Second Graders Have an Awe-Inspiring Class with Ashkenazic and Sephardic Sifrei Torah

In advance of the second graders’ Chumash Celebrations, KJ Rabbis Meyer Laniado and Roy Feldman presented a powerful Show and Tell for the students: an up-close look at Ashkenazic and Sephardic sifrei Torah. The goal of the session was to foster in the students a true sense of awe, respect, and love for the Torah. It definitely succeeded: as the students stood when the ark was opened, stepped forward to observe the scrolls’ details closely, and even held a Torah yad to the page themselves, their excitement and appreciation were palpable.

They discussed features of the sifrei Torah, including how the scrolls were made. For example, they learned about the faint indentations that the sofer uses to keep Torah lines straight. In English-language notebooks, students use a line to underscore words to keep them even, while in the Torah, it’s the opposite! Everyone was fascinated to learn that, instead, the Torah letters start from the top of the line and move downward. The class also noted similarities and differences between different cultures, like how the Ashkenazic Torah lies flat on the table while the Sephardic Torah stands upright. To give students helpful perspective, Rabbi Laniado shared a beautiful anecdote from when Chief Rabbi David Lau came to visit KJ a few years ago. Rabbi Laniado had been showing him the Rohr Chapel, explaining that it was intentionally built to accommodate both Ashkenazi and Sephardic minyanim. As Rabbi Laniado explained how we can slide the heikhal from right to left for the Ashkenazic sifrei Torah, and from left to right for the Sephardic ones, Rabbi Lau stopped him and said, "No, we don’t have Ashkenaz and Sephardic Torahs. We have one Torah; they’re just different covers."

Admiration and inspiration were infused in every aspect of the session, and students adored this opportunity to spend quality time with sifrei Torah. They are more eager than ever to receive their first chumashim in a few days!