YK's Sofer Blog

Beware of False Mezuzot

2012-01-22T13:45:00.000+01:00

While watching TorahLive's Mezuza DVD (see previous post), I was intrigued to hear about a story of false Mezuzot in the Bank of Israel building. Although this is an old story I had never heard of it so I did some further research.

I'm reposting an article published by The Word of Stam blog (by the way, there are many good Safrut blogs popping up in the web lately and I will eventually link them all here).

TorahLive - Mezuza

2012-01-22T13:30:00.000+01:00

The other day I saw this DVD in the local Judaica store - a Mezuza DVD presentation. I happen to know the person behind it, Rabbi Roth, and after I bought and watched the whole DVD I really wanted to help spread the word about this project.

In today's day and age, the youngsters have become used to computers, internet and DVDs and Rabbi Roth realized that it was important to come up with a way to deliver Torah study in this medium. TorahLive has a few titles already and I must say that the Mezuza DVD is really very well done. The visuals are crucial for understanding the Laws of Mezuza and this DVD let's you see 3D demos and also a great video showing how Klafim are made.

There are two editions of this DVD - home and professional. I recommend the professional edition as you don't want to miss the cool extras.

Below you can see the preview of this DVD and also Sir Rabbi Jonathan Sacks' recommendation.
You can purchase the DVD via Amazon - click here (note: I have absolutely no affiliation with TorahLive nor gain anything from this! It's just a great idea I want to share)

Mezuzah Overview from Dan Roth on Vimeo.

Chief Rabbi speaking for Torah Live from Dan Roth on Vimeo.

Hanukka Candles and Mezuza

2011-12-21T22:47:00.000+01:00

There's an interesting Halacha in Hanuka that is connected to the Safrut topic.

The Talmud in Shabbos (22a) says:

אמר רבה נר חנוכה מצוה להניחה בטפח הסמוכה לפתח והיכא מנח ליה רב אחא בריה דרבא אמר מימין רב שמואל מדפתי אמר משמאל והילכתא משמאל כדי שתהא נר חנוכה משמאל ומזוזה מימין
Rabbah said: The Hanukkah lamp should be placed within the handbreadth nearest the door. And where is it placed? — R. Aha son of Raba said: On the right hand side: R. Samuel of Difti said: On the left hand side. And the law is, on the left, so that the Hanukkah lamp shall be on the left and the mezuzah on the right.

From the Talmud is clear that the best place to light the Chanukia is by the door. But what door are we referring to? In Talmudic times people generally lived in houses with front gardens, and this Gemara is referring to the door which connects the garden to the street,that is, the garden door. That was the best place to publicize the miracle of Hanukka to the passerbyes. In addition to this, when lighting by the door you have on one side a Mezuza and in the other the Hanukka candles and that's something desirable. The Meiri explains why:

ותהא נר חנוכת משמאל
ופירושו בתגדת ויבא בעל הבית בתפליו ובטלית מצוייצת ביניהם
חונה מלאך ה׳ סביב ליראיו ויחלצם

The Hanukka candles should be placed in the left and the Haggada explains that by doing this, the man will come to the door with his Tallit and Tefillin in between them (Hanukka candles and Mezuza), in accordance to the Pasuk "Hashem places his angel around those who fear him".

So in other words, the point is to be surrounded by Mitzvot - Mezuza, Hanukka candles, Tefillin and Tallit.
The Masechet Sofrim , a much earlier work, puts it differently:

"in accordance to the verse מה יפית ומה נעמת (How Beautiful and pleasant you are), מה יפית במזוזה ומה נעמת בנר חנוכה"

Unlike the Meiri, this explanation is more obscure and difficult to understand. How is this verse connected to placing the Mezuza at the right and candles at the left?

I've researched this quite a bit but couldn't manage to find a good answer, so I will share my own theory. The Hanukka Candles are a beautiful Mitzva - when you walk in the streets of Israel or in any other city with a sizable Jewish community it is truly beautiful to see all the different and unique Hanukiot burning everywhere. So the Hanukka candles are מה יפית - how beautiful - as this is a "public", outward Mitzva.

The concept of Mezuza is entirely different - this is not a "public" Mitzva but a private matter of the household. And Chazal teach us that the Mezuza provides a special protection to the house, hence, the Mezuza is "pleasant" (נעמת) for its owners since aside from being a Mitzva, it has this very specific reward which we don't usually find in other Mitzvot.

According to this understanding, the Masecht Sofrim points out that when you put the Mezuza in one side, and the candles in the other, you are indicating that these are two distinct Mitzvot with their own particularities and that illustrates the concept of מה יפית ומה נעמת. If you would put both in the same side of the door, you would be signaling that they are both the same type of Mitzva, which is not the case here.

Be it as it may, this custom of lighting the Hanukka candles at the door fell in disuse in the last centuries. As people moved to the cities and colder climates, it was quite difficult and often times impossible to light at the door facing the street. The vast majority of people today don't have garden doors as they either live in apartments or in houses that have no front gardens. In addition to that, at many points in history Jews felt uncomfortable publicizing the Mitzva because of anti-semitism concerns, so the custom became to light inside the house either by the window or hidden somewhere in the house (in case of fear of persecution).

In some cases, lighting by the window is also not a good alternative- for example, nobody will see the Hanukiot at the windows of a high penthouse apartment. In these cases, you should light by any door of your house (preferably the most used door) in order to light the candles next to the Mezuza as mentioned in the Talmud.

In Israel today, there's a widespread initiative to light by the door at the streets once again, as it's fairly common there to have garden doors and there's no fear of anti-semitism. So as you can see, there are many opinions and different possibilities in choosing where to light your candles. I hope I helped you find the right one! Happy Hanukka

My Progress #8: 3rd Mezuza - Big Size

2011-12-09T14:20:00.001+01:00

I'm moving soon to a new house and I will need quite a few Mezuzot, so wrote a third Mezuza. This time, I used a big size klaf, with lines as big as a Sefer Torah. And unlike the previous two Mezuzot, I used a plastic kulmus to write as it saves me a lot of time.

I did not check if it's Kosher yet so feel free to check and find mistakes, although I hope it is Kosher.

I will send it to be checked soon and I will post the comments of the Magia here.

A few hints: in the beggining of the second line the words Hashem and Elokecha are written a bit too close. In my opinion is perfectly Kosher because there's a space of a small Yud in between. Additionally, in two instances there a very close call for a Negia but with the naked eye I don't see a Negia.

Ink

2011-12-05T22:24:00.000+01:00

The title of this post is rather short and simple but this topic in Safrut is obscure, confusing and very challenging. The scribes usually pay little attention to what ink they use - most will just buy what's offered in the Safrut stores - but there are many opinions and the conclusion is somewhat unclear. There are very few resources on the web in English on this topic and here I hope to organize everything concisely for you.

The earliest record we have about the Halachot of ink is brought in the Jerusalem Talmud, Megilla 12 (פרק א הלכה ט):

הלכה למשה מסיני שיהו כותבין בעורות וכותבין בדיו

One of the Halachot of Moshe taught in Sinai is that you should write (Sta"m) in parchement and write it with ink..

From this we see that a scribe must use ink and not other materials when writing Torahs, Tefillins and Mezuzot. The big question is if this Halacha refers to a specific, "holy" ink or just any black ink.

What's the diference? Well, there are two ways of making ink:

Carbon-based ink is made from soot or charcoal dust...soot was gathered from burning vegetable or animal fats. Charcoal dust was produced by burning vegetable matter such as beech trees or cedars... It is very clear that this was the ink used by Moshe Rabbeinu and onwards until recently. The ink the the Dead Sea scrolls is carbon based.

Iron-based ink is made from oak-nut galls, green vitriol, also called copperas...its chemical formula is FeSO₄, 7H₂O, that is, iron sulfate crystallized with seven water molecules... This is the ink used by virtually all Jewish scribes in the past few centuries.

If Moshe wrote with a specific ink how can we use something else? The Gemara discusses this topic in, Eiruvin 13A:

תניא רבי יהודה אומר ר״מ היה אומר לכל מטילין קנקנתום

לתוך הדיו חוץ מפרשת סוטה

R. Judah stated: R. Meir laid down that vitriol may be put into

ink intended for any purpose except [that of writing]

the Pentateuchal section dealing with a suspected wife.

דתניא אמר ר״מ כשהייתי אצל

ר׳ ישמעאל הייתי מטיל קנקנתום לתוך הדיו

ולא אמר לי דבר כשבאתי אצל רבי עקיבא

אסרה עלי

for it was taught: R. Meir related, ‘When I was with R. Ishmael

I used to put vitriol into my ink and he told me nothing [against it], but

when I subsequently came to R. Akiba, the latter forbade it to me.’

So here you have a classic Talmudic discussion - Rabbi Akiva against Rabbi Ishmael - about the permissibility of using Kankatum in the ink used for scribal work. So we have two types of ink; with and without this ingredient.

First, we need to understand what is Kankatum. Rashi there identifies it to be "adriment" in French, also known as Atramentum. However most commentators identify Kankatum as Vitriol, which in Latin refers to any metal sulfate but in this case, is identified to be specifically iron sulfate (also known as Copperas). Ink written with Kankatum is iron-based ink.

So the big question is what is the Maskana (conclusion) of the Gemara and who's opinion we follow in practice in regards to adding Kankatum.

Another way to understand this discussion is if there is a specific "holy" ink that must be used for writing Stam. Those who think that you can add Kankatum believe that any black ink is permissible even tough Moshe used a different ink but those who forbid it do believe that there's a specific "holy" ink and that Moshe in Sinai instructed us to write only with this specific ink.

Since almost every Rishon speaks about this topic, I will limit this discussion to the Halacha Lemaase, that is, practical Halacha. There are three main codifiers - Rosh, Rif and Rambam - and if two of the three follow one opinion, Halacha will follow it as well. So what do they say?

Rosh (Gitin 2:10): (Mei Tarya and) Afatzim can be used, unless the parchment was treated with Afatzim, for then the ink will not be visible.
R. Tam (cited in Rosh Hilchos Sefer Torah Siman 6): Ink made with Afatzim is not called ink. A Mishnah (Gitin 19a) discusses ink and dyes Kosher for a Get. R. Chiya's (our text - R. Chanina's) Beraisa permits Mei Tarya and Afatzim. It adds to the Mishnah. This shows that Afatzim are not called ink!
Rebuttal (Rosh): Afatzim themselves are not called ink, until they are mixed with sap. Then, it can be used to write even on a parchment treated with Afatzim.

We see from the Rosh that even an unusual ingredient like Afatzim (galls) can be used in the ink, as long as is mixed with other ingredient (and that it is black)

Rambam (Hilchos Tefilin 1:4): To make the ink, we gather the smoke of oils, tar, wax or similar things, and knead it with tree sap and a little honey. We soak it very much and pound it until it is like wafers. We dry it and store it. When it is time to write, we soak it in Mei Afatzim or similar things, so if it is erased, it will be erased. This (carbon based ink) is the best ink for Seforim, Tefilin and Mezuzos. If any of the three were written with Mei Afatzim and vitriol, which cannot be erased, it is Kosher.

The Rambam prefers to use the original carbon-based ink but clearly states that iron-based is also good. He, like the Rosh, doesn't think that there's a holy ink that must be used for Stam. For the Rambam, any black durable ink is acceptable.

The Rif is silent in this topic but we already have two views from the three permitting any ingredient to be added to the ink. So the Halacha in Shulchan Aruch is indeed like the Rambam and Rosh:

Shulchan Aruch (YD 271:6): A Sefer Torah must be written with ink made from smoke of oils soaked in Mei Afatzim.
If it was written with Mei Afatzim and vitriol, it is Kosher.

This is the practical Halacha - you can use any ink, although the best one is the original, carbon-based ink. This was the simple part. Now you can fully appreciate the complications if you want:

1. When the Rambam says "If any of the three were written with Mei Afatzim and vitriol, which cannot be erased, it is Kosher." it sounds like it is Kosher Bedieved, that is, impromptu. If so, why do we write today with vitriol (iron-based) if it is only Bedieved?

Answer: If a sofer has both inks to choose from, indeed the carbon-based is prefered. But for a few centuries already, we don't know how to make a good carbon-based ink and therefore we are only left with the iron-based ink(Birkei Yosef), which is also good and in such situation it's used even Lekatchila (Keset Hasofer).

It's interesting to note that even the Teimanim, who always follow the rulings of the Rambam, use the iron-based ink for many centuries already, certainly for the same reason.

Here and there, some innovative scribes tried to come up with reliable carbon-based inks and some had success. It is said that R' Reuven, a very esteemed Chasidic scribe whol lived some 200 years ago, only used carbon ink and the same is said about R' Netanel Tfilinsky, who lived in the early 1900's and developed a secret carbon ink that still looks good in his works (people collect them). But the fact is that there hasn't been a reliable carbon-ink for Safrut in the market for many centuries now.

Zvi Shkedi, a Chabad scientist from Scranton (see his knol here and his video about this topic), recently started to produce a carbon-based ink that is available for purchase - I purchased a bottle for a try. While I dislike his vitriolic (pun intended) attacks on our esteemed iron-based ink, his work is interesting and perhaps a game changer. I will leave my complaints and my compliments about his Dio Lanetzach for another post.

2. Rabbeinu Tam understands that the conclusion of the Talmud Eiruvin, brought above, is like the opinion that forbids Virtriol (iron-based) ink and therefore he unequivocally states that a Sefer Torah written with iron-based ink is Pasul! Why we don't consider his opinion?

This is actually the third instance in Safrut of a discussion between Rabbeinu Tam and his uncle Rashi, who holds that iron-based ink is 100% Kosher. How fascinating is to think that the grandson disqualified the Torah of the grandfather! Remember that their discussions are based in earlier discussions as explained in my earlier posts. Be it as it may, we have demonstrated above that Halacha Lemaase does not render iron ink Pasul and that's all that matters.

A very liberal blogger asked a seemingly powerful question. Why do some people put on a second pair of Tefillin that is made according to Rabbeinu Tam if the scribes today write the Tefillin parchements with iron-based ink which is Pasul according to Rabbeinu Tam himself. If you are trying to follow Rabbeinu Tam you should write his Tefillins only with carbon-based inks!

The question is better than the answer. The answer is that the opinions of Rabbeinu Tam throughout the Talmud are not necessarily interdependent. For instance, the first discussion between Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam is about the shape of the letter Chet (see here) and the Ashkenazim follow Rabbeinu Tam. In the other hand, there's another discussion about how we should manufacture our Tefillins - once again between Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam - and the Ashkenazim follow Rashi's opnion. So they put Rashi's Tefillin but write the letters Chet in it according to Rabbeinu Tam. You see clearly that Halacha will not always follow Rashi nor Rabbeinu Tam; Halacha is dealt in a case by case fashion.

