, from the giving of the Torah at Sinai to the worship in the Temple in Jerusalem.

In every synagogue, the Torah scrolls are kept in a cabinet called the Aron haKodesh , or holy ark. In Sephardic congregations, the cabinet is called a Teivah ark. Both names, Aron haKodesh and Teivah, hearken back to the cabinet that housed the tablets of the Ten Commandments in the Holy of Holies in the portable Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem.

The name confers upon the parchment scrolls a measure of the awe reserved for the stone tablets that, Scripture reports, were written by the finger of God. When the doors or curtains of the ark in a synagogue are opened, revealing the Torahs, it is customary for the congregation to stand just as the Israelites stood at the base on Mount Sinai for the revelation of the Torah. By reciting this verse, the Jews in the synagogue begin the reenactment of the Israelite march through the wilderness with the holy ark in their midst.

The platform and the desk for Torah readings are called the Bimah pronounced beemar , and in an Orthodox synagogue are in the centre of the building. In a Reform synagogue, the Bimah is usually close to the Ark. At the proper moment in the service the Ark is ceremonially opened, and the Torah scroll is carried in procession to the reading desk, unrolled to the reading chosen for the day and laid on the reading desk.

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Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets CSS if you are able to do so. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving. The Synagogue Last updated On this page Synagogue layout and services Clothing during worship Sacred items and ceremonies Find out more Page options Print this page. Synagogue layout and services Inside the synagogue The synagogue is the Jewish place of worship, but is also used as a place to study, and often as a community centre as well.

Segregation In Orthodox synagogues men and women sit separately, and everyone except young girls has their head covered. The service Synagogue services can be led by a rabbi, a cantor or a member of the congregation.

Traditional Jewish worship requires a minyan a quorum of ten adult males to take place. Few British synagogues now have a choir, but they are more common in the USA. When the parokhet is drawn aside, you will see in most shuls the doors to the ark, which are, again, often elaborately decorated. Opening the doors, you will see a cabinet usually lined in velvet where the Sifrei Torah—the Torah scrolls—rest.

The Torah scrolls themselves are covered by cloth mantles covers elaborately designed on the front. These mantles are open at the bottom and closed at the top except for the two openings that enclose the rollers.

This and the other objects described below are considered holy and, once again, are never discarded when worn out. Often there are a number of other objects decorating the Torah. These can include:. Rimonim: Finials—separate decorative objects adorning the tops of the rollers, often in the shape of pomegranates.

Tas: Breastplate or silver shield hanging over the front of the Torah reminiscent of the breastplate of the high priest in the Temple. These objects can be very ornate and come in many different styles.

Since Sephardic Jews keep their Torah inside a wooden case, often covered with silver, they do not use a cloth cover. Interestingly enough, they also read from the Torah without removing it from this case. If all these decorative coverings were removed, we would find the sash or buckle that keeps the Torah rollers clasped together tightly. It, too, is often decorated with elaborate care. The Torah is handwritten by a trained scribe on parchment made from a kosher animal.