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In addition to the personal mitzva of daily Torah study (16:3 above), the Sages instituted a communal mitzva to read the Torah. This mitzva applies during Shaĥarit on Shabbat, Mondays, and Thursdays, so there will never be a gap of three days without a communal Torah reading. Since the obligation is on the communal level, an individual who has to leave in the middle of the Torah reading does not need to look for another minyan where he can catch what he missed.
Three men are called up to the Torah on Mondays and Thursdays, and seven are called up on Shabbat. The Torah must be read from a kosher Torah scroll – written with the proper intentions by a scribe using a quill and ink on parchment – just like the very first Torah scroll that Moses wrote (20:2 above).
The traditional way to read the Torah is to chant it based on the cantillations (“trope” in Yiddish). These are markings found in printed bibles, above and beneath the words, indicating which melody should be used. (They can also clarify the meaning of a verse, by indicating where pauses should be inserted.) Since no cantillation marks may be written in the Torah scroll itself, the Torah reader must memorize them. While the public Torah reading is acceptable without the correct cantillation, the correct pronunciation of the words is crucial. If the reader makes a mistake in a word which changes its meaning, he must go back and read it correctly.