I only wonder if the Belz dynasty, who have a history of adering to Rabbeinu Tam's opinions (as mentioned here), are Machmir to write Stam with carbon based inks. Anyone knows?

Short Q&A - Machon Ot

2011-11-13T22:27:00.001+01:00

Founded by Rabbi Yitzchak Shteiner and Rabbi Yitzchak Goldshtein, Machon Ot is a non-profit organization based in Jerusalem which has developed computerized techniques of torah identification.

Every examined scroll is entered into The International Torah Registry, a worldwide computer database assigning a unique torah code (likened to a fingerprint) to every torah scroll analyzed. Using this technique, any torah scroll can be immediately identified and matched with its owner. This technique is the only one used by both The Israel National Police, Interpol and The New York Police Department for returning a recovered stolen torah scroll.

I've seen their sticker in the Aron Kodesh of many Israeli synagogues and they are well known there. This is a great initiative and I hope it catches on in the rest of the world. Their service is very affordable and it can help in case of robbery or loss - something unfortunatedly not uncommon today (see here about a case last year in Europe)

Here's my short interview:

1. When was the Machon founded?
1988. It's a non-profit organization and our mission is to repair and donate Torah to places which do not have a Kosher Torah Scroll.

2. How can a client send a scroll for analysis? Must he send to Israel only or also other locations?
He needs to fill up a registration form and submit it to Israel. We also come to the US from time to time.

3. How many Torah scrolls have the "fingerprint" identification today?
15000.

4. Do you also analyse other scrolls, like Megillat Esther or only Sefer Torah?
We analyze both Torah Scrolls and Megillat Esther.

5. Do you check who wrote the Sefer Torah you analyze? The scrolls with Machon Ot fingerprint are all Kosher?
We can't know who wrote the Torah but we have signs that tell us if it was written by a Kosher Scribe. We check Kosher and damaged Torahs and provide an estimate in case of need of repair.

6. How much it costs to fingerprint a Torah Scroll, roughly?
About U$100.

7. Did the police recover any scrolls because of the fingerprint?
Yes, in Yahud (Israel).

8. What's the oldest Torah you received in the Machon?
500 years.

Halacha LeMaase: Hanging Words

2011-11-03T22:30:00.001+01:00

A student from Indiana University emailed me some pictures of an old Sefer Torah which reminded me of a
few obscure Halachot. Take a look in the first two pics:

This Torah is written in Veilish - the Sephardic Script - and it has inverted Tzadi (and Shin), which means that it was influenced by the Ktav Ari. The Sofer follows the Rambam's opinion of Parshiot Petuchot and Setumot but he used an odd layout for the Parsha of Shma, not sure why. I will research further.

As you can see, the words of Shema have many extra Taggim which are today only found in our Tefillins (reminds me of the popular practice of writing Sifrei Torah in Ktav Ari, a script was supposed to be used only in Tefillin - click here for my post on this topic).

The student notes that the parchement is made from sheep skin and although that's very unusual, halachically speaking that's 100% kosher since you can write on the Klaf of any kosher animal - be it deer, sheep or even chicken (never seen this one but it's mentioned by all early sources).

But the most interesting bit comes now:

This section is very interesting - note the ultra small writing. Here's what I think happened.

This Parsha is an "open" parsha (Petucha) but the Sofer originally erred and used the Setumah layout (see the evidence at the end of line 3) which looks like this:

The Sofer only realized the mistake later and it was too late to fix it properly, since the next lines were all in place already. Since this is a mistake that would render a Sefer Torah 100% Pasul, the Sofer came up with an ingenious solution found in Halacha. He erased the words at the end of line 3, effectively erasing the wrong layout and rewrote the words by "hanging" them at the beggining of line 4. This changed the layout to a proper Parsha Petucha (according to the Rambam) and it magically turned the Sefer Torah kosher again.

But can you hang letters? Yes you can. This is already brought in the Tannaic Masecht Sofrim but I could only find this Halacha online in the Aruch Hashulchan:

טעה ודילג תיבה או יותר – יכול לתלותו בין השיטין במקום שנחסר

ולאו דווקא תיבה אחת יכול לתלות בין השיטין, אלא אפילו כמה תיבות ויותר מזה. כתב התשב"ץ (חלק ראשון סימן קע"ו הביאו בבד"ה) דאפילו דילג פסוק שלם – יכול לתלותו בין השיטין, דאין לחלק בין חסרון מרובה לחסרון מועט

That is, that you can always "hang" a letter or even a whole Pasuk on the space between the lines. Now we can fully appreciate the smart solution of this Sofer.

Baruch Shekivanti!

2011-10-24T22:33:00.000+02:00

"In the beit midrash, it is considered an exciting delight to find that one's original thought was actually innovated by an earlier source, unbeknownst to the current thinker. This is usually taken to be a vindication of the thought patterns of the learner, and an exoneration of his logic. The happy student may exclaim, 'baruch shekivanti!', which ostensibly means 'blessed is He who directed me [to the same conclusion as source x]'. This phrase has become of modern parlance in orthodox circles, and is used in situations removed from torah learning, as well. (...)" Source

Exactly one year after my novel explanation about the Ot of Cain, which I identified to be the Tav just like the Ot of Mitzraim in Exodus 12:13 , I was shown a source to this claim - the Siftei Chachamim (see here, last line): אות ת רמז בו תחיה כלומר שלא יהרגנו

So it turns out that it was the letter Tav indeed and the Tav is in fact the short version of תחיה, "You shall live". My only source for that until now was Rabbi Kasher's chidush on the Odd letters in the Mezuzot, where he used the same logic. Now the Siftei Chachamim validates Rabbi Kasher's insight and confirms that the Ot of Cain is indeed connected to the Ot of Mitztraim. Fascinating.

It's just remains unclear if Hashem inscribed in Cain the letter Tav in Ktav Ivri or Ashurit. The Ot of Mitzraim was in Ktav Ivri, like an X. So did Cain have our traditional Tav or an X in his forehead?

Just an addendum, the Siftei Chachamim also brings that the letter could have been the Hey, one of the letters in G-d's name. As I mentioned in the original post, the Peirush Hasulam says that it was a Vav. I thought that was all - Tav, Hey and Vav. Then I looked in older Mikraot Gedolot and found this alternative version of the Siftei Chachamim (see here): אות י רמז בו יחיה כלומר שלא יהרגנו. Somebody obviously messed up in the copying because that is NOT what the Siftei Chachamim says, so in case you see it, it's a clear Taut Sofer, copier's error.

Melechet Shamayim

2011-10-03T22:59:00.000+02:00

Just came across a very good blog that also focuses on Safrut. The author is very handy and like experiments, and I specially like his series about Gevil parchment. In fact, I will look for a Gevil on my upcoming trip to Jerusalem. The question is what I should write on it - I'm thinking maybe a Lamnatzeach (see post about it here), a psalm that was inscribed in David's shield for protection. It's short, easy to write and it will look stunning in Gevil.

Ze Keili VeAnveihu זה אלי ואנוהו

2011-10-02T23:37:00.003+02:00

This is an addendum to one of my earlier posts which discussed Ze Keili Veanveihu.

Just a quick briefing:

"זה אלי ואנוהו" - התנאה לפניו במצוות

(מסכת שבת קלג/ב)

In that post I mentioned that according to some rabbanim, there's no concept of Ze Keili Veanveihu in something which is concealed from the eye (i.e. Tefillin). Yesterday I saw that the Keset HaSofer explicitly disagrees and even brings a proof from the Aron HaKodesh, which was gold coated not only externally but internally as well. That is because, says the Keset Hasofer, of Ze Keili Veanveihu. See below (here is the original):

ג) ל כ ת ח ל ה יכ ת ו ב כ ת י ב ה גס ה ק צ ת של א יהיו נמ ח ק י ם מ ה ר ה וכ ן

מצו ר , לי פ ו ת ן מ ב פ נ י ם שה ר י בי ה מ ״ ק הי ה מצ ו פ ה זה ב מ ב פ נ י ם ,

ה) הס ו פ ר י ם הז ר י ז ים עו ש י ם ג׳ מי נ י קל פ י ם לש ל רא ש ה ע ב י ו ת ר

ל כ ת ו ב בו פ׳ שמ ע שה י א ק ט נ ה , ו ה ד ק ממ נ ו לפ י וה י ה כי

י ב י א ך שה י א יו ת ר ג ד ו ל ה , ול פ י קד ש ול פ י וה י ה א ם שס ו ע שה ן

א ר ו כ ו ת עו ש י ם קל ף דק מ א ד וב ז ה י ת מ ל א ו ה ב ת י ם בש ו ה וזהו נו י

ה פ י ל י ן

Just delving a bit more in this subject, I think we can use the classical yeshivish distinction of Gavra (גברא) and Cheftza (חפצא) to explain the two sides of this discussion; if the concept of Ze Keili is upon the person (גברא) so he knows what's hidden and if there's something nice in it like a well-written parsha or in the case of the Aron Kodesh, gold coated wood, the person will think he is exalting the Mitzva and it will count as Ze Keili Veanveihu.

However, if Ze Keili relates exclusively to the item (חפצא), then when you look at the item there's nothing special about the hidden gold coat or the special parshiot. The item just looks the same as any other and therefore only an external embelishment will make it special. Hence the wording ZE keili, the word ZE ("this") is usually referred to something you can point at i.e. not hidden.

What option do you think is more correct? If you think nobody would spend money on a hidden embellishment and that therefore the first opinion doesn't make sense, here's a famous story that illustrates the psychology behind the first opinion, although is not Torah related. Here it is - Lehavdil!

Steve Jobs has a many enviable qualities. His attention to detail, his ability to grasp what people actually want, his management style and presentation skills are all things that many CEO's envy.

(...)That scenario almost repeated itself with the original Mac. Upon seeing the mother board Steve deemed it ugly. When designers pointed out that the only service technicians would actually see the motherboard, Steve shot back famously "I'll see it." (source)

Saving an Holocaust Torah Scroll - Part II

2011-09-23T14:04:00.000+02:00

This is a follow-up of an earlier post.

So here we are, a year since I first saw the Holocaust Torah I wrote about. For a full year nothing much happened and, to my great pain, I wasn't managing to get any breakthrough in saving this very special scroll.

During the course of this year, I kept this story to myself and my family, as I had no interest in spreading a sad story like this one to my friends. But on Shavuot, the day we celebrate the Giving of the Torah, I was sitting next to a family friend who mentioned he was involved with an Holocaust claim in another European city. I then told him about this story and he volunteered to solve the stalemate. A very respected figure in the community, this friend had the connections, experience and the latitude to negotiate the return of the Torah scroll.

In very little time, he was able to mobilize the local Jewish community and gain the support of the city's vice-mayor, Ludo Van Campenhout. After a very eloquent letter from Rabbi Lieberman, the city's Chief Rabbi, this story broke out in the news. Now that this story is public I can give you the specifics. The Torah Scroll is housed in Hendrik Conscience Biblioteek, one of Antwerp's main libraries.

Here is a quick Google translation of the original article, from the Gazet Van Anwterpen:

Jews claim the Torah Scroll back
20.9 The Jewish Community of Antwerp is claiming an ancient Torah scroll to be returned from the Heritage Library. But that's not so simple.
Chief Rabbi Lieberman of the Jewish Community of Antwerp wants the Heritage Library to return an original handwritten Torah scroll to the community. The roll, like a Bible, is now in the archives of the library.According to chief rabbi Lieberman, the Torah scroll's home is at the community's synagogue and that according to Jewish religious practices, that is the only proper place for such scroll. The Torah scroll has been decades in the library. Only a few years ago, the religious writing was discovered by staff
History
The history of the Torah scroll is as exciting as sinister. The writings, rolled nearly 20 feet long, were given during the Second World War by a Antwerp Jew to the former city librarian.The man hoped this would keep the roll out of the hands of the Germans. And he succeeded. Torah Scrolls during the Second World War were without exception burned. It is likely that the role of the Heritage Library is the only one that survived the German destruction in Antwerp.
"Belongs in the synagogue"
As per Rabbi Lieberman's letter to Ludo Van Campenhout, "I think that really belongs Torah scroll in a synagogue, and I will do whatever I can to return the scroll to the Jewish community."The Heritage Library will restore the Torah scroll and a few years to the public display in the Museum aan de Stroom (MAS), where a show about religion in Antwerp will take place. "That seems a good idea. Especially since the Jews themselves say that a Torah scroll is only one place: the synagogue. It would mean that we give back the role, "concludes Ludo Van Campenhout.
Complications
"We know there is a demand from the Jewish community to take over the Torah scroll," said director of the Heritage Library An Renard. "But there are a few complications. We do not know who brought the Torah scroll during the war. "Apart from the Jewish Community of Antwerp , there are other Jewish communities in the area. Who is the rightful owner? "We do not know. This makes it difficult to transfer the scroll. "Furthermore, the Torah scroll is in poor condition and in urgent need of restoration. "Before we assign any role, we want to do the necessary investigation and ensure that the role is well conserved," says An Renard.Minister of Culture and Worship Philip Heylen (CD & V) shares this opinion. "I think that with the Jewish communities and the Heritage Library should sit around the table. It would be very unwise to act quickly and without proper research to make a decision. That does not mean we exclude that the Torah scroll is transferred to the Jewish community in Antwerp".

Well, this is major news. Before any comment, I must enphasize that we should display great respect and gratitude to the Biblioteek, which managed to store and preserve the scroll for over 60 years. That's truly remarkable.

With that said, it seems there's a real chance this special Sefer Torah will be finding its way back to a synagogue after over 60 years of isolation. Imagine the impact of reading from it on a Shabbath prayer for the first time in so many decades... I think that's a once-in-a-lifetime occasion, kind of a closing of a cicle for the Antwerp Jewish community. Many local Holocaust survivors relate that after the Nazi occupation all the Torah scrolls from the city's two main Synagogues were taken to the street and burned in front of the community, with the exception of one scroll which was rushed away. Is this the same scroll? Impossible to know but be it as it may, this surviving scroll is perhaps the only of its kind in this city and a testament of the endurance and rebirth of the Jewish Community of Antwerp. I hope we can get it on time for Simchat Torah.

The Lost Torah Scroll from Munkatch

2011-09-01T17:34:00.000+02:00

This is for the Hebrew speaking readers - the remarkable story of a small Sefer Torah from Munktach which survived the WW2.

