Turning to the Right

כל פינות שאתה פונה לא יהו אלא דרך ימין למזרח
All the turns that you make should be to the right which is to the east (Zevachim 62)

The Gemara mentions the principle, “All the turns that you make should be to the right.” This principle has many different applications. Sefer Minhag Yisroel Torah identifies four different circumstances in which this principle could be applied.

1. The first circumstance is when a person is going to stay in place but he is going to turn himself around. An example of this is hagbahah where the person lifts the Torah and turns around to show the writing to the people in shul.
2. The second circumstance is when a person is going to stay in place and he is going to rotate something around his body. For example, those people who have the custom to remain facing east as they shake their lulav in all the directions around their body.
3. The third circumstance is when a person walks around another object. An example of this is when we walk around the bimah as we take the Torah out and return it to the Aron Kodesh.
4. The final circumstance is when a person will remain in place and continue to face the same direction but he will turn from one side to the other. An example of this last circumstance is the lighting of the menorah from day two and onwards where the person will start kindling the lights from one end and proceed towards the other end.

There are multiple opinions how to apply the principle of turning to the right to the four circumstances enumerated but we will limit ourselves to the position of Shulchan Aruch. According to Shulchan Aruch one should always be turning towards the right. Consequently, in the first two circumstances when performing hagbahah or moving the lulav around one’s body, the first movement should be to the right (Meaning, if facing east one turns south, west, north and then back east). Similarly, when walking around something one will veer to the right first, thus when the Sh’liach Tzibbur holds the Torah facing the tzibbur (i.e., west) he turns to his right (i.e. north) in order to get to the bimah. In the last case, Shulchan Aruch maintains that one should first turn to the left so that while he performs that activity he will turn towards the right. Consequently, when kindling the Chanukah lights we begin with the one furthest left so we can then turn towards the right.