It occasionally happens that while the Ba’al Koreh reads the Torah, he notices a mistake in the writing of the Torah, such as a misspelled word. The Shulhan Aruch writes (Orah Haim 143) that when this happens, the Sefer Torah is immediately closed, and another Sefer Torah is taken out and read in its place. The reading then resumes from the verse where the mistake was found, and the Oleh (person who received the Aliya) does not repeat the Beracha. This applies regardless of how many verses were read from the invalid Sefer Torah. Additionally, all the previous Aliyot count towards the number of required Aliyot. For example, if the mistake was found in the fourth Aliya, the first three Aliyot count toward the required seven Aliyot, and only three more Aliyot are needed after the current Aliya. Even though the reading had been done until now from an invalid Torah scroll, we do not retroactively disqualify the reading.
Sometimes it happens that the reader notices a mistake in the Sefer Torah immediately after the Oleh recited the Beracha, even before he began reading that Aliya. According to some opinions, the Beracha in this case must be repeated when the new Sefer Torah is brought. In order to avoid this question, it is proper in such a case for the Ba’al Koreh to read the first three verses of the Aliya from the invalid Sefer Torah, relying on the view of the Rambam (Rav Moshe Maimonides, Spain-Egypt, 1135-1204) that Torah reading is valid even when it is done from a disqualified Sefer Torah. Then, the reading can resume from the new Sefer Torah – starting from the beginning of the Aliya – without a new Beracha, according to all opinions.
If a mistake is found after the final Aliya, after the entire portion was read, the final Oleh does not recite the concluding Beracha. Instead, he recites the Beracha over the Haftara and reads the Haftara. A new Sefer Torah is not brought out of the ark for the Maftir reading, and so the Oleh proceeds directly to the Haftara. This is the ruling of Hacham David Yosef, in Halacha Berura.
According to Sephardic custom, a Sefer Torah is to be put away if any spelling mistake is found, even if it does not affect the meaning of the word, such as in the case of an extra or missing "Vav" or "Yod." Even if two adjacent letters are touching one another, the Sefer Torah should be put away and a new Torah is taken out from the ark.
In situations when a new Sefer Torah is brought, the first Sefer Torah should remain on the Teba. It is not returned to the ark until the new Sefer Torah is returned to the ark.
If a mistake is found in a Sefer Torah on a day when two Sifreh Torah are brought from the ark – such as Shabbat Rosh Hodesh – the second Sefer Torah which has already been brought from the ark should not be used as the replacement. Rather, a new Sefer Torah should be taken from the ark to be read in place of the invalid Sefer Torah.
In an earlier edition of Daily Halacha, we noted the ruling of the Shulhan Aruch that the Oleh must read along with the reader, and therefore somebody who is unable to read Hebrew should not be given an Aliya. As we saw, the Aruch Ha’shulhan (Rav Yechiel Michel Epstein of Nevarduk, 1829-1908) justified the practice of calling up for Aliyot people who are unable to read, claiming that we may rely on the rule of "Shome’a Ke’oneh" – that hearing the reading is considered as though one reads the text. The Shulhan Aruch, however, did not follow this opinion. Interestingly enough, the Shulhan Aruch (143:5) goes so far as to say that if there is only one person in the congregation who is able to read the text of the Sefer Torah, then he should be given all the Aliyot. It is uncertain which of these views is customarily accepted in our community, but regardless, the Shulhan Aruch’s ruling emphasizes the importance of reading along with the Ba’al Koreh when one receives an Aliya.
Summary: If the reader notices a misspelled word in the Sefer Torah, or that two letters are touching each other, a new Torah is brought from the ark and the reading resumes from the verse in which the mistake was discovered. If the mistake was discovered before the reader began reading that Aliya, he should first read three verses from the invalid Sefer Torah before a new one is brought from the ark. If the mistake was discovered after the reading of the final Aliya, the Oleh proceeds straight to the Haftara, as a new Sefer Torah should not be brought out just for the Maftir reading. When a Sefer Torah is replaced, it should remain on the Teba until the new Sefer Torah is returned to the ark.