Enjoy

Stam Stories #5: The Sofer and the Quill

2011-07-31T16:34:00.000+02:00

Horav Moshe Zaggaro, zl, one of the distinguished rabbanim in Fez, Morocco, was also a sofer, scribe. He had an interesting way of writing a Torah. He wrote the entire Torah, leaving space for Hashem's Name. When he concluded writing the entire Torah, except for Hashem's Name, he would then take a special quill which was used exclusively for this purpose, and write Hashem's Name, with all of the esoteric, Kabbalistic kavanos, intentions. Shortly before he passed from this world, he asked that the pen which he had designated for writing Hashem's Name should be buried with him.

Rav Moshe passed from this world, but, regrettably, during the commotion, they forgot to place the quill in his coffin. As the students were about to lift the coffin for its last time, they found it impossible to lift. Try as they did, the coffin was impossible to raise. They could not figure out why this had happened, until someone remembered the quill. They had forgotten to carry out Rav Moshe's tzavaah, last request. As soon as they brought the quill, the hand of the deceased reached out from within the coffin and took the pen in the natural way it was used. Suddenly, the coffin became as light as a feather, and it was taken to its final resting place.

A holy man; a holy quill; a kiddush Shem Shomayim, a sanctification of the Name of Heaven. We now have an idea of the kedsushas Sefer Torah, sanctity of a Sefer Torah.

(Source)

Matzos and Tefillin of Rabbeinu Tam

2011-04-12T20:09:00.000+02:00

Someone presented me with a brand new Sefer called Ot Yatziv, from Zanz, which deals exclusively with the Minhaguim of Zanz in Safrut, with lots of citations from Zanz's most famous Rebbe, the Divrei Chaim.

The Divrei Chaim says that his Chassidim should only buy Rabbeinu Tam tefillin from a Sofer who actually puts Rabbeinu Tam Tefillin everyday. The reason? The main "drasha" of the Talmud in regards to Tefillin is:

וקשרתם... וכתבתם, כל שישנו בקשירה ישנו בכתיבה, וכל שאינו בקשירה אינו בכתיבה (Gittin 45)

This means that a person who's obligated to put on Tefillin is the person who's permitted to write it, thus excluding woman, children and others from writing Tefillin. But the Divrei Chaim uses this drasha further to exclude a Sofer who doesn't puts Rebbeinu Tam Tefillin from writing such a Tefillin, since in this regard he is not "Bar Keshira". Of course, this is a Chumra and a Tefillin written by a non-Rabbeinu Tam Sofer is Kosher. But it's an interesting point.

The Ot Yatziv says that this stringency of the Divrei Chaim is related ("לשיטתו") to the famous Minhag of Zanz of not eating machine matzos on Pessach. The Rebbe said that there is a hidden reason for it ("taam kamus") and Zanz Chassidim treat machine matzos like Chometz - that's right, don't try to bring Yehuda Matzos to your Zanz friends on Pessach.

(In the other hand, I have a friend who's family will not eat hand-made Matzos on Pessach because they claim that the computerized system of the machine matzos is far more reliable than the hand made process, which they consider more prone to causing chametz. Which begs the question - how did the Jews survive 3000 years without the machine matzos?)

The Divrei Chaim goes so far to rule that if your Minhag is that machine matzos is chometz, like Zanz, you cannot make Zimun with friends who eat machine matzos next to you, because as far as you are concerned these people are eating Chometz - having Zimun with them is a paradox you should avoid. That's the same underlying principle of the Divrei Chaim's chumra in regards to Tefillin of Rabbeinu Tam - you shouldn't buy it from a person who doesn't supports this opinion, since the Drasha of שישנו בקשירה ישנו בכתיבה will not work in this case and will thus cause a paradox to you.

Be it in Tefillin DeRabbeinu Tam, be it in Zimun between hand-matzo eaters and machine-matzo eaters, this is a very big chumra from Zanz. And a very annoying one for people with Zanz in-laws like me...!

Saving an Holocaust Torah Scroll - Part I

2011-02-22T20:20:00.000+01:00

There's has been a lot of press surrounding the veracity of a few Holocaust Torah Scrolls sold by a Maryland Rabbi, and being that I'm not here to judge anyone, all I can say is that this story highlights the special importance of Holocaust scrolls and how many people are willing to pay top money for these special scrolls.

Well, I myself am dealing with a Holocaust scroll which is housed in an European library since World War 2. The library tells me that after the Nazi occupation, a Jewish man came to the library and asked them to protect the Torah Scroll he had in his possession. I guess he felt that people who preserve books would understand the importance of the scroll and keep it from being destructed. And so it was. They kept the scroll and took great care of it since 1941, and in one way or another they contacted me because they wanted to know more about its history.

So I went there with one of my Safrut teachers to take a look at this unique Torah. First, the librarian takes us to a tour and tells us that they actually have many Jewish books with them but can't organize them as they are all in Hebrew. "These books are part of city's heritage and we would love to involve the Jewish residents in this and work together towards organizing all what we have".

We finally enter the room to see the Sefer Torah. We see the scroll is on top of the desk, wrapped in a special green carton paper ("to prevent corrosion") and sealed. It was a very emotional sight as it literary felt like visiting a long forsaken prisoner, albeit one that was kept well.

We were expecting a low quality Torah, with broken Yeriot and inferior Ktav. But as we unwrap the carton, it becomes evident that this is a top-quality Torah. It was missing the last 5 parshiot of Devarim and the Ktav was immaculate - really nice Polish style Torah. I took pictures but to my despair I can't find them and share it with you.

Now I'm trying to somehow save this Torah and bring it back to where it belongs - to a Shul, in the Bima, being read by the Baal Koreh on Shabbos. But for now, that is just a dream. Chazal say that a person who fixes a pasul Sefer Torah is Mekaiem the Mizva of Kitvu Lachem. But even if I somehow miracoulosly turn out to be the Sofer fixing this Torah, this is so much more than personal gain. It's about changing history and correcting a very big mistake!

Ktav Ari

2011-01-24T17:51:00.000+01:00

Check my previous post on the different Ashurit scripts before reading this one.

The Ktav Ari is one of Safrut's most fascinating topics for me. Actually, the Arizal in general always fascinated me, as few other individuals have impacted Judaism as much as he did.

First, it's important to understand who he was. Here is Wikipedia's take on him:

He was born in Jerusalem^[1] in 1534 to an Ashkenazi father, Solomon, and a Sephardic mother;^[6] died at Safed, Ottoman Empire controlled land of Israel July 25, 1572 (5 Av 5332). While still a child he lost his father, and was brought up by his rich uncle Mordechai Frances, on his mother's side, atax-farmer out of Cairo, Egypt.
At the age of fifteen he married his cousin and, being amply provided for financially, was able to continue his studies. Though he initially may have pursued a career in business, he soon turned to asceticism and mysticism. About the age of twenty-two years old he became engrossed in the study of the Zohar, a major work of the Kabbalah that had recently been printed for the first time, and adopted the life of a recluse. He retreated to the banks of the Nile, and for seven years secluded himself in an
isolated cottage, giving himself up entirely to meditation. He visited his family only on the Shabbat, speaking very seldom, and always in Hebrew.

The Ari passed away at the early age of 38 but his teachings changed Judaism in an unprecedented manner.

Until his time, there were two scripts - Veillish and Beit Yosef. In fact, the Beit Yosef lived in the same town as the Ari and was that generation's main posek.

The Ari introduced a new script that wasn't entirely "new". He made a mix of the Veillish and Beit Yosef, a new Ktav that incorporated characteristics of both scripts. Namely, he incorporated the "inverted Tzadi" from Veillish but also the Ashkenazi Peh. He did introduce some very subtle novel details based on his Kabbalistic teachings, but all in all, the major change was the inverted Tzadi. And he was heavily criticized for that "change".

Perhaps he was inspired by his hibrid Ashkenazi/Sephardic upbringing to make this new "intermediary" ktav. The Ari believed his generation needed some specific "Tikkunim" and he adapted the way we write our holy scrolls to achieve these mysterious Tikkunim. For instance, the white Bet inside the Peh, the Chaf within the Shin and the Chet comprised of a Vav and a Nun. But above all, he instructed scribes to write the Shem Hashem in a very unique and difficult way - in parts - based on the Zohar. All these are very subtle details that are inspired by his Kabbalistic teachings and he sought to perpetuate them in his Ktav - the Ktav Ari.

The Ari's changes were recorded by his student Rabbi Chaim Vital and it was clearly intended to be used only when writing Tefillin. But why only in Tefillin? That's subject to debate, but the most compelling reason I've heard is that changes motivated by Kabbalistic reasons shouldn't be evident when a person reads a scroll. It's ok to make a change that is subtle and hidden but to do it in a Torah Scroll, for instance, would be too evident and undesirable. The parshiot of Tefillin, in the other hand, are always hidden and if a scribe makes special details in it nobody will actually realize. That's why the Ari was very specific about using his Kabbalah-inspired Ktav only in Tefillin.

You are surely thinking "what about Mezuza?", after all the Mezuza is also hidden. I haven't heard a very good answer but I have my own speculation. Even though the Mezuza is hidden, the word Sha-dai is always visible (it should be, at least in theory) and you would be able to notice that the Ari Shin is different than the usual one.

Be it as it may, the Chassidic scribes always wrote Tefillins with the Ktav Ari - that custom was universally accepted by them. I don't know if that was the case with Sephardic Jews. I do know that the non-Chassidic Ashkenazi Jews never adopted the Ktav Ari in the scrolls.

It's hard to pin point an exact date, but slowly the Chassidic scribes started to use the Ktav Ari in Mezuzot and even Sifrei Torah, and today virtually all Chassidic sects have Ktav Ari Sifrei Torah in the Synagogues. It's hard to understand what's their justification as the Ari clearly did not intend to change the way Mezuzot and Torahs are written. In fact, I would bet that the Ari's own Sefer Torah was written in either Veillish or Ktav Ashurit; not Ktav Ari.

One Chassidic Rabbi was very critical of this practice - the holy Divrei Yatziv of Zanz (make sure you read about his remarkable life story on wikipedia). He had a special Kisharon for Halachot pertaining to Safrut (for instance, he figured out a revolutionary way to make the Batim of the Tefillin - but that's a topic for another post) and was very much against the use of Ktav Ari in Sifrei Torah, even for writing the Shem Hashem.

But Minhag Israel Torah and there's Halachic backing for writing Torahs with the Ktav Ari. The Mishnat Avraham (source) says that there's no problem to write Torah Scrolls with the Ktav Ari and bless the scribes who do it - "Tavo Alav Bracha". And he brings an Halachic justification for it: the Sefer Torah should be written in the same way Tefillin are, because if you write Tefillin with Ktav Ari and Torahs with Ktav Beit Yosef this will cause a Tartei DeSatrei (contradiction) when a person gets an Aliyah. Tartei DeSatrei is a well-established Halacha argument and perhaps this is why Chassidic Sofrim started to write all holy scrolls in Ktav Ari - even Megillat Esther.

The question is what should I do when I start writing my Torah (yes, I plan to start it very soon). Ktav Ari or Beit Yosef?

My teacher writes Sifrei Torah in Ktav Ari and when he is commissioned to write a Torah in Ktav Beit Yosef he writes the Shem Hashem according to the Ari but makes sure this is not evident (he is afraid the commisioners might realize and dissaprove it..). I found that the Kol Yaakov mentions here that this was the Minhag of the scribes of his city, Baghdad.

At first I was thinking I would do the same, but I recently realized it wouldn't make sense to do that in my case. Here's why:

Although I'm not really Chassidic, my father's name is Yekutiel Yehuda - the name of the Divrei Yatziv of Zanz - after my grandfather's father and my grandmother was born in Cluj/Klausenburg, the town where the Divrei Yatziv lived. The Tefillin I wear each and every day was written by a far away relative who lives in Netanya and is a Zanz Chassid. And on top of that, I married into a family of Zanz sympathizers, having a Sheva Brachot in Netanya hosted by the current Rebbe of Zanz. So I eventually realized that I cannot turn my back to all that; if I was ever meant to write a Sefer Torah, it was surely meant to be in same way the Chassidim of Zanz do, Ktav Beit Yosef - it's just seems to be destiny!

My Progress #7: 2nd Mezuza is reviewed by expert sofer..

2011-01-13T22:53:00.000+01:00

... and it's 100% kosher! The sofer who checks my works is VERY attentive and is known for seeing what no one else sees. For many he is just always making up problems but that's specifically why I like him: he really does his job well, regardless if you will like it or not.

Here are two issues he raised about my 2nd Mezuza:

In the word Deganecha, the Gimel's right leg doesn't comes lower than the left side ("gimel's yud") - both legs are leveled and that's not optimal. Solution: Make the right leg bigger and there's no problem of Kesidran (Mezuza cannot be fixed after it's finished) because this is not a fix, only a hiddur.

In the word Besadecha, the lamed in the next line is coming inside the Daled slightly. There's a potential issue with that because the Daled could look like a Hey, as the only difference between these two letter (Daled and Hey) is the little dot in the bottom-left side. Solution: This is not a major problem since what's coming inside the Daled is not the actual Lamed but the Lamed's Tag, therefore it's fixable. There are tow possible solutions: either make the Daled's leg a bit shorter, so the Tag of Lamed will not be inside of the Daled; or erase a bit of the Lamed's Tag - i.e. make it smaller. The latter solution is preferable since it's always better to touch a tag instead of the actual letter. (note the small Tag in the Beit next to the Lamed - I did that to avoid having the Tag coming into the Chaf)

Amazing Megillot #9 - JTS

2011-01-08T21:51:00.000+01:00

This is a Megilla from Jewish Theological Seminary's Rare Book Room. The "hang-man" illustration of the ten sons of Haman is really unique!

Using the Magnifying Lense in Safrut

2010-12-19T21:33:00.000+01:00

One of the most important concepts of Safrut is that every word should be "Mukaf Gevil" - which means that it should be surrounded by white. For instance, when two letters touch each other there's a no Mukaf Gevil - the letters don't have their own place in the Klaf. That renders a scroll Pasul.

Often times it's difficult to know if the letters are touching only with the naked eye. "Take the magnifying lense" you think. Well, it's not that simple. Let's go step by step.

Let's say there's a letter Taf which seems to be 100% ok. But when looking with a magnifying lense you see that there's a tiny white lines separating the letter in two (Hefsek Dak). This is a case of using the magnifying class Lechumra, for a stringency, and the Mishna Berura undoubtedly says (see Biur Halacha "ot achat" here) that Sefer Torah will not be rendered Pasul because of the magnifying lense.

But what about a case of using the magnifying lense Lekula, for a leniency? For instance, a case when looking with the naked eye there's a Negia - the letters seem to be touching, but when using the magnifying lense you can see a tiny space between the letters. That assessment would bring a leniency - the Sefer Torah would be rendered kosher if you accept the use of the magnifying lense!

