Reading gemara during laining - part 3

Two other sources I was thinking of when writing this, but which I did not work in to the original.

The first demonstrates that elsewhere there is a concept of each person learning on his own level, while in the shul.

In a brayta in Bavli Brachot 4b:

כדתניא חכמים עשו סייג לדבריהם
כדי שלא יהא אדם בא מן השדה בערב
ואומר אלך לביתי ואוכל קימעא
ואשתה קימעא
ואישן קימעא
ואח"כ אקרא ק"ש ואתפלל
וחוטפתו שינה ונמצא ישן כל הלילה
אבל אדם בא מן השדה בערב
נכנס לבית הכנסת
אם רגיל לקרות קורא
ואם רגיל לשנות שונה
וקורא ק"ש ומתפלל
ואוכל פתו ומברך
וכל העובר על דברי חכמים חייב מיתה

As we learned in a brayta: The Sages made a fence for their words
{in saying one may only say Shema until midnight}
So that a man should not come from the field in the evening
And say I wull go to my house and eat a bit
And drink a bit
And sleep a bit
And afterwards I will read kriyat Shema and then pray {the Amida}
And sleep will snatch him and it will come out that he slept the entire night.
But rather a man will come from the field in the evening
And enter the shul {house of gathering}
If he is used to reading he reads {Scripture}
And if he is used to learning he learns
And he reads Shema and prays {the Amida}
and eats his bread and bentches
And anyone who violates the words of the Sages is deserving of the death penalty.

The second is a demonstration that one learning by himself might be doing so silently. It is a story involving Bruria, on Eruvin 53b-54a.

ברוריה אשכחתיה לההוא תלמידא דהוה קא גריס בלחישה
בטשה ביה
אמרה ליה לא כך כתוב (שמואל ב כג) ערוכה בכל ושמורה
אם ערוכה ברמ"ח אברים שלך משתמרת
ואם לאו אינה משתמרת
תנא תלמיד אחד היה לרבי אליעזר שהיה שונה בלחש לאחר ג' שנים שכח תלמודו

Bruria saw a certain student who was learning silently.
She kicked him.
She said to him it states in Shmuel 2 23:5:

ה כִּי-לֹא-כֵן בֵּיתִי, עִם-אֵל: כִּי בְרִית עוֹלָם שָׂם לִי, עֲרוּכָה בַכֹּל וּשְׁמֻרָה--כִּי-כָל-יִשְׁעִי וְכָל-חֵפֶץ, כִּי-לֹא יַצְמִיחַ.

5 For is not my house established with God? for an everlasting covenant He hath made with me, ordered in all things, and sure; for all my salvation, and all my desire, will he not make it to grow?

"If it is ordered in all your 248 limbs it will be kept,
and if not it will not be kept." {Thus one should learn aloud.}
We learnt: there was a student of Rabbi Eliezer, who would learn silently. After three years he forgot his learning.

So some people learned silently, though it was not always a recommended course. Even within learning silently, it is not clear how silently is meant. If you speak enough for your ears to hear but without disturbing others, this might still be acceptable in terms of Sotah.

Also, in terms of whether sheniftach means open or begin, note that in Brachot, a prohibition of leaving the sefer Torah when it is open is mentioned. However, they allow leaving between aliyot. On the other hand, Rava asks about leaving between psukim, so this does not seem like the best of proofs.

Also, to see how the Rif paskens in this matter, see on my Rif blog, at the end of this post on Rif 4a.