Who reads the Torah scroll?

Answer 1

Any adult Jewish male, who observes Judaism in his personal life and is capable

of preparing an accurate rendition of all or part of the scheduled Torah portion, is

permitted to present the public reading during the synagogue service.

That's the requirement in Jewish law. Many modern, liberal congregations relax

the severity of the qualifications for Torah readers at their services. For example,

they may be less stringent on the "adult", "male", "observes", "capable", or

"accurate" parts. But that's how it reads in Jewish law.

The Torah scroll is hand-written in an embellished Hebrew script, as a single continuous

text for each of the five books, without vowels, punctuation, chapter or verse divisions, etc.

A proper rendition of the formal reading, during any community service attended by ten

or more adult Jewish males, requires the presentation of not only the correct vowels,

punctuation, and verse divisions, but also in the proper 'chant' ... an ancient system

of vocal melody and phrasing, which is also not written in the scroll.

In preparation for reading the Torah during a future service, the assigned reader must

study the portion that he'll be reading, in a book specially prepared for the purpose.

On each page of that reader's study guide, there is a replica of a column of text as it

appears in the Torah scroll, and immediately beside it, a copy of the same text that

includes the vowels, punctuation, musical notations, etc. The preparation is a process

of working between the two versions of the text, phrase by phrase and verse-by-verse,

until the reader can present the portion properly, referring only to the version in the

Torah scroll, but confidently and accurately delivering all of the details that aren't

written in the scroll.

Answer 2

Jews