Friday, March 29th 2024   |

Burdens

By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER

Carrying the Torah Scroll in conjunction with its public reading (or on other liturgical occasions) is a signal honor. Some customarily take the scroll in their right hand (for greater control and security), while others insist on holding the Sefer Torah on the left side, resting it lovingly over the heart. (The left-handed happily accomplish both goals simultaneously!)

Carrying the Torah Scroll in procession through the congregation, as it is gently kissed by fellow worshippers; one embodies the community entrusted with God’s revealed will, the nation that bears God’s Covenant. In so doing, one should, regardless of the physical size of the sacred scroll, sense the weighty moral and spiritual significance of the task at hand.

Maimonides details the “extreme honor and deference” to be accorded the Torah Scroll (Hilchot Sefer Torah 10:10).   We do not turn our back to the Scroll… nor do we carry the Torah as we would an ordinary burden: not tucked under one arm (like baggage or a football), not heaved over one shoulder (like a duffle bag), nor, Rambam insists, balanced on one’s head!

The Torah – and the principled lifestyle it represents – is not a burden to be lugged or lifted, hauled or hoisted. The Torah is a treasure to be embraced. The experience can be absolutely transporting!

(Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the National Chaplain of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting.)

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