Chanted Torah Reading

Hear the sound of the Ten Commandments being sung.

A girl and a woman reading a scroll

When the Torah is read in the Synagogue it is often chanted. This is often described as leyning, which comes from the Yiddish word ‘Leyn’ which means to read. There are cantillation notes shown in printed books of the Torah which tell people how to chant the words. There are different tunes which people chant for the Torah based on where their family tradition comes from. This is a British-style Ashkenazi recording.

The verse being sung is the second and third of the Ten Commandments, from the version found in the book of Exodus. Below is the translation:

‘You shall have no other gods besides Me. You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I the Eternal your God am an impassioned God, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject Me, but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments.’ (Exodus 20:3-6)

Translation source: Sefaria.

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