[Avodah] hagba

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Jan 10, 2025 at 01:22:45PM +0200, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote:
> Any historical sources concerning when (and why) the change in how the
> torah scroll was housed (what most people would call ashkenazi vs sfardi)
> and how and when hagba/glila was done?

Hagbah and Gelilah are described in Mes' Soferim 14:13-14
<https://www.sefaria.org/Tractate_Soferim.14.13-14>

It is worth seeing in context. In the previous mishnayos (or is
that "mishnayos" with scare quotes?), Maftir comes with interesting
tefillos including parts of Shema and a Qaddish of an unfamiliar
nusach. Tzidqasekha is said while the Torah is out, and not just for
Shabbos Minchah.

The magihah unwinds the seifer Torah for three columns lekhol ha'anahm
*vehanashim* (emphasis added) so that they can see the text inside. This
implies a more Ashkenazi seifer, as well. It's hard to picture how one
unwinds more or less text with a Safaradi solid case. And if one did, how
much more viewable the text would be when unwound more. And the
language is "golel", not "open the case as wide as possible". I think
the amora or gaon who wrote this really assumed no case.

I was intentionally vague with "for three columns". We have "ad", which
means up to three. The AhS has "al". Still, the Behag and Machzor Vitri
both make 3 columns the upper limit.


While hagbah and gelilah are described after Maftir. which would seem
Ashkenazi too, the Gra reaches the opposite conclusion citing this
mishnah. See OC 134, "vehanagu".

Meanwhile, the Kaf HaChaim makes it more a Golah vs EY thing, with
Ashkenazim in EY also doing Hagbah before leining.

As often happens, once I started writing this post, I found that R
Ari Zifitofsky's column had everything I found and then some
https://jewishaction.com/religion/jewish-law/whats-truth-much-open-torah-hagbah/

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 It is harder to eat the day before Yom Kippur
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   with the proper intent than to fast on Yom
Author: Widen Your Tent      Kippur with that intent.
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                     - Rav Yisrael Salanter