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A yad (Hebrew : יד, romanized: yad; Yiddish : האַנט, romanized: hant, lit. 'hand') is a Jewish ritual pointer, or stylus, popularly known as a Torah pointer, used by the reader to follow the text during the Torah reading from the parchment Torah scrolls. It is often shaped like a long rod, capped by a small hand with its index finger pointing from it.
Beyond its practical usage in pointing out letters, the yad ensures that the parchment is not touched during the reading. There are several suggested reasons for this, including the mistaken idea that the fragile parchment is easily damaged by skin oils. However, the reason provided by the Talmud and other aspects of Jewish tradition state that the original reason was related to ritual purity. [1] [2]
While not required when chanting from the Torah, a yad is used frequently and is considered a hidur mitzvah ("embellishment of the commandment") of reading the Torah.
A yad can be made of any number of materials, though silver is common, [3] especially used in crowning the yad.
The Mountain Jews had a particular way of handling pointers: they were held in pairs forming a V-shape dividing the text into passages. They were made and donated in pairs, even joined with a chain when they had inscriptions related to the same event. Their shapes were of two types: a flat bar and a bar twisted into a long tight screw-like shape with a flat part. In both types, the pointing part is made in the shape of a flat broad leaf with a rounded tip. [4]
From the inscriptions on the pointers, one may deduce a specific ritual of Mountain Jews: before reading, the Torah is displayed to the congregation and the pointer indicated to it as a conceptual parallel to the guiding hand of God. [4]
There are a number of different names for the pointer used by the Mountain Jews, indicating the variety of traditions. Most common ones are etzba (Hebrew : אצבע, lit. 'finger') and kulmus (קולמוס).
In Judaism, the Seven Laws of Noah, otherwise referred to as the Noahide Laws or the Noachian Laws, are a set of universal moral laws which, according to the Talmud, were given by God as a covenant with Noah and with the "sons of Noah"—that is, all of humanity.
Tefillin, or phylacteries, are a set of small black leather boxes with leather straps containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah. Tefillin are worn by adult Jews during weekday and Sunday morning prayers. In Orthodox and traditional communities, they are worn solely by men, while some Reform and Conservative (Masorti) communities allow them to be worn by Jewish adults regardless of gender. In Jewish law (halacha), women are exempt from most time-dependent positive commandments, which include tefillin, and unlike other time-dependent positive commandments, most halachic authorities prohibit them from fulfilling this commandment.
Shavuot, or Shvues, is a Jewish holiday, one of the biblically ordained Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan; in the 21st century, it may fall anywhere between May 15 and June 14 on the Gregorian calendar.
The Mishneh Torah, also known as Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka, is a code of Rabbinic Jewish religious law (halakha) authored by Maimonides. The Mishneh Torah was compiled between 1170 and 1180 CE, while Maimonides was living in Egypt, and is regarded as Maimonides' magnum opus. Accordingly, later sources simply refer to the work as "Maimon", "Maimonides", or "RaMBaM", although Maimonides composed other works.
A Torah scroll is a handwritten copy of the Torah, meaning the five books of Moses. The Torah scroll is mainly used in the ritual of Torah reading during Jewish prayers. At other times, it is stored in the holiest spot within a synagogue, the Torah ark, which is usually an ornate curtained-off cabinet or section of the synagogue built along the wall that most closely faces Jerusalem, the direction Jews face when praying.
Torah reading is a Jewish religious tradition that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the scroll from the Torah ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation (trope), and returning the scroll(s) to the ark. It is also commonly called "laining".
Klaf or Qelaf is the designation given a particular piece of skin. The Talmudic definition includes both the form of the skin and the way it is processed, in particular, that it must be tanned. Since the innovative ruling of Rabbeinu Tam it is primarily used to refer to parchment or vellum. It is one of the materials upon which a sofer writes certain Jewish liturgical and ritual documents.
The Priestly Blessing or priestly benediction, also known in rabbinic literature as raising of the hands, rising to the platform, dukhenen, or duchening, is a Hebrew prayer recited by Kohanim. The text of the blessing is found in Numbers 6:23–27. It is also known as the Aaronic blessing.
A sofer, sopher, sofer SeTaM, or sofer ST"M is a Jewish scribe who can transcribe Sifrei Kodesh, tefillin (phylacteries), mezuzot and other religious writings.
Shalom bayit is the Jewish religious concept of domestic harmony and good relations between husband and wife. In a Jewish court of law, shalom bayit is the Hebrew term for marital reconciliation.
In Judaism, angels are supernatural beings that appear throughout The Tanakh, rabbinic literature, apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, Jewish philosophy and mysticism, and traditional Jewish liturgy as agents of the God of Israel. They are categorized in different hierarchies. Their essence is often associated with fire. The Talmud describes their very essence as fire.
Masekhet Soferim, the "Tractate of the Scribes", is a non-canonical Talmudic tractate dealing especially with the rules relating to the preparation of holy books, as well as with the laws of Torah reading. One of the minor tractates, it is generally thought to have originated in eighth-century Land of Israel. Being of late and uncertain date, it is now generally printed as Talmudic addenda.
Masekhet Megillah is a tractate in Seder Moed of the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds. It deals with laws and stories relating to Purim, a Jewish holiday originating from the Book of Esther. Megillah continues to dictate how Purim is celebrated in Jewish communities worldwide to this day.
Megillat Antiochus recounts the story of Hanukkah and the history of the victory of the Maccabees over the hellenistic Seleucid Empire.
Yad may refer to:
Ktav Stam is the specific Jewish traditional writing with which holy scrolls, tefillin and mezuzot are written. Stam is a Hebrew acronym denoting these writings, as indicated by the gershayim punctuation mark. One who writes such articles is called a sofer stam. The writing is done by means of a feather and ink onto special parchment called klaf. There exist two primary traditions in respect to the formation of the letters, Ktav HaAshkenazi and Ktav HaSefardi, however the differences between them are slight.
Jewish law and custom prescribe ritual hand washing in a number of situations. This practice is generally known by the Hebrew term נטילת ידיים, which literally means taking up of the hands.
Objects used in Jewish rituals are known collectively as Judaica. The conservation and restoration of Judaica takes into account the collective body of Jewish religious laws derived from the written and oral Torah known as halacha in order to properly care for these materials. This work involves identifying these objects and therefore knowing how any of these objects are traditionally handled, stored, exhibited, and generally cared for based on their use and significance.
The mitzvah to write a Torah scroll is the last mitzvah of the 613 Jewish commandments. It mandates Jews to write a Torah scroll for themselves. The source of the mitzvah is from what is said in Parashat Vayelech in Book of Deuteronomy:
Now write down this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness for me against them"
Hazkarat Neshamot, commonly known by its opening word Yizkor, is an Ashkenazi Jewish memorial prayer service for the dead. It is an important occasion for many Jews, even those who do not attend synagogue regularly. In most Ashkenazi communities, it is held after the Torah reading four times a year: on Yom Kippur, on the final day of Passover, on the second day of Shavuot, and on Shemini Atzeret.
