gelilah means the act or ceremony of scrolling the Torah back up after reading it.
Why “gelilah” is a great word
The ceremonial act of rolling, securing, and dressing the Torah scroll after its public reading in synagogue. From Modern Hebrew גְּלִילָה (glilá, 'rolling, winding'), from the root ג־ל־ל (g-l-l, 'to roll'). Unlike the megillah, which is the scroll itself—a fixed text to be declaimed—or the hagbahah, which is the dramatic lifting and showing of that text, gelilah is the quiet, necessary work of preservation. It is the practiced hands smoothing the parchment columns back into alignment, the precise tightening of the rollers, and the final settling of the velvet mantle and silver finials over the sacred words. It is the reverent closing that follows revelation, a tactile reminder that holiness resides not only in the reading but in the careful, deliberate rolling shut.
Etymology
Borrowed from Hebrew גְּלִילָה (glilá).
noun
- The act or ceremony of scrolling the Torah back up after reading it.“It is suggested that the Tallit be worn when saying Kaddish at the prayer desk, when one receives an Aliyah, at Minhah on a fast day, when one removes the Torah scroll from the ark, when one is honored with Hagbahah or Gelilah, or if one serves as an assistant.”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- hakafah 83% match — A circular religious procession, traditionally practiced on Simchat Torah. vs gelilah →
- aliyah 83% match — The calling up of someone to the bimah for the reading of the Torah. vs gelilah →
- genizah 82% match — A depository where sacred Hebrew books or other sacred items that by Jewish law cannot be disposed of are kept before they can be properly buried in a cemetery. vs gelilah →
- hakafot 82% match — A procession of people making circuit around something. vs gelilah →
- tikkun 80% match — A night of (usually communal) Torah study. vs gelilah →
- haftarah 80% match — A selection from the books of Nevi'im and Ketuvim of the Tanach, usually corresponding to the week's parashah, publicly read in synagogue following the parashah. vs gelilah →
- kapparah 79% match — Atonement. vs gelilah →
- siyum 79% match — A celebration held upon completing the reading of a unit of Judaic scripture; a graduation. vs gelilah →