In this case there seems to be substantial backing for the use of the magnifying lense (Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank and Shut Sheerit Yisrael) Lekula and that this seems to be the "widespread Minhag amongst the Sofrim of Jerusalem". This seems to be the accepted custom to this day.

However some disagree and hold that the magnifying lense shouldn't be taken to account at all, be it for a Kula, be it for a Chumra. The Shut Tuv Taam Vadaat says that if we were to employ the magnifying glass, we wouldn't be able to drink from most waters as they have tiny insects that cannot be seen by the naked eye.

Yes, we all remember the huge controversy surrounding the New York water filters Psak.

Be it as it may, if you hold that water bugs are ok because they can't be seen with the naked eye, the same should be said in Safrut - a Negia that can't be seen with the naked eye will not be considered a Negia.

In my opinion the logic of the Shut Tuv Taam is flawless - either you take the magnifying lense to account either you don't. To use it only Lekula sounds a little odd. But in practice, all Sofrim use the magnifying lense when inspecting Torah, Mezuzot and Tefillin.

UPDATE: I did some further research into this and it turns out that Rabbi Vozner - one of the leading poskim today - says that Sofrim can and should use a 6x magnification lense. He says that a 6x magnification is what a person would normally see when paying very much attention to something. In other words, 6x magnification doesn't reveal anything "new"; it only aids the sofer to see something that he could see if he would be very attentive. And Rabbi Vozner says you can use 6x lense for both Kula and Chumra. That conforms with the position of the Shut Tuv Taam, which made most sense anyways.

2nd Mezuza Ready

2010-12-13T15:04:00.000+01:00

I just finished my second Mezuza and I welcome any feedback. It still needs to be checked, so you might find a mistake (I hope not).
My only real troublr was with the word Veshinantam in the second line but I managed to fit in. Otherwise, it was a smooth ride with no mistakes.

White Fire and Black Fire

2010-11-14T15:49:00.000+01:00

The Ashkenazi sofrim have a custom of writing the Peh in a way that there's also a Bet inside it.
Until the Second World War, the Sofrim accomplished this effect by writing the famous "broken Peh", which ensures that the inner Bet is always visible (click here for my post on the Broken Peh). You can see it here in one of my manuscripts:

Nowadays, the Ashkenazi sofrim use a more "modern" Peh that also has the inner Bet:
What's this mysterious inner Bet?

The Talmud says that the Torah was given with Black Fire and White Fire, and the Kabalists give many different explanations to this concept.

Rabbi Menachem MiPanu, one of the leading Kabbalists of the 16th century explains that the letters of the Torah are the Black Fire, which is easily visible. The White Fire is more difficult to see - it's the empty parchement of the Torah, which includes the gaps (open and closed Parshiot), the Sirtut (guiding lines) and contour of the black letters, like the Peh's inner Bet.

The letter Peh has "heavy" connotation - it's symbolizes "din", judgment. In Hebrew, the Peh is written like this: פא, which can also be read as אף, a symbol of G-d's wrath in Jewish tradition.
That's the reason why the Kabbalists introduced the inner Bet; Bet is the symbol of kindness and blessing (see previous post - that's why G-d created the world with the letter Bet) and it is a counterweight to the "strictness" of the letter Peh.

Other letters (shin, aleph to name a few) also have this interplay between the "White" and "Black" fires but the Peh is the most famous example.

Stam Stories #4: The letters and the creation

2010-11-06T18:57:00.000+01:00

This story is found in the Introduction to the Zohar, Ot 23. While it's well known that the world was created by G-d with the letter Bet, few people know about the whole story - all the letters fought to get this honor, and the Bet was chosen. I couldn't find this story in English so I will post it in Hebrew - but it's an easy read and a must read.

כשרצה הקב"ה לברוא את העולם, באו כל האותיות לפניו מסופן לראשן, והתחילה אות ת' להכנס בתחילה. אמרה רבון העולמים: טוב לפניך לברוא בי את העולם, כי אני חותמת הטבעת שלך שהיא אמת, ואתה נקרא בשם אמת. יפה למלך להתחיל באות אמת, ולברוא בי את העולם. אמר לה הקב"ה: יפה את, וישרה את, אבל אין את ראויה לברוא בך את העולם, משום שאת עתידה להיות חותם המוות, ומשום שאת כך, אין את ראויה לברוא בך את העולם. מיד יצאה.

נכנסה לפניו אות ש', אמרה לפניו, רבון העולמים, טוב לפניך לברוא בי את העולם, כי בי נקרא שמך שדי, ויפה לברוא את העולם בשם קדוש. אמר לה, יפה את, וטובה את ואמיתית את, אבל משום שאותיות שקר לקחו אותך להיות עמהן, איני רוצה לברוא את העולם בך, כי לא יתקיים שקר, אלר אם אותיות ק' ר' יקחו אותך מכאן נשמע, שכל מי שרוצה לומר שקר, יקח בתחילתו יסוד אמת, ואחר כך יקיים לו השקר. כי אות ש' אות אמת היא, אות אמת שבה נתייחדו האבות, וק' ור' הן אותיות הנראות על צד הרע, כי הס"א היא קר, בלי חום שהיא חיות...וכדי שיתקיימו, הן לוקחות אות ש' בתוכן,

נכנסה אות צ', אמרה לפניו ריבון העולמים, טוב לך לברוא בי את העולם, שבי חתומים צדיקים, ואתה שנקרא צדיק, אתה רשום בי אמר לה, צדי, צדי את וצדיק את, אבל את צריכה להיות נסתרת, אין את צריכה להתגלות כל כך, להתחיל בך בריאת העולם, בשביל שלא לתת פתחון פה לעולם

נכנסה אות פ' אמרה לפניו: רבון העולמים, טוב לפניך לברוא בי את העולם, כי הגאולה שאתה עתיד לעשות בעולם רשומה בי, כי זה הוא פדות. וע"כ בי ראוי לברוא את העולם. אמר לה: יפה את, אבל בך נרשם פשע שבסתר, כעין הנחש שמכה ומביא ראשו לתוך גופו. כך, מי שחוטא כופף ראשו. וכן, אמר, לאות ע', שבה נרשם עון. ואע"פ שאמרה, שיש בי ענוה. אמר לה הקב"ה, לא אברא בך את העולם. יצאה מלפניו.

נכנסה אות ס', אמרה לפניו: רבון העולמים, טוב לפניך לברוא בי העולם. כי יש בי סמיכה לנופלים, שכתוב, סומך ה' לכל הנופלים. אמר לה: משום זה את צריכה למקומך, ואל תזוזי ממנו, שאם את יוצאת ממקומך, אלו הנופלים, מה יהיה עליהם, שהם סמוכים עליך. מיד יצאה מלפניו.

נכנסה אות נ', אמרה לפניו, רבונו העולם, טוב לפניך לברוא בי את העולם, שבי כתוב נורא תהלות וכן בתהלה של צדיקים כתוב נאוה תהלה, אמר לה נון, שובי למקומך, כי בשבילך חזרה האות ס' למקומה, והיי סמוכה עליה.

נכנסה אות מ', אמרה לפניו: רבון העולם, טוב לפניך לברוא בי את העולם, כי בי נקראת מלך, אמר לה, כך הוא ודאי, אבל לא אברא בך את העולם, משום שהעולם צריך למלך. שובי למקומך, את, והל' והכ', כי לא יפה לעולם לעמוד בלא מלך... באותה השעה ירדה מלפניו אות כ' מעל כסא כבודו. נזדעזעה ואמרה לפניו: רבון העולם, טוב לפניך לברוא בי את העולם, כי כבודך אני. כשירדה אות כ' מעל כסא כבודו, נזדעזעו מאתים אלף עולמות ונזדעזע הכסא, וכל העולמות נזדעזו לנפול. אמר לה הקב"ה, כף, כף, מה את עושה כאן, לא אברא בך את העולם, שובי למקומך, כי בך כליה, שובי לכסאך והיי שם.

...נכנסה אות י'. אמרה לפניו: רבון העולם, טוב לפניך לברוא בי את העולם, כי אני התחלת השם הקדוש, ויפה לך לברוא בי את העולם. אמר לה: די לך שאת חקוקה בי ואת רשומה בי וכל חפצי בך, עלי, לא יפה לך להיות נעקרת משמי.

... נכנסה אות ט' אמרה לפניו: רבון העולם, טוב לפניך לברוא בי את העולם, כי בי אתה נקרא טוב וישר. אמר לה: לא אברא בך את העולם, כי טובך סתום בתוכך, וגנוז בתוכך. ז"ש, מה רב טובך אשר צפנת ליראך. וכיון שהטוב גנוז בתוכך הרי אין בו חלק לעולם הזה שאני רוצה לברוא, אלא בעולם הבא. ועוד, משום שטובך גנוז בתוכך, יטבעו שערי ההיכל. ועוד, כי הח' כנגדך, כשתתחברנה יחד, תהיינה ח"ט. דהיינו חטא. וע"כ לא נרשמו אותיות אלו בשבטים הקדושים. מיד יצאה מלפניו.

... נכנסה אות ז', אמרה לפניו: רבון העולם, טוב לפניך לברוא בי את העולם, כי בי ישמרו בניך שבת, שכתוב זכור את יום השבת לקדשו. אמר לה: לא ארברא בך את העולם. כי יש בך מלחמה, חרב שנונה ורומח מלחמה, כלי זיין, ואת כעין הנ', שלא נברא בה העולם, משום שיש בה נפילה, מיד יצאה מלפניו.

נכנסה אות ו', אמרה לפניו: רבון העולם, טוב לפניך לברוא בי את העולם, שאני אות משמך הויה. אמר לה: ואו, את וה' די לכן, שאתן אותיות משמי, שאתן בסוד שמי, וחקוקות ומפותחות בשמי, לא אברא בכן את העולם.

נכנסו אות ד' ואות ג'. אמרו אף הן כך. אמר גם להן, די לכן להיות זו עם זו, שהרי לא יחדלו אביונים מן הארץ, וצריכים לגמול עמהם חסד. הד' היא עניה, כי נקראת דלת מלשון דלות. הג', גומלת לה חסד, וע"כ אל תתפרדנה זו מזו. ודי לכן לזון זו את זו.

נכנסה אות ב'. אמרה לו: רבון העולם, טוב לפניך לברוא בי את העולם, כי בי מברכים אותך למעלה ולמטה. כי ב' היא ברכה. אמר לה הקב"ה: ודאי בך אברא את העולם, ואת תהיי ההתחלה, לברוא בך את העולם.

עמדה אות א' ולא נכנסה. אמר לה הקב"ה: אלף אלף, למה אין את נכנסת לפני כשאר כל האותיות. אמרה לפניו: רבון העולם, כי ראיתי שכל האותיות יצאו מלפניך בלי תועלת, מה אעשה שם אני. ועוד, כי כבר נתת לאות ב' את המתנה הגדולה הזו, ואין ראוי למלך העליון, שיעביר את המתנה שנתן לעבדו, ולתת אותה לאחר. אמר לה הקב"ה, אלף אלף, אע"פ שבאות ב', נברא העולם, את תהי ראש לכל האותיות, אין בי יחוד אלא בך, בך יתחילו כל החשבונות, וכל מעשי בני העולם. וכל היחוד אינו אלא באות א'.

My Progress #6: 2nd Mezuza

2010-10-28T23:25:00.001+02:00

Here's snap of my new project, my second Mezuza. I did have some problem to fit in the word Veshinantam but I managed..!

Mark of Cain and the Mezuza of Egypt

2010-10-04T22:44:00.000+02:00

In last week's Parsha the Torah talks about the "אות" Cain received after he complained that his sin (killing his brother Hevel) was too much too bare and that he was afraid of being victim of revenge:

יג ויאמר קין אל יהוה גדול עוני מנשא יד הן גרשת אתי היום מעל פני האדמה ומפניך אסתר והייתי נע ונד בארץ והיה כל מצאי יהרגני טו ויאמר לו יהוה לכן כל הרג קין שבעתים יקם וישם יהוה לקין אות לבלתי הכות אתו כל מצאו

The Midrashim speak about this Ot / אות and there a few possibilities mentioned:

Hashem gave Cain the gift of Shabbos, also called an "Ot" - [אות היא לעולם [שמות לא: יז., and by keeping the Shabbat Cain was guaranteed to survive.
Hashem gave Cain a dog to protect him from the other creatures.
Hashem marked his forehead with one of the Hebrew Alphabet's 22 letters (Rashi)

The Zohar also mentions this last Pshat and the Peirush Hasulam, written by Rabbi Yehuda Ashleg in 1945, says that the letter is the Vav, albeit without quoting a source.

So it seems to me that there's room for interpretation here and I have an alternative option, based on the Torah Shelema's take on an old Minhag on Hilchot Mezuza. Please bare with me as I lay the background story before I move forward.

In the times of the Geonim there was a Minhag of writing additional mystical names in the Mezuza alongside the Mezuza's Parshiot. The ספר יראים brings it down here and you can see this odd Mezuza below:

The Rambam and others strongly opposed this practice and today this Minhag fell in disuse. But if you look carefully, you will see five letters written in an odd font. These are Ktav Ivri letters and the Torah Shelema asks how these Ktav Ivri letters found their way in the Mezuza, always written in Ktav Ashuri.

The answer is unique and extremely interesting. In the last Makah of Egypt, the angels came down to kill the Egyptian firstborns. Hashem told Am Israel to mark their door so the angels would not enter their door (exodus 12:13):

והיה הדם לכם לאות, על הבתים אשר אתם שם, וראיתי את-הדם, ופסחתי עלכם; ולא-יהיה בכם נגף למשחית, בהכתי בארץ מצרים

The simple reading is that the blood will be a sign, but here again some commentators say that the sign was a letter. More precisely, an X which is the Ktav Ivri letter for Tav, which symbolizes life (תחיה) [The Jews at that time only used Ktav Ivri and that's why they marked it like an X and not Tav].

Rabbi Kasher says that because the X protected the Jews in Egypt many started to add it to their actual Mezuzot for an "enhanced protection" - after all, the Mitzva of Mezuza is a remembrance to the Mezuza of Mitzraim, which was simply an X.

The five Ktav Ivri letters in the Mezuza are equivalent to תחאחא in our script and they mean תחיה אמן חיים אמן - a prayer for life. But the point is, that the X is the letter identified by the name "Ot" in the Torah.

If so, perhaps the unidentified "Ot" given to Cain is the same unidentified "Ot" that is mentioned by Yetziat Mitzraim - the X, or Tav. But why would Hashem give out of all letters the Tav?

