{"id":9455,"date":"2000-12-13T00:11:49","date_gmt":"2000-12-12T22:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=9455"},"modified":"2019-05-15T13:26:15","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T10:26:15","slug":"12-13-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/12-13-11\/","title":{"rendered":"11. Reading the Ten Commandments from the Torah and Whether to Stand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Our Sages ordained that the Torah reading on Shavu\u2019ot be about the revelation at Mount Sinai and the giving of the Ten Commandments. The <em>haftara<\/em> is from the beginning of Ye\u1e25ezkel, where the heavenly chariot is described (<em>Megilla<\/em> 31a; SA 494:1). As on all festivals, there are five <em>aliyot<\/em> (<em>Megilla<\/em> 21a). The original rule was to take out only one Torah scroll from the ark, and the <em>maftir<\/em> was one of the five people called up to read from it. However, the Ge\u2019onim record the custom of taking out two Torah scrolls. Five people read from the first scroll, as described in the Mishna, and then <em>maftir<\/em> is read from the second scroll. The <em>maftir<\/em> is from Bamidbar and describes the festival offerings. According to the Gemara (<em>Megilla<\/em> 31a), the rationale behind this is that \u201cGod said: \u2018For when the Temple no longer exists, I established [the texts about] the sacrificial order. Whenever the Jews read them, I consider it as if they offered the sacrifices, and forgive all their sins\u2019\u201d (Rosh; Ran; <em>Beit Yosef<\/em> 488:3; see above 2:8 n. 8).<\/p>\n<p>Our Sages tell us that the Torah reading on Shavu\u2019ot describing <em>Matan Torah<\/em> is especially important. \u201cGod said to the Jews: \u2018My children, read this portion every year, and I will consider it as if you are standing before Sinai and receiving the Torah\u2019\u201d (<em>Pesikta De-Rav Kahana<\/em> \u00a712).<\/p>\n<p>On account of this, the custom on Shavu\u2019ot is to read the Ten Commandments with the festive (\u201cupper\u201d) cantillation (<em>ta\u2019am elyon<\/em>). When reading with the usual cantillation, one pauses at the end of each verse; when reading with the festive cantillation, one pauses at the end of each commandment. For example, the commandment to remember the Sabbath day extends over four verses, but it is read as one long verse with the festive cantillation. Likewise, there is a single verse that contains four commandments: \u201cDo not murder,\u201d \u201cDo not commit adultery,\u201d \u201cDo not steal,\u201d and \u201cDo not bear false witness.\u201d Normally they are read as one verse, but in the festive cantillation they are read as if they are four separate verses. This different division of verses affects the cantillation of so many words that a slightly different tune was established for reading according to this division (BHL 494:3). All agree that on Shavu\u2019ot, the Ten Commandments are read with the <em>ta\u2019am elyon<\/em>. Although there used to be various customs as to how to read them during the year in the normal cycle of Torah readings, nowadays at all public Torah readings it is standard to read the Ten Commandments with the festive cantillation.<\/p>\n<p>Many stand during the reading of the Ten Commandments, as a remembrance of the awesome and magnificent event it describes. Listening to a public reading of the Ten Commandments is considered to be greeting the Divine Presence. The custom of standing is first mentioned in the time of the Rishonim about 800 years ago, but has become widespread only in the last 200 years or so. All Ashkenazim and some Sephardim follow this custom. Some object to it, because the Sages of the Gemara chose not to require the daily recitation of the Ten Commandments together with the <em>Shema<\/em>. They felt that this way, people would be less likely to be led astray by the heretical claim that it is sufficient to keep the Ten Commandments alone and disregard the rest of the <em>mitzvot<\/em> (<em>Berakhot<\/em> 12a). For the same reason, some object to standing for the Ten Commandments. Nevertheless, most <em>poskim<\/em> are not concerned about this. After all, the people stood at Sinai. They feel that the Sages were concerned only that the daily recitation of the Ten Commandments might lead people astray. Additionally, nowadays it is unusual to find heretics who argue that the Ten Commandments are the only obligatory <em>mitzvot<\/em>.<sup><a href='#_te01ftn13_4' id='_te01ftnref13_4' class='aup1'>[4]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<div>\n<hr size=\"1\" \/>\n<div>\n<a href='#_te01ftnref13_4' id='_te01ftn13_4'>[4]<\/a>. Rambam, in his responsa, speaks approvingly of a rabbi who stopped his community from following the custom to stand. Centuries later, R. \u1e24ayim Palachi and <em>Emet Le-Ya\u2019akov<\/em> opposed the custom as well, as did R. Ovadia Yosef in our time (<em>Ye\u1e25aveh Da\u2019at<\/em> 1:29). On the other hand, many have supported the custom, including \u1e24ida, <em>Tuv Ayin<\/em> \u00a711; <em>Devar Shmuel<\/em> \u00a7276; <em>Mateh Yehuda<\/em> O\u1e24 1:6; <em>Yaskil Avdi<\/em> 2:1 and 7:1; <em>Igrot Moshe<\/em> O\u1e24 4:22; <em>Shemesh U-magen<\/em> vol. 1 O\u1e24 \u00a757. This was also the custom in North Africa, as is explained in<em> Divrei Shalom Ve-emet<\/em> vol. 1, p. 166. If one\u2019s custom is not to stand, but he is praying in a place where the custom is to stand, he should stand from the beginning of the <em>aliya<\/em>. This way he does not look like one who stands up to honor the Ten Commandments, and at the same time he is not separating himself from the congregation (<em>Ye\u1e25aveh Da\u2019at<\/em> 6:8).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our Sages ordained that the Torah reading on Shavu\u2019ot be about the revelation at Mount Sinai and the giving of the Ten Commandments. The haftara is from the beginning of Ye\u1e25ezkel, where the heavenly chariot is described (Megilla 31a; SA 494:1). As on all festivals, there are five aliyot (Megilla 21a). The original rule was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12-13"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>11. Reading the Ten Commandments from the Torah and Whether to Stand - Peninei Halakha<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/12-13-11\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"11. 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