Editing Torah scroll (section)

{{short description|Handwritten copy of the Torah}}

{{for|tractate Sefer Torah|Minor tractates}}

{{more footnotes needed|date=August 2011}}

[[file:SeferTorah.jpg|right|thumb|A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the [[Shema]]]]
[[file:Köln-Tora-und-Innenansicht-Synagoge-Glockengasse-040.JPG|thumb|An [[Ashkenazi]] Torah scroll rolled to the [[Decalogue]]]]
[[file:Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Interior, Tora Cases.jpg|thumb|Torah cases at [[Knesset Eliyahoo|Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue]], [[Mumbai]], [[India]]]]

A '''Torah scroll''' ({{langx|he|סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה}}, {{transliteration|he|'''Sefer Torah'''}}, lit. "Book of Torah"; plural: {{lang|he|סִפְרֵי תוֹרָה}} {{transliteration|he|'''Sifrei Torah'''}}) is a [[manuscript|handwritten copy]] of the [[Torah]], meaning the [[five books of Moses]] (the first books of the [[Hebrew Bible]]). The Torah [[scroll]] is mainly used in the ritual of [[Torah reading]] during [[Jewish prayer]]s. 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 [[Mizrah|direction Jews face]] when [[Jewish prayer|praying]].

The text of the Torah is also commonly printed and [[bookbinding|bound]] in [[codex|book form]] for non-ritual functions, called a {{transliteration|he|[[Chumash (Judaism)|Chumash]]}} (plural {{transliteration|he|Chumashim}}; "five-part", for the five books of Moses), and is often accompanied by commentaries or translations.