The explanation is the same as in Yetziat Mitzraim: Tav is the initial of תחיה, "you shall live", and it was Hashem's guarantee to Cain that he would not be murdered - that he would live. I don't give a source to this connection between the Mark of Cain and Mezuza because it's my own Pshat!

Haazinu and Bnei Haman

2010-09-19T16:19:00.000+02:00

Last year I wrote about Shirat Haazinu's differing Mesorah in regards to the quantity of lines this song should have (link here). Since then, I came across a related question - should the Sofrim stretch the lines so they all look exactly symmetrical? Look below and you will understand the two options:

In my earlier post I wrote that the Ashkenazi Sofrim stretched the lines possibly because of Zeh Keili VeanVeihu, that is, because it looks nicer.

I did some further research into this and in turns out that this is already suggested by the Ran (Rabbeinu Nissim, 990–1062), who seem to say that the two columns of Haazinu and also Bnei Haman in Megilat Esther should be perfectly symmetrical (click here for full commentary):

פירוש כשהחומה שוה בשני ראשיה ואין בה בליטות אין להוסיף עליה כמו אם היו שם בליטות
ושיני החומה שאז יוכלו להוסיף על הבנין

The Noda BiYuda [18th century] quotes the Ran and is even more insistent about this, suggesting a change in the lines' structure in order to make the columns more symmetrical (here's in full):

ודאי שהיה בזה קפידא ומהראוי לתקן ולמשוך השורות
ועלה בדעתי להעמיד מלת הצור שבשיטה שאחריו למעלה להשוות השיטות

The Maharam DiLuzanu however disagrees and claims that the Ran was not implying that all sides should be symmetrical - the Ran was solely referring to the column of Bnei Haman to the left, which is always perfectly symmetrical:

The Minchat Yitzhak [1902-1989] has a Teshuva about this and brings more sources, finally concluding that for Hiddur Mitzva, the columns in both Haazinu and Bnei Haman should be symmetrical, but he strongly disagrees with other commentators who raised the possibility of this being Leicuva, mandatory. It's a pity I only came across this now, as I already wrote my Megillat Esther not symmetrically(see here)..

But this conclusion is only valid for Ashkenazi Jews, as the Ran wasn't categorical about this and both the Noda BiYuda and Minchat Yitzhak are Ashkenazi. The Yemenite Jews evidently disagree with this idea, as their Torah have completely asymmetric Hazinu columns. And as noted in my other post, they are supported by the Aleppo Codex, which means that their version is most certainly the correct one. So my Megillat Esther could have been written symmetrically, but perhaps through my mistake, I actually wrote the very best pattern after all?

Havchanat Tinok in Holy Names

2010-09-13T00:33:00.000+02:00

A few months ago I saw M. Pinchas' post about Havchanat Tinok in regards to Shem Hashem. He was confronted with the following problematic Yud from "Elokim" :
The Yud is too long and it resembles a Vav, causing a paradox: if it's a Vav, this is a clean-cut Psul in the Sefer Torah and it must be fixed. However, if it's a Yud, it's forbidden to touch it since the word is already Holy (Elokim is one of Gd's names) and warrants no fix. In other words, both options are quite dramatic - a potential psul vs. the issur of fixing a proper Shem Hashem.

M. Pinchas, based in the Or Hamelech, invoked the Havchanat Tinok solution to figure out which way to go. It has been some 4 months since I read this but it stayed in my mind since then, as this is a quite puzzling and delicate situation.

Last week I saw in the Ot Yatziv from Zanz (a great new sefer on Stam) a discussion about this and he concludes that in the case of Shem Hashem we should consider this letter to be a Yud, even though it's too long, because according to many opinions even a long Yud is still a Yud if it has a "Kefifa", curve, and I think the Yud of Elokim seen above has a slight kefifa.

According to this view, the Elokim should be considered kasher and therefore holy, and shouldn't be fixed. See the text below:

The author goes on to explain that many Sofrim write a long Yud purportedly, because of Kabalistic motives, and that there's no reason to render them Pasul.

Stolen Torah Scrolls

2010-06-13T13:04:00.000+02:00

"Torah scrolls stolen from Antwerp synagogue
May 31, 2010
(JTA) -- Several Torah scrolls were stolen from Antwerp's main synagogue in
what may be the largest such theft ever reported in Belgium. Congregation
members arrived for morning services on Saturday to find that four to six Torah
scrolls had been taken overnight Friday from the synagogue on Oostenstraat.
One of the missing scrolls is more than 200 years old and was hidden by a
Jewish woman held in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II.
Experts have suggested that the thieves are more likely to demand a
ransom for the Torah scrolls rather than try to sell them, as buyers want to
know the origin of a scroll and the stolen scrolls are easily identifiable,
Joods Aktueel reported.
During World War II, 10 Torah scrolls and hundreds of prayer books
were thrown out of the synagogue into the street and burned. "

There's a discussion about the implicance of a stolen Sefer Torah for a person who wrote it for the Miztva of Kitvu Lachem. If the Torah is stolen, is his Miztva "void" and he is urged to write another Sefer Torah? Or pehaps the fact the Sefer Torah is still somewhere in world suffices to fulfill the Mitzva of Kitvu Lachem?

The Torat Chaim in Sanhedrin speaks about the common minhag of giving one's Torah to the Shul and how that affects the Miztva of Kitvu Lachem. I will quote him in full because this is a classic in Safrut literature:

ונראה דיחיד הכותב ס"ת לעצמו ונתנה לביהכ"נ לקרות בה בציבור ומקדישה, לאו שפיר עביד, דכיון שמקדישה הריהי של הקדש ולאו שלו היא ואינו יוצא בה יד"ח, וליכא למימר דבכתיבה לחוד תליא, זה אינו, דיחיד שכתב ס"ת לעצמו ואח"כ נאבדה פשיטא שצריך לכתוב לו ספר תורה אחרת, ולכן נראה שאין להקדיש ס"ת אלא אם כן כותב לעצמו אחרת

In other words, the Torat Chaim says that a person should NOT give over his Sefer Torah to the community because that will void his Mitzva of Kitvu Lachem. And he links this to a Sefer Torah that is lost, which allegedly has the same Halachic outcome: it voids his Miztva of Kitvu Lachem.

This position is well-known but a few commentators disagree (Bnei Yonah, Pardes David)and hold that if the lost Sefer Torah ends up being used by another community, the original owner's Miztva is not void. The same would be true to a person who gives over his Torah to his community - his Mitzva is still standing.

It's common practice today to avoid giving over one's Sefer Torah to community services. Most Rabbis will advise you to lend it to the Shul rather than giving it as a gift, ensuring that the owner still retains the "Mitzva Rights". I guess that the same would apply to stolen Sifrei Torah but you must ask your Rabbi for a definitive position.

Chesed,Gevurah and the Tagim

2010-05-12T00:09:00.000+02:00

I sent my Mezuza to be checked by an expert sofer and the first thing he pointed out to me concerns the Tagim of the Shaatnez Getz letters. He told me that the Tag on the right should be higher that the Tag on the left, something I never heard before. In the picture below you can see that in my Shin, the taguim in the left and in the right are as tall - according to this Minhag, the one in the right should be higher.

This expert sofer noted that today many Rabbis require the sofrim to write all Tagim like this, much like the widespread Minhag of making the right-hand Tag of the Lamed higher than the left-side Tag (see pic in the right).

But what's the reason?

According to the Kaballa, the right symbolizes Chesed, kindness, while the left symbolizes Gevurah, austerity, and this concept is often times mentioned by Chassidic Rebbes. That's the same underlying reason why the strings of the Tefillin Shel Rosh should be longer on the right side than in the left side - we always try to ensure that Chesed is in more evidence.

Not long ago, a Chassidic Rabbi was in my parents house and they asked him for a Bracha for Parnassa. The Rebbe asked them to check if the Mezuzas of the house had the right-hand Tagim higher than the left-side ones, since Parnassa is connected to Chesed and therefore having the high right Tag is a Bracha for Parnasa.

I often times do a "rainbow" Tag (see below) when two or three Shaatnez Getz letters appear together, but it seems that I will have to stop it if I am to comply with this Minhag - in the rainbow Tag the Tag of the right is the smallest.

My Progress #5: My First Mezuza

2010-04-19T21:27:00.000+02:00

Today I finished writing my very first Mezuza, which means that I'm a step closer towards my goal of writing a Sefer Torah. This time the stakes were much higher - unlike in Megilat Esther and Shir Hashirim I had to write the Shem Hashem and I had to write everything "Kesidran", chronologically. And of course, going to the Mikva became part of my daily schedule, as I can only write the Shem after a proper immersion.

I will give this Mezuza to be checked by a very skilled Sofer here in my town and considering that he is a master in finding unexpected problems, I must say I'm afraid of what he will say. But as far as I can see all is ok. Actually, there's one "mistake" which I deliberately didn't correct because of a problem with the Klaf. Like in my Megillat Shir Hashirim, I made a small hole in klaf while trying to fix a letter, and for that reason I didn't manage to correct this mistake. Can you find it?

Like all my other Safrut items, this Mezuza was written in Ktav Beit Yosef. And like all Ashkenazi Jews, I followed the Tur's opinion of how the Parsha Setuma should be. Read more about this topic here.

Stam Stories #3: Alter Rebbe's Mezuzot

2010-03-21T22:14:00.000+01:00

I'm reposting this story I read in Mezuzah.net. I was actually looking for a similar story but this one is another good example of how meticulous the Alter Rebbe was in regards to Safrut:

It has been told that the Alter Rebbe (the first Lubavitcher Rebbe) was once visited by a melamed (teacher of Jewish topics) from Klimowitz.

“I have a small favor to ask of you,” the Alter Rebbe said. “Will you please go to the town of Yanowitz and purchase some Mezuzos from Reb Reuven, the sofer [scribe], for me?” he asked.

“It would be my pleasure,” the melamed answered without a second thought.

“Excellent,” answered the Rebbe. “In that case, please hand Reb Reuven this letter.”

Delighted with the opportunity to fulfill his Rebbe's request, the Chosid departed immediately. Along the way, the melamed thought "I think I'll ask Reb Reuven to write some Mezuzos for me as well. Yes, despite their high price, I'll get just as many as the Rebbe. After all, is there any greater proof of their quality than the Rebbe himself buying Reb Reuven's Mezuzos?"

When the melamed arrived at the house of the scribe, he handed Reb Reuven the letter from the Rebbe and ordered the same number of mezuzos for both the Alter Rebbe and himself. Reb Reuven told him he would have to wait several days. True to his word, a few days later the Mezuzos were ready.

“Be careful not to mix up your Mezuzos with the Rebbe's Mezuzos,” Reb Reuven cautioned, the melammed as he handed them over, carefully indicating which package was which.

“These are the ones written especially for the Rebbe,” he said, pointing to one of the small bundles.

On the way home, our melamed began to think: "What possible harm could come from substituting one batch of Mezuzos for the other?"

The melamed decided to intentionally give the Alter Rebbe the wrong ones, and take the Rebbe's Mezuzos for himself. He rationalized "If the Rebbe noticed the change, he would claim to have accidently mixed them up.

As soon as the melamed arrived in Lubavitch, he rushed to the Rebbe's office to give him the Mezuzos.

The Rebbe carefully examined the package and looked intently at each of the Mezuzos.

Then the Rebbe said, “Are these the ones Reb Reuven sent to me?”

The melamed became nervous and reluctantly answered, “Perhaps I made a mistake and confused yours with the ones I bought for myself.”

So he took out the second parcel and handed them to the Alter Rebbe.

The Alter Rebbe scrutinized them closely.

Then he happily said, “Ah, yes. These are the Mezuzos I ordered.”

Angry and confused, the melamed went back to Yanowitz to confront the sofer Reb Reuven.

“Why did you sell me Mezuzos that were posul [not kosher]?” he demanded in a loud voice.

He recounted to the scribe how he had mistakenly given the Rebbe the wrong package. Then he described in detail the Rebbe's reaction to the first Package (the one designated by Reb Reuven as the melammed's Mezuzos) and then to the second package (the one designated by Reb Reuven as the Rebbe's Mezuzos).

"It's obvious", he yelled, "that the first Mezuzos were no good."

Reb Reuven answered in a gentle voice, “Rest assured that your mezuzos were also written, as with the Alter Rebbe's, to the most stringent specifications, with the same concentration of thought, and with all the requirements set forth by the holy Arizal of Safed. The only difference between yours and the ones I wrote for the Rebbe is that I had instructions in the letter from the Rebbe to write his only when the moon is full. That is why you had to wait several days in Yanowitz. I could not begin to write the Rebbe's Mezuzos until the full moon. The Rebbe obviously saw that the Mezuzos you gave him were the wrong ones because they were written before the full moon.”

And so it was.

Mezuza

2010-03-17T21:33:00.000+01:00

The Mezuza is one of Safrut's most interesting items. It must be written Kesidran, in order, and Chazal say that it provides a special heavenly protection to your house, something we don't see by any other Miztva. Last week I started to write my first Mezuza and this is the first time I write a piece of Safrut containing the Shem, so going to the Mikva became part of my daily schedule for the first time in my life.

But is the writing of the Mezuza part of the Mitzva? After all, if you read this pasuk literally it says "וכתבתם על מזוזות ביתך ובשעריך", that you should write it.

Incidently, the Samaritans interpret this last Pasuk literally and go even further - they write the Parshiot not in Klaf but in the actual wall just over the door (see picture). They understand that the commandment is that "You shall write on top of your doors".

But most commentators understand that although it's written וכתבתם , "you shall write", the Miztva of Mezuza is fulfilled when you affix the Mezuza scroll in the doorpost.

The Sefer Alei Desheh, authored by the brother-in-law of the Zanz Rebbe, has a lengthy discussion on this question and is of the opinion that the writing of the Mezuza IS part of the Mitzva, and goes so far to say that because of this you should hire a sofer to write the Mezuza specially for you, a principle that is applied to Hilchot Sefer Torah (if you don't hire a Sofer and buy a ready Sefer Torah you don't fulfill the Mitzva).

The Talmud Yerushalmi goes a step ahead and says that you should say a Brocho not only when affixing the Mezuza but also when writing it, and the Bracha is:
ברוך אתה ה' א‑לוהינו מלך העולם, אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו על כתיבת מזוזה

The Halacha is not like the Yerushalmi and, furthermore, Minhag Israel is not to hire a sofer for the writing of the Mezuza, but rather to just buy the Mezuza off the shelf. But I have nothing to lose and whenever I write my Mezuza I have the Kavana to fulfill the Mitzva of Mezuza according to the abovementioned opinions.

