Torah Service

seder k'ri-at hatorah

סדר קריאת התורה

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Israeli: ' marks a reduced vowel that Israeli speech drops (b'rachah); when the vowel is pronounced it is written e (lefanecha). - separates syllables that would otherwise run together.

How to read the transliterations

הַכְנָסַת הַתּוֹרָה

The Torah’s Return

As the ark is opened, we rise.

Leader:

Hebrew

יְהַלְלוּ אֶת־שֵׁם יְהוָה כִּי נִשְׂגָּב שְׁמוֹ לְבַדּוֹ׃

Israeli

yehalelu et-shem Adonai ki nisgav sh'mo levado.

English

Extol the name of Adonai; God’s name alone stands exalted.

Congregation:

Hebrew

הוֹדוֹ עַל אֶרֶץ וְשָׁמָיִם, וַיָּרֶם קֶרֶן לְעַמּוֹ,
תְּהִלָּה לְכָל־חֲסִידָיו, לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עַם קְרֹבוֹ. הַלְלוּיָהּ׃

Israeli

hodo al eretz veshamayim, vayarem keren le-amo,
tehilah lechol-chasidav, livnei Yisra-el am k'rovo. haleluyah.

English

God’s glory enfolds heaven and earth; God lauds the faithful—lifting Israel, the people God holds near. Halleluyah!

Psalm 29

Hebrew

מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד
הָבוּ לַיהוָה בְּנֵי אֵלִים, הָבוּ לַיהוָה כָּבוֹד וָעֹז,
הָבוּ לַיהוָה כְּבוֹד שְׁמוֹ, הִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לַיהוָה בְּהַדְרַת קֹדֶשׁ.
קוֹל יְהוָה עַל הַמָּיִם,
אֵל הַכָּבוֹד הִרְעִים, יְהוָה עַל מַיִם רַבִּים.
קוֹל יְהוָה בַּכֹּחַ,
קוֹל יְהוָה בֶּהָדָר, קוֹל יְהוָה שֹׁבֵר אֲרָזִים,
וַיְשַׁבֵּר יְהוָה אֶת־אַרְזֵי הַלְּבָנוֹן.
וַיַּרְקִידֵם כְּמוֹ עֵגֶל לְבָנוֹן וְשִׂרְיֹן כְּמוֹ בֶן־רְאֵמִים.
קוֹל יְהוָה חֹצֵב לַהֲבוֹת אֵשׁ,
קוֹל יְהוָה יָחִיל מִדְבָּר, יָחִיל יְהוָה מִדְבַּר קָדֵשׁ,
קוֹל יְהוָה יְחוֹלֵל אַיָּלוֹת
וַיֶּחֱשֹׂף יְעָרוֹת, וּבְהֵיכָלוֹ כֻּלּוֹ אֹמֵר כָּבוֹד.
יְהוָה לַמַּבּוּל יָשָׁב, וַיֵּשֶׁב יְהוָה מֶלֶךְ לְעוֹלָם.
יְהוָה עֹז לְעַמּוֹ יִתֵּן, יְהוָה יְבָרֵךְ אֶת עַמּוֹ בַשָּׁלוֹם.

Israeli

mizmor ledavid
havu ladonai b'nei elim, havu ladonai kavod va-oz,
havu ladonai k'vod sh'mo, hishtachavu ladonai behadrat kodesh.
kol Adonai al hamayim,
El hakavod hirim, Adonai al mayim rabim.
kol Adonai bakoach,
kol Adonai behadar, kol Adonai shover arazim,
vayshaber Adonai et-arzei halevanon.
vayarkidem k'mo egel Levanon vesiryon k'mo ven-re-emim.
kol Adonai chotzev lahavot esh,
kol Adonai yachil midbar, yachil Adonai midbar kadesh,
kol Adonai yecholel ayalot
vayechesof ye-arot, uveheichalo kulo omer kavod.
Adonai lamabul yashav, vayeshev Adonai melech le-olam.
Adonai oz le-amo yiten, Adonai yevarech et amo vashalom.

English

A PSALM OF DAVID Render praise to Adonai, children of the Divine; render praise to Adonai, with honor and strength. Render praise to Adonai, with the honor owed God’s name; bow before Adonai in the sanctuary’s splendor. Over the waters the voice of Adonai thunders; God, glorious, thunders—Adonai, over the great sea. The voice of Adonai, in all its power; the voice of Adonai, in all its majesty; the voice of Adonai splinters the cedars. Adonai splinters Lebanon’s cedars—setting the trees dancing like calves, Lebanon’s mountains and Sirion like wild bulls. Flames of fire the voice of Adonai forms; the wilderness the voice of Adonai convulses, Adonai convulses the wilderness of Kadesh. Adonai’s voice makes hinds calve and strips forests bare, and within God’s sanctuary, they declare God’s glory. Above the flood waters Adonai was enthroned: Adonai, enthroned, is sovereign eternally. Strength Adonai will grant to God’s people; with peace Adonai will bless them.

Commentary

EXTOL יְהַלְלוּ. Psalm 148:13–14. The practice of reciting these verses while returning the Torah to the ark is mentioned in the earliest prayerbooks.

PSALM 29. Psalm 29 was chosen to accompany the procession of the Torah as it is returned to the ark on Shabbat morning because of the predominant image of the voice of God. The phrase kol Adonai (“the voice of God”)—which was identified by the ancient rabbis with the revelation of God’s word on Sinai—is repeated seven times in this psalm. The thunder and lightning described here evoke the scene of the revelation at Sinai in Exodus 19; the Bible identifies Kadesh with the Sinai desert. Biblical scholars see the psalm as a depiction of a storm coming in from the Mediterranean, passing over the mountains of Lebanon—cedars top those high mountains and are among the world’s sturdiest and longest-lived trees—and moving over the fertile land and then through the desert. The psalm begins with reference to the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and ends with God enthroned above the primal waters of creation. It also begins with an angelic chorus praising God and toward the end mentions the human chorus praising God in the Temple. Thus earth and heaven, the human and the Divine, are joined. We began the Torah service with verses marking a royal procession and now, as the Torah is returned to the ark after it has been read to the congregation, we end with verses depicting God as enthroned as the “eternal sovereign.”

God’s Voice What would it mean for us to hear God’s voice? The Bible offers two different scenes of revelation. The people Israel hear God’s voice on Sinai amidst thunder and lightning (Exodus 19). Yet, pointedly, Elijah, the only prophet (other than Moses) who also experiences a revelation at Sinai, comes to understand that God is not in the thunder and lightning, but in the “still small voice”—or, as in the current Jewish Publication Society translation, “a soft murmuring sound,” or perhaps as an alternate translation would have it, in “the thin sound of silence” (1 Kings 19:12)—the profusion of translations indicating in themselves the plurality of ways we each may hear what impels us from within, or without. The voice we hear may come to us as a surprise—in moments of distress, at times when we are still and alone, when we are on a journey. Or we may hear the voice when we have engaged in extensive preparations, meditating, thinking, praying, or fasting. We may hardly hear it, yet it can be shattering, thunderous—sending us on our way, impelling us, allowing us to see clearly what we had not seen before at all.