QUESTION
May a blind person be the ba’al korei to read from the Torah for the congregation using a Braille text to access what is written in the sefer torah?
ANSWER
Until the invention of Hebrew Braille in the 1940s, the only option for a blind person’s keriat ha’torah was to recite Torah from memory. Today, however, a blind person can stand before a kosher sefer torah and use Braille as an aid to access the Torah text. Even though the blind person would not be visually reading from the sefer torah in front of them, it would be clear that they are using Braille in order to properly communicate to the congregation the words from the Torah text.
Would a blind person reading the Torah while standing in front of the sefer torah, and with the assistance of a Braille text, be considered a halachically viable alternative to visually reading keriat ha’torah? Although, for some people, the possibility that the Torah reading could be performed without directly reading from the Torah scroll itself might seem inconceivable, the sources actually indicate otherwise. It is my contention that this practice would not only satisfy the halachic requirements for keriat ha’torah but would also be consistent with how halakhic authorities throughout history have provided access for blind people to receive aliyot for keriat ha’torah, and should be permitted le’chatchila. Communities should therefore not only permit, but indeed encourage, blind individuals to read Torah with the assistance of a Braille text.
Devarim She’bikhtav
The Talmud never discusses whether a blind person would be permitted to receive an aliyah and read from the Torah. Mishnah Megillah 4:6 addresses whether a blind person can participate in other synagogue rituals but does not mention or discuss keriat ha’torah. Similarly, while the Mishnah (Megillah 2:1) states explicitly that when it comes to the mitzvah of reading Megillat Esther, one does not fulfill their obligation if they read b’al peh, that is, without directly reading from the text itself, no such statement ever appears anywhere in the context of keriat ha’torah.
The only concern we find in the Talmud regarding the need to read directly from a Torah scroll is the principle of דברים שבכתב אי אתה רשאי לאומרם על פה (hereinafter devarim she’bikhtav), the Written Torah may not be recited from memory, which appears in Gittin 60b. This principle is not stated specifically in regard to the ritual keriat ha’torah in the congregation. It relates to any and all recitation of Torah verses from memory. Its purpose is to create a strict demarcation between the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. Since these two Torot were transmitted from G-d in very distinct ways – one in written form, and one in oral form, their distinctive identities and methods of transmission must be preserved throughout history: the Written Torah may not be recited from memory, and the Oral Torah may not be written down.
This principle is also applied to the communal keriat ha’torah, and it is indeed the only halakhic issue that Rishonim discuss in regard to the problem of doing keriat ha’torah from memory. Indeed, in explaining their rulings as to why a blind person may not read from the Torah for the congregation, the sole reason that Tur and Shulchan Arukh give is that this would go against the principle of devarim she’bikhtav (Tur Orach Chaim 53:14, Shulchan Arukh Orach Chaim 53:14 and 139:3).
The question that we must ask, then, is whether there are ever any exceptions to this principle, whether in the case of simple recitation of Torah verses in the course of prayer or learning or the like, or – more to our point – in the case of the communal keriat ha’torah.
The first of these exceptions, already found in the Gemara itself, is that of lo efshar, when no other option is available or when counterbalancing concerns are present.
Exceptions When Not Possible or When Competing with Other Values
In the Talmud, the prohibition to recite Torah from memory is limited in cases of lo efshar, where there is a clear need or countervailing value. BT Gittin 60a states that the Oral Torah was permitted to be written down because the Rabbis were afraid that persecution would cause it to be forgotten. Similarly, they permitted writing a book of haftarot (which violates devarim she’bikhtav since it was originally only permitted to write complete books of Tanach) since many communities did not own full books of Tanach.
Most significantly for our purposes, the Mishnah teaches that on Yom Kippur, the Kohen Gadol would read a Torah portion related to Yom Kippur to those assembled in the Temple from memory (Mishnah Yoma 7:1), and the Talmud explains that this was permitted since it would violate kvod tzibur to make the congregation wait while they roll the scroll to the right place (Yoma 70a).
Basing himself on these passages, Ravya, one of the early Tosafists, rules that it is permitted lechatchila to do keriat hatorah from memory when there is a countervailing need (lo efshar). Tosafot Yeshanim and Rosh go one step further and state that the need to read directly from the sefer torah for keriat hatorah is itself only a mitzvah min ha’muvchar, the optimal way to perform the mitzvah, but in a case of a competing need it may be done from memory.