Amazing Megillot #8: Avraham Borshevski

2010-02-24T23:33:00.000+01:00

Avaraham Borshevski has one of the nicest Ktavim I know and among his projects is this nice Megillat Esther, which was illustrated by Irina Golub. She did a fantastic job and this Megilla is really cheerful and modern. Click in the image to see the full-size picture.

The New and Old Peh

2010-02-11T19:29:00.000+01:00

If you look at old Ashkenazi Torah Scrolls, Tefillin and Mezuzot, you will always note a very distinctive Peh. This old Peh has a "hunchback" and almost looks like something is wrong with it.

This Peh is referred to as the "Peh Shavur", or "Broken Peh". You can see the Peh Shavur in this old Yeriah I own:

What happened? Why and how the Peh suddenly "changed"?

Let's use reverse chronological order, that is, first understand the modern Peh. The source to the modern Peh is the Mishna Berura, who clearly rules that you should avoid using the broken Peh:

הג"ה ולא כמה שנהגו איזה סופרים לעשות עקב מבחוץ בצדה ... כי הוא ממש אות שבור. ובאמת צריך להיות עגול מבחוץ כמו שכתבנו ... ומה שנהגו כך מפני שאינם יודעים ההרגל לעשות לתפוס הקולמוס באלכסון ולהמשיכה מעט לאחוריה הקולמוס בפנים ... עכ"ל ספר כתיבה תמה בקיצור לענינינו

The Mishna Berura quotes the Sefer Ketiva Tama as the source of this ruling, claiming that the broken Peh is a mistake that should be avoided. When the Mishna Berura was first printed in the late 19th century, this ruling created a big controversy and debates in communities that had a long-standing tradition of using the broken Peh, and many Sofrim continued to write it in their old way for many years.

Then it came the First and Second World Wars, and many of the old scribal traditions were forgotten - including the old Peh. Following the wars, the rulings of the Mishna Berura became even more influential in communities around the world and the next generation of Sofrim relied heavily in the Mishna Berura's take on the Hebrew letters, effectively ignoring the controversies surrounding this ruling. That's how the modern Peh became the standard Peh in all subsequent holy scrolls.

But if you look at pre-war Torahs and Tefillins, you will often find the old Peh, specially in scrolls of eastern Europe and Russia.

For almost all readers, this is just a history lesson. But for the Chabad readers, this post is a eye-opener. The Alter Rebbe, author of the Tania, clearly writes that the broken Peh is a must and all Chabad sofrim have kept this tradition even after the wars. Thus, the Chabad communities have their own version of the Ktav Ashurit, which is different than the Ashkenazi, Chassidic and Sephardic scripts. This is known as the ktav Chabad, and the broken Peh is one of its signature characteristics. See the full Aleph Bet Chabad below:
You can also see the special Kuf, Mem Sofit and Tet prsent in this Ktav.

The Ktav Chabad is exactly the same Ktav used by the communities of Eastern Europe and Russia before the war. So the Ktav Chabad has survived the war to become one of the last standing old-European scripts in use, remarkably. Now you understand the tradition among the Chabad Chassidim that their Ktav is the most accurate and that when Moshiach comes it will become the standard script for all Jews. Perhaps it will.

UPDATE: In reponse to the questions raised in the comments thread, I did some further research and here's what I came up with. My source is Sofer Lipshitz, one of the most knowledgeble Sofrim I know, who happens to be Chabad. The real Old Peh, which is the modern-day Chabad Peh, ideally should have a smooth hunchback and not a real step - see this picture (note that the Chabad Aleph Bet picture above is not very precise):

However, there are many different versions of this hunchback Peh and some of them are a bit less precise then others. The Peh of my manuscript is one of these less precise Pehs - it's more than a slight hunchback and it really looks "Shavur", and perhaps this imprecise version of the Peh prompted the Ktiva Tama to protest against what he considered to be a "broken Peh/ Peh Shavur" and the Mishna Berura agreed with his claim. But as Zalman and Jskarf mentioned, it's very likely that the Mishna Berura didn't have any complaints against the precise version of the original Peh, which is roundish in the outside. Still, the "new and improved" Peh became extremely popular and it now our generation's standard Peh. In regards to the Chabad Sefer Torah of my Shul, it turns out to be that it is also an imprecise old Peh - not a slight hunchback but a very clear broken Peh. This is a small imprecision of the author of this Torah; the Chabad Peh should be roundsish in the outside. Yudi sent me the Peh of his shul's 120 years-old Sefer Torah and it seems to me that this is a perfect old Peh; not broken and round in the outside (click to enlarge):

Amazing Megillot #7: Iraqi Esther Scroll

2010-01-20T22:31:00.000+01:00

I came across this beautiful Esther Scroll from Iraq. It's a very special piece, with symmetric motifs and splendid coloring. Written in Veilish, the Sephardi version of Ktav Ashurit.
Full disclosure:

Esther Scroll

Iraq, possibly Iraqi Kurdistan, 19th century

Ink and tempera on parchment; wooden roller
Length: 8 3/4 in. (22.2 cm) Diameter: 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm)
The Jewish Museum, New York
Gift of Dr. Harry G. Friedman, F 3374

Published References: The Jewish Museum. THE JEWISH MUSEUM AT 75. Commemorative album. New York: The Jewish Museum, New York, 1980, Color ill.

Good Hand or a Good Heart?

2010-01-03T11:10:00.000+01:00

"Ze Keili Veanveihu", roughly translated as ”this is my G-d and I will glorify him", is the source of Chazal's concept of beautifying and adorning the Torah and Mitzvot.

This concept is specially relevant when writing a Sefer Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzot - it's good to have a nice hand writing and a nice klaf. But what should you do if you are confronted with the following dilemma:

buying Tefillin-parshiot from a sofer who has an amazing hand-writing or;
buying them from another sofer who has a writing that is less nice but he is known to be a very pious person.

This is a great "Hakira" (paradox) and there are arguments for both sides.

The Kaf Hachaim, a very proeminent Sephardic codifier, writes in Hilchot Tefillin that you should choose option #1 because "people look at eyes, but G-d looks at the heart", meaning that G-d favors a good heart over aestetics. But why?

The Kaf Hachaim doesn't go this far but I've heard a very good explanation for choosing option #2: the concept of Zeh Keili Veanveihu only applies to something that is displayed in public, to everyone's eyes. The Tefillin's parshiot are sealed and never displayed in public, so there's no reason to favor aesthetics over a good pious sofer. The Kaf Hachaim doesn't necessarily subscribes to this explanation but the bottom line is the same - choose option #2.

In the other hand, the Machane Ephraim says that it's impossible to know who's really pious and who's not - we can only speculate, and appearances can be deceiving. If so, the only fact-based analysis that can be made is the quality of the ktav and that alone should be the deciding factor. This would lead you to favor option #1.

This leads us to the next question - what would be the answer in regards to Sefer Torah, which is always displayed in public? Should you choose a better hand or sofer that is known to be a special person?

The answer is option #1, that is, choose a sofer with the best handwriting. The Poskim also say that if you write a Sefer Torah to yourself and later find that a specific yeriah (section) is not written nicely, you may rewrite a new, more beautiful yeriah. That's because of the concept of Zeh Keili, which is critically important in Hilchot Sefer Torah.

Finally, the last branch of this topic. Joe knows how to write Sta"m but he isn't a pro; his handwriting is just ok. Now Joe wants to write a Sefer Torah, in accordance to the Torah's commandment of "Kitvu Lachem", but he is thinking if it's better to hire a professional sofer who has a better hand. What should he do?

The uber-popular Nitei Gavriel says that you should hire a sofer with a better hand-writing and he brings numerous sources for this, but I have strong objections to this claim. They are summarized in the small-case text below, but this is only for the readers who like in-depth discussions:

(Firstly, the Talmud in Sukka says that a person should only spend a 33% (or 20% according to others) premium for a Hiddur Miztva and not more. For instance, if a regular Etrog/Lulav set costs U$70, you don't have to pay more than U$93 if you want to do Hiddur Miztva. Zeh Keili Venveihu is a Hiddur Miztva and if Joe hires a Sofer who has a better hand this will surely incur a cost of more than 33% of the cost of this Miztva, so having a nicer hand writing in this case is not a compelling argument. I would rather say that Joe should write it himself even if his hand writing is not as nice as the Sofer's since there's no Chiyuv of Zeh Keili Veanveihu here.

Secondly, I have a practical problem with this approach. So let's say we do require Joe to hire a Sofer who has a nice ktav - who should he hire? Let's say he hires David, who has a nice ktav, but if you look around you will always find someone better. Will we also tell Joe to go necessarily to the best Sofer in the world in order to conform with Zeh Keili? I don't think so - there's no end to this. I rather think Zeh Keili only applies to a case where the hand writing is ugly, in which Ze Keili urges you to choose a better hand. But if Joe has a decent Ktav - not ugly, but ok - there's no concept of Zeh Keili forcing him to hire the world's best sofer.)

This discussion has special appeal to me since I plan to write my own Sefer Torah. I don't have the world's best Ktav but I think my hand-writing is quite nice, and although the Nitei Gavriel says I should hire a Sofer I will not heed to his advice so quickly. If I do this, I will do it myself!

(full disclosure: the Nitei Gavriel is not a Posek, just a researcher (melaket) so his words are not final, hence my opposition to his claim)

See my follow up post here

World's Smallest Torah Scroll

2009-12-12T20:11:00.000+01:00

Shuki Freiman is one of my favorite judaica artist and his latest project was the development of this alleged smallest Sefer Torah, along with the special Etz Haim and Aron Kodesh.

Shuki's style is traditional, yet he always manages to differentiate himself from everyone else. For those of you visiting Jerusalem, he has a new shop in the popular Mamila mall, featuring many of his most special works, including this revolutionary Seder plate.

According to what I can see in the video, the Sefer Torah's ktav is Ashkenazi, possibly Arizal but I can't see too well (too small..!), and it's quite nice for such small Torah. The gaps in the top and bottom of the Klaf are rather too small, but it was done like that to make the Torah as small as possible, more specifically, 4.3 centimeters in width.

Shuki is today a very expensive artist and I can only begin to imagine what he's asking for the Torah. My guess is U$450,000, but the sky is the limit for these kind of things.

My Progress #4: Megillat Shir Hashirim

2009-12-08T22:14:00.000+01:00

I finally managed to finish my Megillat Shir Hashirim, which took some 4 months to write. I had a very tough time writing this one since the klaf was quite bad, specially in the very first column, and this dragged the process more since I couldn't write as fast as usual.

This highlights how important it is to look for top-quality klaf; if you can't get it, wait until you find a good one. I couldn't erase mistakes properly and I even did the capital sin of a Sofer - I made a small hole while trying to correct something. It doesn't matter so much since I managed to "place it" just in between two words - look in the last line of the forth column.

Additionally, I used a computerized Tikkun (from which I copy the Megilla layout) which was awful - I was forced to stretch and squash words in almost every line. Now I know: only buy copies of hand-written Tikkunim.

But Shir Hashirim is fun to write, since I can use it every week (there's a minhag of reciting it every Shabbat-eve) and it's shorter than Megillat Esther. Now my next project is to write a large Mezuza - stay tuned!

Amazing Megillot #6: Sotheby's Important Judaica Auction

2009-11-29T11:16:00.000+01:00

In my previous post I wrote about Sotheby's Sefer Torah auction, which pocketed 398,500 (the estimate was 300,000 to 500,000). But there were a few interesting Megillot being auctioned as well and I singled out three of them.

Firstly, the allegedly "earliest complete decorated Esther Scroll" (Venice, 1562). It was sold for a whooping U$ 600,000, making it the most expensive item sold in Sotheby's auction. I personally cannot understand why would someone favor this Megilla over the above-mentioned Sefer Torah from the 13th century, but bottom line is that this Megilla is surely unique. Every column starts with only one, large-type, word and subsequent 22 lines. From a Safrut perspective these top large words are not desirable but it doesn't causes the scroll to become Pasul. (click in the image to enlarge)

Next is a magnificent Megilla from Prague, 1700's, decorated by Jean-Paul Franck. From the catalogue: "Additionally, nude, half-length female figures emerge from scrolling foliate vines and peacocks, perched in naturalistic poses create a theatrical, albeit unrelated, backdrop to the Hebrew text." This is odd but not uncommon in old Megillot, unfortunately. Sold for U$ 134,500.

And finally, this Megilla from Italy, 19th century, sold for U$ 43,750.

Sotheby's Sefer Torah Auction

2009-11-21T19:59:00.000+01:00

Menachem Butler pointed me to Sotheby's Important Judaica auction which will take place in just a few days. One of the Auction's highlights is a complete Spanish Sefer Torah from the 13th century and in Sotheby's catalogue there's a very interesting write-up detaling the origin and the style of this Torah. For Safrut fans, this is a delightful read that expounds the sources and Minhagim of writing the extra Taguim in Torah Scrolls, as per the ancient Sefer Hataguim.

One of the key traits of this Sefer is the fact that it didn't originally have the Taguim in all Shatnez Getz letters thorought the scroll but a later scribe added these taguim, in conformity with the present day Minhag. The original Sofer followed the opinion of the Rambam, which holds that only Mezuzot need Taguim in all Shaatnez Getz letters, and the later Sofer added them because over time all Bnei Israel started to use the Shaatnez Getz taguim in Torah Scrolls.

I encourage you to read the whole report, it's a real eye-opener. Here's the link for the article, and here's the link for the pdf-presentation with pictures.

The Czech Holocaust Scrolls

2009-11-07T16:08:00.000+01:00

I just came back from a short trip to Prague, one of the most beautiful cities of Europe. One of the main attractions of the city is it's ancient Jewish Quarter and while visiting it, I got familiar with a truly fantastic story - the story of the over 1800 Torah Scrolls that somehow survived the Holocaust.

"In 1942, a group of members of Prague’s Jewish Community devised a way to bring the religious treasures from the deserted provincial communities to the comparative safety of Prague. The Nazis were persuaded to accept this plan and more than 100,000 items were sent to the Museum.
Among them were about 1,800 Torah Scrolls. Each was meticulously recorded on a card index by the Museum’s staff with a description of the Scroll and the place from which it came. The legend that there was a Nazi plan to create a ‘museum to an extinct race’ in Prague has never been proved. Be it as it may, these scrolls were left untouched by the Nazis but were abandoned for many years.
Under the Communist regime, the Torah Scrolls were accumulated in the abandoned Michle Synagogue in a suburb of Prague, and here it was that Eric Estorick, a London art dealer, was shown the collection in 1963. At the behest of his friend and client, philanthropist Ralph Yablon, and Rabbi Dr Harold Reinhart, he negotiated with the Communist state authorities to bring this precious collection of 1564 Torah Scrolls to Westminster Synagogue in 1964."

