Dressing the Torah

I sit in close proximity to the shulchan and yesterday I perceived an action which many times is on the sideline of Sabbat procedures.

One man always holds the Torah while another person dresses the Torah.
Both actions are honors bestowed on chosen people by the rabbi and the gabaaii.

Their names are called
They ascend the few steps to the Shulchan
First one of them has to raise the Torah up into the air, which is hard when the Torah is lopsided, like right before or after Simcha Torah. The scroll has all the holy writing on either the left or right side.
I watch the person who is required to hoist the open Torah, and many times there is someone right there to make sure that it would be a successful lift.
Once that 1. act is completed, the 2. Act follows; which is done while the person who raised the Torah sits down on a special chair in the raised platform. The rolling back of the parchments, which is done by another person who had the honor.
The dressing of the Torah takes the longest.
First one has to close the rolled up scrolls with a velvet belt which has a golden sliding closure.

What follows is the dressing with the Mantel. The two either wooden or silver handles have to slide through the assigned holes and pulled down.
The last act is the pointer which is used for the Baal KOREH to read every letter, will be slung around the wooden or silver handle.
Finally a crown will top the Torah and placed on a secure shelf locked with a chain until the rabbi finishes his speech and the holy Torah is returned to the Aron Kodesh.

I needlepointed a Mantel for the Torah which my husband gifted to me in honor of my parents.
It took me more than a year to do it, but every time when I watch the tradition of the drsssing of the Torah I think of my mother who had the same feeling than me.

She created, she sewed the mantel for her baby, that how she referred to her Torah which she inheritance from her grandmother.
Through great struggle that precious Judaic a was brought from Budapest to Vienna and watched and cared for by my mother. She changed dresses for her Torah numerous times to keep it perfect .
Her Torah has siblings, which are kept in the old family home in Budapest and impossible to bring to Vienna. But my mother’s last words had to do with these Sifre Torahs.

It is just so emotional for me, when I watch the dressing of a Torah, because it reminds me of my mother’s last words.