Torah is read on Shabbat, holidays, and  Mondays and Thursdays. The ark, or the ornate cabinet where the Torah scrolls are kept, has several Torah scrolls, and each one is treated with great reverence. Whenever the Torah is removed from the ark, it is compulsory to stand until the Torah has been placed on the bimah (raised table at which the Torah is publicly read in the synagogue and from which sermons are delivered). During the Torah reading service, the baal korei (master reader) reads from the scrolls using a traditional tune based on cantillation marks known as taamim (the musical cantillation signs that accompany the printed text of the Torah, known in Yiddish as trop), or in Yiddish (the traditional language of Ashkenazic Jewry) trop. While reading, seven men for Shabbat, six for Yom Kippur, five during holidays, four for Rosh Chodesh (first day of every month in the Hebrew calendar) and Chol Hamoed (weekdays of the festival), and three during weekdays and Shabbat afternoon) are called near the ... More

Torah is read on Shabbat, holidays, and  Mondays and Thursdays. The ark, or the ornate cabinet where the Torah scrolls are kept, has several Torah scrolls, and each one is treated with great reverence. Whenever the Torah is removed from the ark, it is compulsory to stand until the Torah has been placed on the bimah (raised table at which the Torah is publicly read in the synagogue and from which sermons are delivered). During the Torah reading service, the baal korei (master reader) reads from the scrolls using a traditional tune based on cantillation marks known as taamim (the musical cantillation signs that accompany the printed text of the Torah, known in Yiddish as trop), or in Yiddish (the traditional language of Ashkenazic Jewry) trop. While reading, seven men for Shabbat, six for Yom Kippur, five during holidays, four for Rosh Chodesh (first day of every month in the Hebrew calendar) and Chol Hamoed (weekdays of the festival), and three during weekdays and Shabbat afternoon) are called near the bimah by their full family name. They recite the blessing, the reader reads a portion of the Torah, and they then recite a second blessing. This procedure is known as “getting an aliyah,” and it is considered  an honor.