The Westminster Synagogue distributed the scrolls to communities around the world and the oldest Sefer Torah, dating back to 1650, is reportedly housed in Temple Havurat Emet in Arizona.

As you can imagine, this collective group of Sifrei Torah is invaluable. Very few Sifrei Torahs survived the Holocaust and, as I noted previously, many old Mesorot were completely forgotten after the war. If a trained Sofer went through the Czech Torahs in detail, I have no doubt that he would come across many of the forgotten Mesorot, like the Otiot Meshunot for example.

It turns out that one person handled all the scrolls and did all the necessary fixes himself. That's David Brand, an orthodox Sofer who spent 27 years of his life looking at these precious scrolls. I don't think any other Sofer has seen as many pre-war Torah Scrolls as him and I started a man-hunt after him. But as I began looking, I found this note in the Czech Memorial Trust's website:

"The arrival at Kent House of David Brand, the Trust’s only resident sofer (scribe), has passed into legend. The story has often been told of the knock on the front door of the synagogue, Ruth Shaffer’s reception of an elderly Orthodox Jew who asked in Yiddish, ‘Do you have any Torahs to repair? And her reply, ‘We have 1,564; come in!’. The friendship and respect between David Brand and the modern forward-thinking Reform Rabbi Harold Reinhart laid the foundation of the whole Scroll story.

David Eliahu Brand was strictly Orthodox in his approach to Judaism. He would not partake of any food or drink at Westminster Synagogue, bringing his own refreshment and staying in London in a small flat found for him by Rabbi Reinhart. When introduced to the Lady Mayor of Westminster on the occasion of the opening of the Scrolls Centre in 1988, he would not take her hand in greeting, explaining with dignity that his religion did not allow it.

When he returned to Jerusalem – the work being nearly complete – he kept in touch for a while, returning from time to time on special visits. Sadly, the Trust has now lost touch with him but if anyone knows the whereabouts of this charming, friendly, knowledgeable man of much distinction, the Trust would be delighted to have the information."

So if anyone knows this David Brand, please let me (and the Trust) know!

This topic can also be found in this CJLS Halakhic discussion, from the Conservative community. It's an interesting discussion about displaying Sifrei Torah that are Pasul in Museums and the Czech Scrolls are a case-point. But I was saddened to read the footnote below:

I do realize the importance of interfaith dialogue and all that, but after such miraculous story of disguise and survival, I'm uncomfortable to hear that these special scrolls found their way into Cathedrals and churches. For some odd reason, it brings me sad flashbacks of another major tourist attraction of Prague - the Crucifix with the Hebrew inscription of Kadosh, Kadosh. Oy!

_________________________________________________

You can also read this PDF for more info about the scrolls.

Bet of Bereishit and the Masechet Sofrim

2009-10-14T09:58:00.000+02:00

The Mesechet Sofrim, one of the mini-Tractates of the Talmud, says:

The second statement is well known and all Sifrei Torahs have the large-type Bet at the start. However the commentary of the Masechet Sofrim, "Shehi Takim Leolam", is difficult to understand but I will leave it to you to come up with explanations.

I want to focus in the first statement - that the Bet should have four Tagim. The only time I saw this bet was in an old Tikkun, but the fact is that all modern day Torahs do not have these Taguim. This is how it should look, according to the Masechet Sofrim:

What's strange is that this Masechet Sofrim is a prime source and I had a tough time understanding how can we afford ignore it. For instance, the Gemara says that the "foot" of the Daled should be slightly bent and according to many opinions a Daled that has a straight "foot" will invalidate the Torah scroll. If we are so stringent about what's mentioned in the Gemara, why do we ignore what's mentioned in the Masechet Sofrim?

The answer to this question is interesting. Aside from the Masechet Sofrim, there's another even smaller Tractate called Masechet Sefer Torah. Most of the content of this little Masechta is anyways mentioned in its "big brother", the Masechet Sofrim, which includes Halachot of Sefer Torah, Mezuza, Tefillin and Mesora. Rabbi Chaim Kanievski, in his work on the small Tractates of the Talmud, asks why there's a need for both Masechtas if they are essentially dealing with the same topic.

His answer is quite radical. He says that the Masechet Sofrim is not part of the Talmud (written between 300 and 400 CE), but a later addition by the Geonim, who lived in the 6th century. Basically, the Geonim took one of the little Tractates of the Talmud - the Masechet Sefer Torah - and expanded it, creating the Masechet Sofrim, which deals with all Safrut related Halachot.

If so, Halachot only brought in the Masechet Sofrim do have less weight than the Halachot mentioned in the Talmud. The four Tagim of the Bet of Bereishit is a telling example of this phenomena and that's why we don't have them in our scrolls today.

Pic: Zoomed Shin

2009-10-09T15:17:00.000+02:00

Aside from Safrut, I love photography and I wanted to post this cool pic, which I took using my diamond lupe. This is my soon-to-be-completed Meggilat Shir Hashirim and I zoomed in the Shin because I just love this letter, and with the lupe you can take a deeper look in it. It's very easy to mess-up this letter since everything is "squashed" together - the three Yuds and the Taguim. Next to it you can see a Yud and it's lower Tag (lower left side), which is mandatory according to Rabbeinu Tam.

I hope to finish this Megilla in the next two weeks and I will post more pictures.

Chag Sameach

Stam Stories #1

2009-09-30T23:56:00.001+02:00

In this series of posts, you will read about the few stories of Chazal that speak about Sta"m - Sefer Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzot. This story is about a Mezuza and a diamond gift (full disclosure: YK works with diamonds).

Yerushalmi Peah - Page 4, Chapter 1, Halacha 1:

"Artevan (either a king or a wealthy Jew), sent to Rabbenu Hakadosh (Rabbi Judah the prince - 2nd century CE), the compiler of the Mishnah, a precious diamond as a gift, and requested that Rabbenu Hakadosh reciprocate by sending him a gift, equal to his. The Rabbi sent him a mezuzoh. Artevan asked him, "I sent you and invaluable diamond, and you send me a gift that is worth a half-shekel? Rabbenu Hakadosh replied, "My property (Rabbenu Hakadosh was very wealthy) and your property cannot pay the value of a mezuzoh, as King Solomon says in Proverbs: 'All your desirables cannot equal it.' Moreover, our riches we must guard, whereas the mezuzoh guards us."

The Sheiltot of Rabbi Achai, Parshat Ekev, adds another layer to the story:

"Right after (Rebi sent the Mezuza), Artevan's only daughter fell seriously sick. He summoned the most skillful physicians, but no one could save her. Artevon then decided to heed to Rebi's advice and fix the Mezuza in his doorpost and his daughter got immediately cured."

And finally, in Yoma 11A:

"There was a story with Artevin, who was once checking the market's Mezuzot and got fined by the local authorities (who banned all Mezuzas)."

Why was Artevin checking Mezuzas in the market? Some commentators say that after his daughter healed he took upon himself to make sure that every Jew would have a proper Mezuza at his doorpost, and he would go around checking them once a year.

The Two Columns of Shirat Haazinu

2009-09-27T11:49:00.001+02:00

The Mitzva of writing a Sefer Torah comes from this past week's Parsha, Haazinu. In the preceding Parsha, G-d says to Moshe that the Jews should "write this song", in a reference to Haazinu, one of the Torah's two songs (the other one is Az Yashir). Although the commandment refers only to Haazinu the commentators note that it's prohibited to divide the Torah and write it in a form of "megillot, megillot" i.e. in fragments, since all the Torah is one. So the commentators all conclude that the commandment must have been to write the whole Torah, which will contain the song of Haazinu.

This highlights how important this intricate song is in relation to the whole Torah.

Also aesthetically, Haazinu stands out with its special two-column layout. In the modern Torahs, the two columns are perfectly even, like two towers, and usually are two pages long. I wanted to post a picture of the whole thing but I only found this one:

We find the same layout in the Megillat Esther, in which the ten sons of Haman are listed in the same fashion. Like in Haazinu, most sofrim (not me!) stretch the letters so every column will start and end in the same place:

But if you look in the old Torahs and in the Torahs of the Yemenite Jews you will see that the columns there aren't uniform at all. Below is a picture from a Yemenite tikkun:

I guess the Ashkenazi sofrim took the liberty to strectch the lines in order to make the scrolls look nicer, on the grounds of "zeh keli veanveiu".

But there's another thing that really puzzled me. Aside from the layout, the Yemenite scrolls also differ in the actual poem structure and that's the real reason why their columns aren't simetrical - there are less lines and thus some of the lines are longer.

For instance, look in the 17th line in the above picture, "zechor yemot olam.." - this is a long line. In the Ashkenzai scrolls this long line is divided in two, enabling our sofrim to justify the lines. Now that's odd! There are two other places where there's a difference in the poem structure but I will leave it for you to figure it out.

Which is the right structure?

That's where the Aleppo Codex comes to the scene. This is a topic for another post, but it suffices to say that the Aleppo Codex, guarded by the Aleppo Jews until 1948, is the most accurate Tikkun ever. Unfortunately, this Tikkun only covers the Nach; the Torah pages were mysteriously lost in a Arab riot in Aleppo. That is, all the Torah pages were lost besides..... that's right, the pages of Shirat Haazinu! And if you guessed that the Yemenite scrolls are identical to it, you are right. I got this image from the Aleppo Codex website:

This would imply that the Ahskenazi structure of Shirat Hazinu is problematic. Halacha says that if there's a pause (parsha setuma or petucha) in a wrong place, this will invalidate a Sefer Torah. If the Ashkenazi scrolls have a different poem structure, some of the open spaces are in the wrong place!

The answer is simple: the open spaces in Shirat Haazinu (and Az Yashir) are not open and separate Parshas, but a special layout of a song. The halachot of Parsha Petucha and Setuma don't apply here and whatever layout you have - Yemenite or Ashkenazi - will be Kosher for all intents and purposes. So although it's clear that the Yemenite arrangement is more reliable, you should not start complaining about our modern-day structure.

This is the story of the layout of Shirat Haazinu. I hope you enjoyed and I wish you a Gmar Hatima Tova!

Amazing Megillot #5: Ketubah&Art

2009-09-06T01:47:00.000+02:00

This is a strikingly beautiful contemporary Megillah. I wish I had more info about this piece but the website, ketubahandart.com, has almost no information about the artist behind it. But I love the "dark" look, gold painting and the papercut. I wish I could find an image of it in better quality...

The Psalms Menorah

2009-08-16T22:39:00.000+02:00

One of the best-selling Safrut items is the Lamnatzeach Menora. You can see it in almost every Sephardic and Chassidic synagogue but I never knew what was the story behind it. This past Shabbos I saw an explanation in the Chatan Sofer's Bircon - see the bottom of the the picture for the Hebrew version. I will summarize it in English below.

"In the sefer Kaf Hachaim (...) is brought that G-d showed to King David and Moshe Rabbeinu the Mizmor Lamnatzeach Bineginot in the form of a Menorah, written in a golden sheet. King David inscribed this Psalm Menorah in his war shield and would meditate upon it in his wars, for protection."

That sparkled the Minhag of reciting this Psalm in this format every day and many people prefer to read it from parchment. I'm currently writing my Shir Hashirim scroll but I got so excited about this that I decided to write a large Lamnatzeach Menorah hopefully next month ii"H. Stay tuned!

Esnoga's Scrolls

2009-07-21T17:26:00.000+02:00

The Esnoga is one of the most important historic synagogues of the world and it was built during the golden years of the Jewish community of Amsterdam. My family was there for a visit and they brought me some pictures of the scrolls featured in the adjacent Jewish Museum. The Museum's site doesn't have any pictures so I took the liberty of sharing it with my readers in this blog entry.

All of them are unique and showcase the elegance and taste of the Dutch Jews of that era.

The Megillat Esther below has some very beautiful illustrations in between each column and is written is a very odd layout - 30 lines (see my post on this subject here) and each line is way too long (each line should ideally have 30 letters, which is three times the word "lemishpechotam", but in this scroll there are more than 60 letters per line). The letter Peh has a very different shape, with a big Tag in the left top corner.

This other Megilla has 32 lines, also not standard, but the lines have the proper amount of letters. What catches my attention is the arrangements of the Parshiot - if you look carefully you will see that the Parsha of "איש יהודי" is written in the middle of the line and "אחר הדברים האלה" has a very odd layout - it starts almost where the preceding line ended. According to our Mesorah, all the Parshiot of Megillat Esther should have a Setuma layout (see my post on this subject here) and if so, this Sofer followed the Rambam's opinion of Setuma and Petucha.

Next is my personal favorite, a Sefirat Haomer scroll. This is the first time I see such scroll and it takes a little time before you actually understand what's going on. The top box is the days' count - 46 days; the middle and bottom boxes are the week's count.

Last but not least, this antique Torah scroll written in Veilish script (read more here). The top Lamed in this Sefer torah is almost bent backwords, opposite to the Lamed of our modern scrolls, which are slightly bent forward.

Otiot Meshunot - Odd Letters of the Torah

2009-07-14T18:25:00.000+02:00

In the Torah scrolls of today, there are very few scribal oddities and it's not so hard to single them out:

Large and small letters - example: the large Bet of the word Bereshit.
The inverted Nuns in the Parsha of Vayehi Binsoa.
The splitted Vav in the word "Shalom", in last week's Parsha.
Dots on top of specific words like "Hanistarot Lashem".

However, many old Sifrei Torah have many more oddities that are no longer in use today (see images). One of the most famous examples is the Peh Melufaf, which is still in use in the Teimani scrolls, and the Torah Shlema has an extensive list of these less popular odd letters. Also, there are numerous additional tagim that are often times mentioned by popular commentators like the Baal Haturim that also fell is disuse.

The Meiri compiled a very detailed work (Kriat Sefer) on the odd letters, depicting the oddities of the Torahs of his time. A more contemporary Sefer was written by the Badei Aharon roughly 150 years ago. There of course the ancient Sefer HaTagin (see image) , which according to tradition was copied by Eli HaCohen from the 12 stones of Yehoshua Bin Nun over two thousand years ago.

What are these letters? Various Geonim, Rishonim and Achronim have mentioned these letters and among them, the Rambam simply says that this is a very old tradition that should be observed. Few elaborate on the reason behind these oddities but the fact is that there was such a tradition and at some point this tradition was lost.

But before the Second World War there was this "in-between" period where some communities accepted this tradition while others were very critical of it, arguing that this tradition was rather unreliable.

This controversy gathered more attention when an old Torah scroll written by Beit Yehuda, a famous rabbi, was found to have numerous otiot meshunot. Also the first Rebbe of Zanz reportedly wrote his Sefer Torah with unusual Otiot Meshunot, and in both cases even those who didn't approve this Minhag were afraid to say bad about these Torahs, given their exceptional importance.

