- Machlokes whether the Torah is rolled closed before one recites the berachos
It was taught in a Baraisa regarding one who is called up to read from the Torah: פותח ורואה גולל ומברך דברי רבי מאיר – Rebbe Meir says that he opens the Torah and sees the place from where he will begin to read, then he rolls it closed and recites the berachah. Rebbe Yehudah says: פותח ורואה ומברך וקורא – He opens the Torah and sees the place from where he will read, then he recites the berachah and reads. The Gemara asks what is Rebbe Meir’s reasoning for rolling the Sefer Torah closed before reciting the berachah, and answers that it is like Ulla’s explanation of why one who reads from the Torah may not assist the translator. Just as the reason for that is so that people will not say that the translation is written in the Torah, so too here, one must close the Sefer Torah first כדי שלא יאמרו ברכות כתובין בתורה – in order that people will not say that the berachos are written in the Torah . Rebbe Yehudah does not apply Ulla’s reasoning since he holds that while there is room for people to mistakenly think that the translation is written in the Torah and they might come to write the translation in it, there is no room to think that the berachos are written in the Torah. Rashi explains that everyone knows that the berachos are not written in the Torah.
- The reward for גלילה
Rav Shefatiah said in the name of Rebbe Yochanan: עשרה שקראו בתורה הגדול שבהם גולל ספר תורה – If ten people read from the Torah, meaning they got together for a Torah reading and a number of them had aliyas, the greatest of them should get the kavod of rolling the Sefer Torah closed. הגוללו נוטל שכר כולן – The one who rolls the Sefer Torah closed receives the reward of all those who participated, for Rebbe Yehoshua ben Levi said: עשרה שקראו בתורה הגולל ספר תורה קיבל שכר כולן – If ten people have read from the Torah, the one who rolled the Torah received the reward of all who participated in the reading. When the Gemara asks whether it is reasonable that all the other participants lose their reward to the one who rolls the Torah closed, it answers that what is meant is קיבל שכר כנגד כולן – He receives the reward equal to the reward of all the others.
- Improper handling of the Sefer Torah
Rebbe Parnach said in the name of Rebbe Yochanan: כל האוחז ספר תורה ערום נקבר ערום – Anyone who grasps a Sefer Torah with his bare hands will be buried bare, without shrouds. When the Gemara asks if it is conceivable that a person will be buried in such a manner, it initially revises the statement to mean ערום בלא מצות – bare without any mitzvos. When the Gemara questions again whether it is reasonable that a person should lose all his mitzvos because of this, Abaye answers that the statement means, נקבר ערום בלא אותה מצוה – he will be buried bare without that mitzvah. Tosafos explains that if he grasped the Torah during krias haTorah, he would not receive s’char for his aliyah, and if he grasped it while rolling the Torah, he would not receive s’char for gelilah.