While some other Rishonim argue that the Kohen Gadol’s Torah reading was not a normal keriat hatorah and was thus permitted to be done without directly reading from the scroll, this is not the approach of the Rishonim we have cited. Moreover, as a practical matter, Rashba in a responsum, basing himself on the precedent of the Kohen Gadol, rules that on Shabbat Rosh Chodesh, when a congregation owns one sefer torah, it is permissible to recite the Rosh Chodesh Torah reading from memory rather than violating kvod tzibur by forcing the congregation to wait for the scroll to be rolled to the right place. (It is possible that Rashba is ruling this way only in regard to a special maftir reading, but he nowhere indicates this. His guiding principle is that kavod tzibur overrides devarim she’bikhtav.)
Similarly, Tosafot Rid writes that a keriat hatorah for the congregation done from memory is valid be’dieved, and that devarim she’bikhtav is only prohibited lechatchila out of a concern for mistakes. Furthermore, he writes that if one has memorized the text well, so that we are not afraid he will make mistakes, then their keriat hatorah is permissible lechatchila, as can be seen from the case of the Kohen Gadol who recited Torah from memory.
A blind person reading with the aid of Braille fits into these established exceptions. When one reads using a carefully prepared Braille text, the core concerns underlying devarim she’bikhtav are resolved. This is certainly a case of lo efshar, which – as we have seen – refers not to cases where there are literally no other options, but rather where there are counterbalancing concerns, such as the honor of the congregation, which are deemed to be of greater value. That would certainly be the case here, where excluding a member of the congregation due to a physical disability would be a clear violation both of kvod ha’briyot and kvod ha’tzibbur.
Beyond those countervailing concerns, in regard to the blind person himself, it is truly a case of lo efshar, since there is no other way that he might be able to read from the Torah. Indeed, Meiri quotes an opinion that permits a blind person to do keriat hatorah for the congregation, because devarim shebichtav applies only to cases where it is possible to visually read from the sefer torah.
Among contemporary poskim, Arukh HaShulkhan (OH 139:8), in addressing the practice of giving aliyot to a blind person despite the fact that the oleh is required to read directly from the Torah, states explicitly that:
This practice seems to be based on what Tosafot Yeshanim (Yoma 70a) wrote, that devarim she’bikhtav is only a mitzvah min ha’muvchar requirement. Therefore, in the case of a blind person, since it is not possible for him to receive an aliyah in any other way, it is permissible lechatchila.
Based on all of the above, it is clear that a blind person who cannot read from the Torah in any other way may read from the Torah with the assistance of Braille.
Concerns of Devarim She’bikhatv are Not Present
Beyond the argument of lo efshar and counterbalancing concerns, it can be argued that the case of a blind person reading from the Torah with the assistance of Braille is not a problem of devarim she’bikhtav to begin with.
As we have seen, one of the reasons the Rishonim identify for this prohibition is a concern with maintaining textual accuracy and fidelity. Additional reasons include: preventing suspicion that a scroll is deficient; preserving textual features such as chaserot and yeterot; and maintaining communal investment in writing and acquiring sifrei torah.
None of those concerns is present here. Accuracy and fidelity to the text is maintained, since the reader relies on written words rather than memory. There is no reason to suspect textual deficiency, since the blind ba’al koreh is clearly reading, and the oleh is following along in the kosher sefer torah. The spellings of the Torah text are preserved in Hebrew Braille, which constitutes an alternative written form of the Hebrew alphabet and allows access to the same textual details. And the sefer torah would be present and accorded honor and priority, and no one would think that the congregation does not need to invest in acquiring a sefer torah.
A number of Rishonim state explicitly that when the concerns for devarim she’bikhtav are not present, the principle no longer applies. For example, Rishonim explain that we may recite psukei di’zimra without reading from a scroll of Tanakh, because we know the text fluently and will not make mistakes. While it is possible that some Rishonim may not be as prepared to apply this flexibility to cases of a ritual reading which is li’hotzi et ha’rabbim, coming to discharge a communal obligation, others clearly do not make such distinctions. Thus, as we have seen, Tosafot Rid states that if a person knows the text fluently, he may do the kriat hatorah without directly reading from a Torah scroll.
