Point at the sefer Torah while saying V'zous Hatorah ?

Some people point at the sefer Torah during hagbohas haTorah, usually done with the pinky. Is this the true minhag, and, if so, then why with the pinky? I could understand using the Etzbah "pointer" finger, as in Etzbah Elokim. I have been unable to find any sources that address this.

Steven

So minhag ashkenaz is not to point but rather to bow? It seems the minhag to point is widely accepted even amongst B'nei Ashkenaz. Do we know the reason for the pinky?

Steven

Is it done in KAYJ as well?

Steven

There was a discussion about this a while ago in the USA 'Yated Ne'eman' newspaper. My recollection is that a chaveir (R. Yisroel) from KAJ Washington Heights wrote in a letter in the newspaper then that no one does it there. So it definitely is not done by all.

I think that this is a good example of how a custom can spread. Something comes along, it seems innocuous, maybe even nice and and meritorious. But we should think to ourselves, did our ancestors do it? And if they didn't, perhaps they abstained for good reason.

Additionally, it seems that doing it would compete with the minhag to bow, which, as stated above, was the minhag Ashkenaz from previous days. There is only a short time when the sefer Torah is being lifted and shown to the tzibbur and people have limited attention spans and capacity. If you give them a new minhag, it can sometimes displace an old one. Of the two, it seems to me that the bowing minhog is much more respectful to the (sefer) Torah. So I think the choice is clear.

כנלע"ד


Litvak

1) Can you elaborate on the minhag Ashkenaz to bow during hagbohas haTorah when the sefer Torah faces you ?

a) Where is this minhog recorded ?

b) What kind of bowing is meant? Just a small bowing of the head/upper body (as some do during Oleinu), or more?

2) A Rav Chesner was mentioned earlier. Who is he? Mechaber of a sefer?

Litvak

I believe that bowing towards the Torah during Hagbah is an explicit Tosefta (Soferim 14:14). The text basically reads as follows: …open the Torah to three columns, lift it up and show the text to the congregation standing to the right, the left, in front and behind, since it is a mitzvah for all men and women to see the text, to bow (לכרוע) and to recite "V’zos hatorah asher sum Moshe lifnei b’nei Yisroel, Toras Hashem Temimah meshivas nafesh…" (It’s interesting that the Tosefta mentions “Toras Hashem Temimah meshivas nafesh” which is not our Minhag but rather the Gabbai says it when he calls up the Kohen).

Daniel