How to Get Called Up to the Torah
A clear explanation of the Torah Reading service in synagogue, how it works, and getting called up to the Torah for an aliyah.
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Being Called to the Torah |
Rabbi Menachem Posner serves as managing editor at Chabad.org, the world’s largest Jewish informational website. He has been writing, researching, and editing for Chabad.org since 2006, when he received his rabbinic degree from Central Yeshiva Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch. He lives in Chicago, Ill., with his family.
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Coming from a non-practicing family situation, I had no knowledge of customs until I was in college. The first time I was in a synagogue there was a man going around asking people if they were Cohen or Levi. Since I wasn’t familiar with the custom and there was conversation around us that made it difficult to hear, I thought he was looking for someone named Coen O’Levi. I said no, and told him my name and shook his hand. He just shook his head and walked away. Later, I was sitting at a table with a couple. She was Jewish and he wasn’t. I told them what happened. He said he thought you had to pick one or the other!