“[The Torah] is a Tree of Life to those who hold fast to it...” - Siddur
Join our growing cohort of dedicated adults and teens who chant Torah and Haftarah at our Shabbat morning and holiday prayer services. No previous experience required — so long as you can read Hebrew and carry a simple tune, we can train you! Reach out to Bonnie Leach, our volunteer Torah Haftarah Readings Coordinator, to get started.
Resources
• Ready to chant? Returning readers can log on to TorahReaders.net, the third-party platform we use to reserve and manage readings. New to TorahReaders.net? Check out this guided tutorial, which also includes recommended best practices.
• You can download pictures of our Sifrei Torah (Torah scrolls) for practice. To know which scroll you will be reading from, refer this diagram of our Torah ark in the Sanctuary.
• For additional Torah trope audio resources, you can click here.
• Need a refresher? Sign up for a class with Sharon Mills, one of our Adult Learning instructors. Sharon specializes in teaching Hebrew, Torah trope, and Shabbat liturgy to adult students. Watch below for her tips on avoiding common mistakes while reading/chanting Torah.
TorahReaders.Net Tutorial
Torah Tidbits: Take Your Torah Reading to the Next Level
For us, Torah, is more than the five books of Moses and the sacred scroll that dwells in our sanctuary’s holy ark. Rather, Torah, encompasses the vast breadth of Jewish wisdom and instruction which we have inherited and use to enrich and guide our lives. As third century sage, Ben Bag Bag, taught: “Turn it [Torah] over and over and over again, for all is therein. Explore it and grow old therein. And do not move away from it, for you have no better portion than it.” (Pirkei Avot 5:23). Torah is our sacred inheritance. It belongs to all of us, and if we study and live it — our lives are made holy.
