Editing Torah (section)

===Ritual use===
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[[File:Présentation de la Loi, Edouard Moyse (1860) - Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''Presentation of The Torah'', by Édouard Moyse, 1860, [[Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme|Museum of Jewish Art and History]].]]
{{Main|Torah reading}}

Torah reading ({{Hebrew name 1|קריאת התורה|K'riat HaTorah|"Reading [of] the Torah"}}) is a Jewish religious [[ritual]] that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a [[Sefer Torah|Torah scroll]]. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the Torah scroll (or scrolls) from the [[ark (synagogue)|ark]], chanting the appropriate excerpt with traditional [[Hebrew cantillation|cantillation]], and returning the scroll(s) to the ark. It is distinct from academic [[Torah study]].

Regular public reading of the Torah was introduced by [[Ezra]] the Scribe after the return of the Jewish people from the [[Babylonian captivity]] ({{circa|537&nbsp;BCE}}), as described in the [[Book of Nehemiah]].<ref>[http://mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt35b08.htm Neh. 8]</ref> In the modern era, adherents of Orthodox Judaism practice Torah-reading according to a set procedure they believe has remained unchanged in the two thousand years since the destruction of the [[Temple in Jerusalem]] (70&nbsp;CE). In the 19th and 20th centuries CE, new movements such as [[Reform Judaism]] and [[Conservative Judaism]] have made adaptations to the practice of Torah reading, but the basic pattern of Torah reading has usually remained the same:

As a part of the morning prayer services on certain days of the week, fast days, and holidays, as well as part of the afternoon prayer services of Shabbat, Yom Kippur, a section of the Pentateuch is read from a Torah scroll. On [[Shabbat]] (Saturday) mornings, a weekly section ("''[[parashah]]''") is read, selected so that the entire Pentateuch is read consecutively each year. The division of ''parashot'' found in the modern-day Torah scrolls of all Jewish communities (Ashkenazic, Sephardic, and Yemenite) is based upon the systematic list provided by Maimonides in [[Mishneh Torah]], ''Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzah and Torah Scrolls'', chapter 8. Maimonides based his division of the {{Transliteration|he|parashot}} for the Torah on the [[Aleppo Codex]]. [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]] and [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] synagogues may read ''parashot'' on a triennial rather than annual schedule,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rogovin |first=Richard D. |date=2006 |title=The Authentic Triennial Cycle: A Better Way to Read Torah? |url=http://www.uscj.org/The_Authentic_Trienn7085.html |url-status=dead |journal=United Synagogue Review |volume=59 |issue=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090906074201/http://uscj.org/The_Authentic_Trienn7085.html |archive-date=6 September 2009 |via=The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fields |first=Harvey J. |title=Bechol Levavcha: with all your heart |date=1979 |publisher=Union of American Hebrew Congregations Press |location=New York |pages=106–111 |chapter=Section Four: The Reading of the Torah |chapter-url=http://urj.org/worship/letuslearn/s7bechol/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050219173736/http://urj.org/worship/letuslearn/s7bechol/ |archive-date=19 February 2005 |via=Union for Reform Judaism}}</ref> On Saturday afternoons, Mondays, and Thursdays, the beginning of the following Saturday's portion is read. On [[Jewish holidays]], the beginnings of each month, and [[ta'anit|fast days]], special sections connected to the day are read.

Jews observe an annual holiday, [[Simchat Torah]], to celebrate the completion and new start of the year's cycle of readings.

[[File:Coffre et rouleau de Torah ayant appartenu à Abraham de Camondo chef de la communauté juive de Constantinople 1860 - Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Silver Torah case, [[Ottoman Empire]], displayed in the [[Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme|Museum of Jewish Art and History]].]]

Torah scrolls are often dressed with a sash, a special Torah cover, various ornaments, and a {{Transliteration|he|keter}} (crown), although such customs vary among synagogues. Congregants traditionally stand in respect when the Torah is brought out of the ark to be read, while it is being carried, and lifted, and likewise while it is returned to the ark, although they may sit during the reading itself.