Reading with Braille, though non-visual, directly addresses all the rabbinic concerns underlying the prohibition and should fall fully outside the prohibition and be permitted lechatchila. And, as we have seen, this is a case where there are no alternatives and where other values are at risk,
and thus should be permitted, regardless.
It needs to be stressed that permitting such a reading is not a concession or something to ideally be avoided. When a community chooses to refuse to let a blind person read from the Torah so as to not compromise the fully traditional reading of the Torah, they are in fact compromising other core values that halakha has historically privileged. In such a case the right decision is to have the blind person read from the Torah. This can be seen from the case of the Kohen Gadol where the Rabbis determined that concerns for kvod ha’tzibbur outweighed and had to be given priority over the need to read directly from the Torah scroll.
This is also what emerges from the history of psak regarding giving a blind person an aliyah, which we turn to now.
We have shown how reading with the help of a Braille text would fit into the exceptions to devarim she’bikhtav and should be permitted lechatchila. But that is only half the story. The history of halachic decision making regarding blind people and keriat hatorah shows that the needs of blind people to read Torah individually and as part of synagogue ritual overrode concerns of devarim she’bikhtav.
The question of a blind person receiving an aliyah – in contrast to reading from the Torah – has been discussed and debated for centuries amongst the poskim. And yet, even in those communities whose halakhic traditions should have dictated otherwise, and had dictated otherwise in the past, the halacha developed over time to give blind people opportunities to engage in the communal keriat ha’torah.
First, some background. In the time of the Talmud, the oleh, the person receiving the aliyah, would read from the Torah himself. By the time of Rav Yosef Karo, however, the institution of the ba’al koreh—a person standing alongside the oleh who would read from the Torah—had been established. Despite this, Rav Karo ruled in Shukhan Arukh that a blind person could not receive an aliyah because the oleh himself needed to be able to read from the text. In contrast, some Ashkenazic authorities permitted blind individuals to receive aliyot.
Over time, this practice spread widely – certainly among the Ashkenazim, but also among Sephardic communities that followed the Shulkhan Arukh for everything else. Even Rav Ovadia Yosef ruled that blind people may receive aliyot be’dieved to prevent agmat nefesh, the anguish of exclusion. Testimony records that he personally gave aliyot to a blind congregant, relying on lenient authorities and emphasizing that one must not rule stringently when it causes profound emotional pain. Nowadays, blind people regularly receive aliyot in almost every community.
Giving aliyot to blind people despite the strictures of devarim she’bikhtav was not easy for Sephardic communities who rule that the oleh must read from the Torah himself. And yet, the poskim found a way. Some authorities relied on the concept of shomea k’oneh, that when the blind person listened to the Torah reading it was as if they had read it. Others stated that repeating the words after the ba’al koreh ensured accuracy, and so it was permissible even though it was not being read directly from the text. And as we have seen, Arukh HaShulkan writes that blind people are able to receive an aliyah because the entire requirement of reading directly from the text is only li’chatchilah, and is permitted in cases where no alternatives exist.
In order to give blind people access to keriat hatorah, the poskim relied on positions that went beyond their normal approach to psak. We are called upon to similarly extend ourselves and permit blind people to read Torah for the congregation using Braille assistance, even if they have opportunities to participate elsewhere in Torah service, and even if it feels uncomfortable. If we fail to do so, we will not only cause great pain to these individuals but will also diminish kvod tzibbur and depart from the courageous and inclusive halachic history regarding blind people’s participation in keriat hatorah.
CONCLUSION
It is permissible for a blind person to recite keriat hatorah for the congregation with the help of a Braille text. The Braille text should be proofread carefully to ensure that there are no mistakes, and that the letters (including chaserot and yeterot, and other textual symbols) are exactly the same as that which is found in a kosher sefer torah.
The Torah service should be conducted as usual, and a kosher sefer torah should be taken out of the Aron and placed on the shulchan. The blind Torah reader, olim, and gabbaim should make it clear that the Sefer Torah is the cornerstone of the service, and that the Braille text is being used to access what is written in the kosher sefer torah. When sighted olim are called to the Torah, they should follow along in the kosher sefer torah.
Daf of the Day
