Kriyat HaTorah: Difference between revisions

#During [[Barchu]] and Baruch HaMiverech LeOlam VeEd one should stand.<ref>M.B 146:18 writes that according to everyone, one must stand at this point because this is a davar she’bekedusha</ref> However, many don’t stand and the minhag has what to rely on. <Ref>Mishna Brurah 146:18-20, Piskei Teshuvot 146:6. See Ba'er Heitiv 146:5 who quotes Magen Avraham that one should stand for brachot hatorah and the Shaar HaTziyun 146:20 who disagrees. One would have thought it would be required to stand for the entire Torah reading just as we stand for any davar sh’be’kedusha (i.e. Kaddish, Barechu, and other parts of the service that require a minyan).  However, Beit Hillel explain that since the Torah says regarding Kriat Shema “uvi’lechtecha va’derech” (Devarim 6:7), one may recite the Shema in any position (in Berachot 10a). By extension, Rav Soloveitchik thought that the same could be applied to any recital of psukim from the Torah and even during the berachot before the kriat ha’torah that one may listen in any position (Rav Schachter on yutorah.org “Inyonei Krias Hatorah” min. 56). Piskei Tshuvot 146:6 quotes from Rav Chayiim Vital who testifies about the Arizal that he would always sit during the leining and the Barechu preceding the leining.</ref>

# One may not stand in a shul where the local rabbi sits because of acting arrogantly (Yuhara). <ref>Rabbi Hershel Schachter in a [http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/802935/Rabbi_Hershel_Schachter/Inyonei_Krias_Hatorah# shiur on yutorah.org "Inyonei Krias HaTorah"] (min 55) based on Baba Kama 86b where it says that any talmid who observes a midat chasidut which his rebbi doesn’t observe in the presence of his rebbi deserves to be excommunicated. See also Yalkut Yosef 145:12</ref>

===Standing for Aseret Hadibrot===

# Some have the custom to stand for the Aseret Hadibrot.<ref>The Rambam (Sh"t Harambam Siman 46) writes that we should prevent others from following the custom to stand because there is a concern that allowing people stand will lead to a lack of emuna in the sense that people might come to believe that the aseret hadibrot are more significant than the other psukim in the Torah.. The Chida writes that since we read the Torah every Shabbat we demonstrate that the entire Torah is true and we thus need not fear that people might begin to think that the 10 Dibrot are more significant than other psukim in the Torah. Additionally, Rav Hershel Schachter ([http://www.torahweb.org/torah/2010/parsha/rsch_vaeschanan.html The Aseres Hadibros]) writes that the fact that we read the psukim differently (i.e. by stopping after each dibur as if there is a sof passuk) is an indication that we are attempting to reenact maamaad har sinai, thus perhaps also for this reason it would be permitted to stand.</ref>This is the prevalent Ashkenazic custom<ref> Sh"t Igrot Moshe OC 4:22. Siddur Beit Yaakov, Shaarei Ephraiim, and the Chida (all quoted in Dirshu M.B 494:3) had this custom. This custom is based on the idea that we strive to remember and even emulate the manner in which the aseret hadibrot were given at Har Sinai.  Just as at Har Sinai the entire Jewish nation stood in awe and even trembled, so too, when we read the aseret hadibrot in shul many stand in an effort to re-experience Matan Torah. see however R’ Elyashiv (in his shiurim on Berachot 12a) writes  the Rambam is truly correct that one should not stand. </ref> However, the Sephardic minhag is not to stand for Aseret HaDibdrot. <ref>Yalkut Yosef 145-6:12 and 14, Shu"t Yechave Daat 1:29, Rav Chaim David Halevi in Shu"t Aseh Lecha Rav 6:21.  Chacham Ovadia Yosef (Yechave Daat 1:29 and Yalkut Yosef 145:12 writes that one should stop others from standing specifically for  the aseret hadibrot. All the more so, if someone decides to stand in a place where there are many talmidei chachamim who know the halacha who are sitting, one should stop him, as the person standing will otherwise be perceived as haughty. Chacham Ovadia concludes that many poskim who permit standing simply lost the tshuva of the Rambam.</ref>