ABSTRACT
The setting and props may be described in an institutional sense, with emphasis on understanding the physical realities as the participants do within the setting. One part of the setting remains to be described. Having sketched the physical setting of the shul, both instrumentally and institutionally—the shell within which activities occur—one ought to describe the shell—or what Goffman calls the "sheath" within which Kehillat Kodesh individuals themselves exist. The fact that such seats are joked about must be understood in terms of the atmosphere of conciliation in Kehillat Kodesh. The same setting and props may be described in an institutional sense, with emphasis on understanding the physical realities as the participants do within the setting. The actual parchment of the Torah scrolls may never be touched directly, and a whole set of proscriptions maintains this sanctity.
