Q. Someone donated a fancy chandelier to our shul. It was placed directly above the Bimah. I do not know what the Baal Korei of Shacharis experienced, but when I leined for Mincha, I noticed that, because the letters in the Sefer Torah were shiny, the light from the chandelier directly above produced a glare on the letters. I was wondering if:
1) It was imperative that I be reading black letters on white parchment instead of white letters.
2) Since the glare distorted my vision, was I actually reading by heart, disqualifying the reading? I experimented with a Torah portion with which I was not prepared, and had difficulty discerning the difference between a Tzadi and a Mem, which suggested to me that had I been prepared for that portion I would have read the Tzadi and Mem where they belonged, not necessarily because I read them in their correct places, but because I knew that they were supposed to be there.
3) Considering the Rov’s vast worldly knowledge, will changing the LED bulbs from colour white to amber help, or will it merely produce an amber glare?
A. Shulchan Aruch and Mishna Berura (49) quoting Poskim rule that when you are reading the Torah in order to have others comply or be yotzei with your reading, it has to be from reading the Sefer itself. Yalkut Yosef (Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 49: 4) rules that after the fact, if someone read some words by heart he complies. See Similar, in regards to letters covered by wax on Shabbos (Mishna Berura 340: 10).
Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is that after the fact, even if the letters were just seen partially or with a shine, since the letters are in reality there and complete, and one did read them, he complies with the kriah. This would be similar to a baal koreh wearing dark or colored eyeglasses, or similar to being in a room with poor lighting, barely enough to read.
Good lighting design practice, either diffuses the light to reduce the luminescence or shields the source from view. The control of glare in electric lighting is generally achieved by shielding. Opaque shades that help disperse the light, avoiding glare, would be more effective than using amber light, which depending on the shade of color and strength, may not be what a shul needs at all.
You are more likely to avoid glare, if you use an older Sefer Torah with ink that isn’t glossy or shiny, or using anti glare protection eyeglasses.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit’a
Important Numbers
