[Avodah] spanish minhagim

[Zev Sero]

Eli Turkel wrote:
> I am spending 3 months in Madrid and have seen several interesting
> customs.  First I learned from here, Lisbon and the Portugese shul
> in Amsterdam that they all have sifrei Torah that look like Ashkenazi
> ones and not like the round wooden covers of edot mizrach in Israel.
> They have a white sheet that goes the length of the Torah and
> protects each daf.

Lav davka white.  I've also seen red ones.  I don't think there's
a specific minhag about the colour.

What we're talking about is a silk backing for the parchment.  Behind
the continuous roll of parchment that makes up a sefer torah, is a
continuous roll of silk that rolls up together with it.

Italians also have this style of sefer torah.  You can see it at the
Italian shul in Y'm.  While there you can also see a unique style of
hagbah that I've never seen anywhere else.  The sefer torah is laid
down on the shulchan and opened, and a metal bar is attached to the
top of the atzei chayim to keep them rigid at a fixed distance.
Then *two* people facing in opposite directions pick the sefer torah
up, one at each etz chayim, and march around in a circle.  The sefer
torah is then laid back down on the shulchan, the bar removed, and it
is closed.  The bar remains on the shulchan permanently, so if you
visit the shul when they're not reading the torah you can see it but
not know what it's for.

-- 
Zev Sero               Something has gone seriously awry with this Court's
zev at sero.name          interpretation of the Constitution.
                       	                          - Clarence Thomas