Torah Blessings

Here is the place to practice chanting the blessings before and after the Torah reading. When you come up to the bima, be sure to be wearing a kippah and a tallit. Take one of the tzitzit in your hand, touch the tzitzit to the place the Torah reader shows you and then kiss it. Hold onto the wooden rollers and recite the blessing before the reading. While the Torah reader is chanting, hold onto the wooden roller closest to you. When the reader has finished, touch your tzitzit to the place where the reader finished and recite the blessing after the reading. When finished, you stay on the bima for the next aliyah and then can leave. It is lovely if you walk across the bima when you are leaving and shake hands with those sitting up there. When people wish you "yasher koach" (you should have strength from this mitzvah), you can respond "baruch t'hiyeh" (blessings to you).