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The actual chanting should be READ in accordance with halachah d'rabbanan, but I disagree that there's no point in memorizing. I know that if I'm memorizing something in a language that isn't familiar to me, then learn a couple of the words' meanings, I can then go back, recite it in my head while reading it in my own language with my eyes, and thereby learn a lot more about the meaning of the words I'm chanting. That's what I had to learn to do for davening, because I wasn't reared with knowledge of Hebrew, so it's still foreign to me. But the prayers that I say the most often, I understand, simply because I memorized the Hebrew and then learned the English. I know a lot more of what I'm saying that way, so I can actually pray with kavanah.

I have to likewise memorize the portions of Torah that I read for Women's Tefillah Group. One, my eyes skip a lot, and I lose my place. If I can't keep chanting, I'll never find my place again so that I can resume actual reading. Two, I'm short and the podium is tall, so that when setting the book on the podium, it's very close to my eyes. I'm farsighted, and so I need the book to be much further away from my eyes. Therefore, I can barely see the text. If I've memorized it, not only do I have a better chance of understanding what I'm reading (because I've memorized, gone and read it in Hebrew while looking at the English, and now am reading the Hebrew), but I also have a better chance of being able to read it with true expression instead of only hurrying through it like I just want it to be over with. I can honor the text and understand its meaning, instead of just focusing on, "Hmm, that looks like a letter vav, but with eyes like mine, it could be a gimmel or nun. Okay, yeah, I have no idea what that word is."

I think she means you shouldn't memorize the Hebrew itself, and not read out of the Torah from memory. This is a chance to do something amazing, to read from an incredible source of knowledge and life-- why bother reading it if you're not actually paying attention to it? It's perfectly logical to know what the words are, as it'd be rather silly if you didn't have a clue what you were saying, or if you just know it from heart. Practicing is necessary so you don't mess up the meaning, but that doesn't mean you have to recite it without looking at it.Anyway, just my view here- it's not really the "right" one. sweatdrop

Haha, thats funny. But its a good Idea to prepare ahed of time.. Unilke what I did. I learned my torah and wrote my speech all in the month before my bat mitzvah. rolleyes