In the blessing before the reading of the Torah, we say that God "chose us from all the peoples and gave us God's Torah." Do we, as Reform Jews, believe that literally? If not, why do we say so in the blessing?
Reform Jews, in general, do not believe in the literal transmission of the words of the Torah from God to the Jewish people at a single historical event at Mount Sinai. We see Sinai as a symbol of our ongoing relationship between God and the Jewish people. We believe that the Torah is a work written by human beings who were inspired by God and who wished to share the stories and laws that helped them understand God and God's will. According to this view, the Torah is the product of centuries of Jews who discussed and created laws and legends that drew them closer to God and what it means to live as God wishes us to live. That process has not ended. We are still creating new understandings and interpretations of Torah.
Reform Judaism does embrace the idea of the Jewish people being "chosen," but this term does not suggest that the Jewish people are superior to other people or closer to God. Rather, we believe ourselves to be "chosen" in the sense that we have a unique relationship with God that we call a b'rit (a covenant, or agreement) and we live by doing God's mitzvot (commandments). We say that God chose us for the relationship we have with God; other people have their own relationship with God and their own ways of connecting with God.
Torah is God's gift to the Jewish people and it is the foundation of our unique relationship with God. In saying this, we are not accepting a supernatural view of the Torah and we are not saying that we are superior to others. Rather, we celebrate the text that is at the heart of our ever developing and reforming relationship with God. That is how we understand the words of the Torah blessing.
The honor of making the blessing before and after the Torah reading is called an Aliyah, which literally means "going up." Making the blessings for Torah is a spiritual ascent in which we figuratively go up to Mount Sinai to hear God speaking to us once again.
The Honor of the Aliyah
The person who accepts the honor of an Aliyah – called an Oleh (masculine) or Olah (feminine) – is called up to the bimah by his or her Hebrew name. The Oleh/Olah comes up to the Torah reading table on the right side. Standing in front of the Torah scroll, the Oleh/Olah touches the corner of his or her tallit to the beginning of the reading and then touches the tallit to his or her lips. (You can also use the Torah belt). This symbolizes the sweetness of Torah. The Oleh/Olah then takes hold of the wooden posts of the scroll and recites the blessing before the Torah reading. The words of the blessings are printed on a large laminated sheet in Hebrew and in English transliteration.
After you recite the first sentence of the blessing the congregation will recite the second sentence. You will then repeat the second sentence before continuing with the blessing.
Following the recitation of the Torah, the Oleh/Olah again touches the scroll with his or her tallit at the end of the reading, touches it to his or her lips, takes hold of the wooden posts, and recites the blessing after the reading. Following the blessing, the Oleh/Olah steps to the other side of the Torah reading table to make room for the next Oleh/Olah and stays on the bimah until the end of the next Aliyah. Before returning to his or her seat in the congregation, the Oleh/Olah shakes hands with the other people on the bimah.
People will say to the Oleh/Olah, "Yashar Koach" ("May you go from strength to strength"). The traditional response is "Baruch Tih'yeh" ("May you be blessed").
What is the Haftarah?
The word "haftarah" does not mean "half the Torah"! The word is not even related to "Torah." Rather, "haftarah" means "completion." It is the reading from the Prophets section of the Hebrew Bible that is a complement to the weekly Torah portion or that is related to an upcoming or recent holiday. For example, during the week that the Torah portion includes the song that the Israelites sang during the parting of the Red Sea, we read a haftarah from the book of Judges in which the Israelites sing a song rejoicing in the victory of the prophetess Deborah. Usually, the haftarah is connected to a theme, an image, or even just a word in the Torah portion.
In the blessing before the haftarah reading, we state that we are connecting the words of the Prophets section of the Bible to the Torah. We say, "Blessed are You, Adonai, who chooses the Torah, God's servant Moses, God's people Israel, and the true and righteous prophets."
No one knows exactly how or when the practice began of completing the Torah reading with a reading from the prophets. Some people believe that it began because of persecution in the time of the Chanukah story. According to this view, the Greek King Antiochus prohibited the Jews from reading Torah in the synagogue. In response, the Jews began reading sections from the prophets to stand in the place of the Torah reading. After the Israelites won their independence from Antiochus and restored the reading of Torah, they continued the practice of reading the haftarah.
It is also possible that the rabbis including the reading from the prophets to make a point against their opponents. The Samaritans and the Sadducees were non-rabbinic Jews who denied that the writings of the prophets belonged in the Jewish Bible. The rabbis may have created the custom of reading from the prophets after reading from the Torah to emphasize the importance of the prophets and to distinguish themselves from those who did not revere them.
In our prayerbook Mishkan Tefila, the Torah Service can be found on:
pages 248-250 & 354-356 in the student copy
pages 366-368 & 372-374 in the congregant copy