Following the devastating events of the Holocaust, few antique Torah Scrolls remained intact and the Mesora of the odd letters was wiped out alongside with the European shtetls.

This topic is of special interest to me since I'm planning to start writing my own Sefer Torah soon. All these scribal oddities are so interesting and did feature in the Sifrei Torah of previous generations so I got to admit that I felt tempted to add some of these oddities in my writings.

That's why I decided to study Rabbi Ratzabi's authoritative sefer on this subject, featured in the Torah Shelema, and now that I finished learning it I have another approach to this subject. Rabbi Ratzabi doesn't says if scribes should or shouldn't write the Otiot Meshunot but he somehow expounds how confusing and complex this topic is and it becomes clear that whoever decides to write the Otiot Meshunot will be putting himself in a sea 0f possibilities where there isn't a clear path to follow. That is the danger of following a Mesora that isn't yours; it's almost like inventing a Gezeira Shava out of your own mind, which is forbidden.

The very few oddities that have been preserved in our scrolls have resisted the test of time and are our only undisputed Mesora. Here and there I hear of people talking about bringing back the Mesora of Otiot Meshunot but this page was turned after the Holocaust, as I noted above. Whatever is left of it is a living testament of the richness of the field of Safrut and how it evolved over centuries of Exile and persecutions.

Jewish Week Article

2009-06-23T15:51:00.001+02:00

Here's a great article from the Jewish Week, pointed out by Lion of Zion (don't miss the post discussion there).

"A Safer Torah

At the Plainview Jewish Center, the congregation’s 14 Torah scrolls were recently unrolled and examined by three Torah scribes while congregants milled around.

We were evaluating the Torahs, repairing some and registering those that had not been previously registered,” explained Zerach Greenfield, executive director of Machon Ot, a nonprofit Torah registry organization with offices in College Point, Queens, and Jerusalem.

The organization was created nearly 20 years ago at the behest of Interpol and the Israeli police department after the discovery of 65 stolen Torahs hidden behind a false wall in Rosh Ha’ayin, Israel, Greenfield said.

Since then, registration of sifrei Torah has gained increased acceptance. Greenfield pointed out that the eight Torahs in the main sanctuary of the Jewish Center of Kew Gardens Hills were stolen last year. The custodian was later arrested and charged with the theft, and the scrolls were recovered.

Greenfield said those Torahs were registered with Machon Ot (Institute of the Letter) and could have easily been identified if a question had arisen about their ownership.

The International Torah Registry uses pin marks to identify Torahs, but Greenfield said Machon Ot developed two other “far more sophisticated” methods of identification.

The first involves making a transparency of a randomly chosen column of the Torah; because each Torah is written by hand, no two columns are identical. Transparencies can be placed over the column to see if the letters line up. The second method involves scanning a column and drawing an invisible vertical line on a template to see which letters cross that line when measured from the end of the line, creating a unique pattern.

Lacking identification marks, there is no way to identify stolen Torahs and return them to their owners.
Greenfield said sofrim, or scribes, are often the very people who steal and try to resell the scrolls. Therefore, he said, an identification method that these men could not circumvent was needed. That ruled out invisible ink, embossed stamps and code markings.

Rabbi Ronald Androphy, spiritual leader of the East Meadow Jewish Center, said Machon Ot registered his congregation’s nine Torahs, evaluated them to check for discoloration, and repaired letters that had become difficult to read. The registration, evaluation and repair cost a total of $30,000, he said.

In the past, Rabbi Androphy said he would call a sofer when there was a problem with a Torah. And he said that more than 20 years ago he sought to register the Torahs with the Universal registration with its pin code but found the kit he was sent “very difficult to do.”

“We never followed through with it,” he said.

Now, his Torahs are not only registered with Machon Ot but repaired by it, Rabbi Androphy said, noting that Machon Ot once took two of his congregation’s Torahs to its Jerusalem office for repair.
“Torahs deteriorate naturally,” he said, adding that Machon Ot scribes have returned at no additional charge to fix letters in those Torahs when the ink later cracked.

Although Machon Ot helps synagogues interested in commissioning the writing of a new Torah as a fundraising project, Greenfield said the economic downturn has caused more synagogues to hold fundraisers to repair their Torahs.

Machon Ot began registering Torahs worldwide in 1990. It now has a database of 14,000 registered Torahs and registers about 400 to 500 each year.

“The goal is 30,000 because that would be a critical mass that would make someone believe he would get caught if he tried stealing a Torah and then selling it,” Greenfield said.

As part of its evaluation of each Torah, he said, Machon Ot scribes determine what it would cost to replace it. Such an appraisal is required by major insurance companies in Israel and is helpful for synagogues and others in the United States so that they don’t over insure their Torahs. "

Rashi Vs. Rabbeinu Tam - Round II

2009-06-15T16:00:00.000+02:00

There are two major discussions between Rashi and Rabeinu Tam that relate to Safrut and in this post I will talk about the second. My first post can be found here.

You've probably noticed that in some houses the Mezuza is set in the doorpost in a complete vertical position, while in other households it is slightly bent. Why? Which is the correct way?

The two possibilities I just mentioned are not the opinions of Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam, so please bear with me.

The Discussion

Rashi and Tosafos dispute what is the proper way of storing holy items. Rashi understands that Mezuzot and Torah Scrolls must be stored in the vertical position. Rabeinu Tam goes the opposite way and holds that the proper way to store a holy item is in the horizontal position, and according to him to store it in a vertical way it's improper. So what's good for Rashi - vertical - is bad (yes, Pasul) for Tosafos and vice-versa.

As a side note, some of the Tefillin found in the Qumran excavations had the scrolls arranged horizontally, like Rabeinu Tam (see picture in the right - The Qumran tefillin: the open capsule with the inscribed parchment slips in it. See more here), indicating that this discussion preceded the times of Rashi and Rabbeinu Tam (who lived 1000 years ago, opposed to the 2000 year old Qumran scrolls).

Practical Halacha

The Shulchan Aruch decided like Rashi and thus all Sephardic Jews affix their Mezuzas in the vertical way. Also, the Sephardic Sefer Torah is stored in a "box" and always stays in the vertical position, even when being read in public - another ramification of Rashi's opinion that holy items must be stored vertically.

The Rema however mentions Rabeinu Tam's position and introduces a compromise: not vertical nor horizontal but in a diagonal position. That is a classical Jewish solution - in face of two opposing opinions we do like a third one, but jokes aside, this proposition was universally accepted by all Ashkenazi Jews to this day. That explains why the Bima in the Ashkenazi Shuls is slightly bented and also why they store their Torah Scrolls in a slightly diagonal position in the Aron Kodesh - they follow the Rema's solution in every situation.

(Incidentally, the Tur offers another solution, to bend the Mezuza's parchment like an L in order to follow both Rashi and Rabeinu Tam in one go but no one follows this view, most likely because it would damage the Mezuza's Klaf (parchement), a far larger problem.)

The Belz Minhag

But there's an interesting exception to this rule in the Ashkenazi world - the exquisite Minhag (custom) of the Belz Rebbe's family of storing the Sefer Torah horizontally. When I heard about this I was open-mouthed and I did a little research about this.

It turns out that the Belz Shuls and yeshivot around the world store their Torah's in the usual way - vertically. Only the Rebbe's Torah Scroll is stored according to Rabeinu Tam's opinion, horizontally, and this Torah is currently stored in the famous Belz Great Synagogue (picture in the right). Why?

Reb Meir of Primishlan, a famous Hassidic Rabbi, once said that the first Rebbe of Belz, Reb Shalom Rokeach, had "sparkles of the soul of Rabbeinu Tam" and this had so much impact in the Rebbe that he decided that if he would one day build a Synagogue he would store the Torah according to his "soul-mate", Rabbeinu Tam. He did eventually build a synagogue and stored the Torah horizontally, and this custom was kept by the subsequent Belz Rebbes. If you find this hard to accept, take a look in Rabbeinu Tam's original piece:

וכן אני מורה הלכה למעשה, לעשות נקב במקדח ולתתה [את המזוזה] ברוחב המזוזה, ואם נתנה לאורך המזוזה – פסולה, וכן פרשיות של תפלין לרוחב הבתים, ולא לגובה, כמו מזוזה. וכשאבנה ארון [בבית-כנסת], אם אזכה, ארחיבו לפי העמדת ספר-תורה מיושב, כספר-תורה שהיה מונח בארון

"When I build a Synagogue, if I will merit, I will store the Torah Scroll horizontaly (...)", said Rabennu Tam. So the Belz Rebbe felt compelled to follow Rabeinu Tam's dream when he built his synagogue. However, his Mezuzot and Tefillin were all vertical - only the Sefer Torah, which was specially highlighted in abovementioned passage, was stored according to Rabbeinu Tam.

(By the way, it took him 15 years to build his Synagogue and he was part of the construction crew, highlighting how important this was for him. It also took 15 years to build the new Belz Great Synagogue in Jerusalem, pictured above, and the current Belz Rebbe was also actively involved in the building process, along with his Hassidim)

So as you see, this ancient discussion between Rashi and his grandson is still relevant, 1000 years later!

About the Name of This Blog

2009-06-04T14:33:00.000+02:00

You probably noticed that the web url of this blog is kind of weird - "Lavlor". What's that?

A scribe is usually called a "sofer" in Hebrew but it turns out that "sofer" is a word with multiple meanings and although I'm not a fan of ethimology I conducted a thourough research about this word. The root of sofer is S-F-R and the Aruch, an authoritative dictionary written over 1000 years ago, mentions five different possible meanings:

A "sefer" (book).
To count ("lispor" in Hebrew)
A barber ("sapar", still used in Modern Hebrew)
A small town ("sfar")
Rabbis ("sofrim")

Mind you that a scribe is not among the possibilties, a striking fact. What's the Aruch's word for a scribe? You guessed right - lavlor.

Coming back to the word "sofer", Hebrew words that share the same root are almost always connected in some way but in this case, "sofer" has way too many meanings and it's quite impossible to find common ground between a barber and a Rabbi. So what's going on?

It turns out that we are talking about two different languages. The Torah's language is a mix of two distinct but similar languages, and while the Tanach is written in Lashon Hakodesh (old Hebrew), the Talmud is written in Aramaic. Occasianally a word can have different meanings in these two languages and the word "sofer" is a telling example.

Exclusively in Lashon Hakodesh, a "sofer" has only four meanings:

To count ("lispor")
To tell something ("lesaper")
To write
A book

These four things are connected - a book is a story, a writer is a storyteller and "counting" is closely connected to "telling" in many other languages, including Latin, French and English.

But in Aramaic a "sofer" has other meanings and Aruch, a work on the Talmud and Midrashim, approprietly identifies alternative possibilities which include barber, Rabbis or a small city.

So what's the correct word for scribe? In Hebrew it's "Sofer" and in Aramaic it's "Lavlor". I decided to use both - lavlor.blogspot.com, home to YK's Sofer Blog!

______
Some sources:

Avot Chapter 6 (written in Lashon Hakodesh):

אמר רבי יוסי בן קסמא, פעם אחת הייתי מהלך בדרך ופגע בי אדם אחד, ונתן לי שלום, והחזרתי לו שלום, אמר לי, רבי, מאיזה מקום אתה, אמרתי לו, מעיר גדולה של חכמים ושל סופרים אני, אמר לי, רבי רצונך שתדור עמנו במקומנו ואני אתן לך אלף אלפים דנרי זהב ואבנים טובות ומרגליות, אמרתי לו אם אתה נותן לי כל כסף וזהב ואבנים טובות ומרגליות שבעולם, איני דר אלא במקום תורה, וכן כתוב בספר תהלים על ידי דוד מלך ישראל, טוב לי תורת פיך מאלפי זהב וכסף.

Talmud (Eiruvin 13:A), in Aramaic:

אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל משום ר' מאיר כשהייתי לומד אצל ר' עקיבא הייתי מטיל קנקנתום לתוך הדיו ולא אמר לי דבר וכשבאתי אצל ר' ישמעאל אמר לי בני מה מלאכתך אמרתי לו לבלר אני אמר לי בני הוי זהיר במלאכתך שמלאכתך מלאכת שמים היא

Jastrow's Talmudic Dictionary:

Exquisite Megillat Esther Case

2009-05-28T14:02:00.000+02:00

Made out of ivory, gold and silver, this is one of the nicest cases I've seen - I love the look of Esther and Achashverosh and the assimetrical canopy. Maybe one day I will buy it for my 11-lines Megillat Esther... I wish! Artwork by my friend Uri Revach; price upon request.

The Minhag of Writing the Last Words of a Sefer Torah

2009-05-21T04:03:00.000+02:00

One of my favorite blogs, Lion on Zion, wrote a post about women in Safrut and in the discussion thread we somehow got drawn to the interesting "Minhag Israel" of letting other people write the very last words of the Torah in public. But what is the nature of this custom? I got curious and in this post I will write what I read about this.

Firstly, there's a Miztva of writing your own Sefer Torah and a Sofer can write on behalf of others who can't write themselves. But even if you hire a Sofer you must participate in the process in some way - the Talmud mentions that you should buy the klafim, for instance, and usually the "Baal Hasefer" writes a word or more in the Torah. But which word?

Three possibilities are mentioned: "Bereishit", the very first word, or "Israel", the very last or the whole passage of Devarim 33;4 - "Torah Tziva Lanu Moshe (...)". In a best case scenario the owner would write all three but almost no one knows how to write properly and to even write one of the three possibilities is already unrealistic, so the Sofrim found ways to go around this problem.

The "Keter Shem Tov" says that the Sofrim in his time would draw small dots outlining the words Bereishit and Israel, and the Baal Sefer would literary connect the dots. That's one solution.

Today, the Sofrim outline the letters and the owner just fills in. Halachically speaking, an outlined letter is Kosher thus the owner is not actually doing anything - the Sefer Torah is actually finished before he fills in.

But we haven't answered the original question: why is there the Minhag of letting others write a letter in the end of the Torah?

The "Mei Yehuda" offers a nice theory. Halacha says that if a person buys an unfit (Pasul) Sefer Torah and corrects it, he fulfills the Mitzva of writing a Torah. But there's an obscure opinion that says that even if the Torah belongs to someone else, the one who corrects it fulfills the Mitzva the same way. If so, it could be that people that write a letter in the end of the Sefer Torah do fulfill the Miztva according to this minority opinion and maybe that's how this Minhag started.

Be it as it may, this is an ancient Minhag Israel and in many cases is the only indication that the Sefer Torah was written by a proper Sofer - a Torah could look 100% kosher but be written by a gentile, for instance. This Minhag helps us with this issue and here is why:

Before the Sofrim came up with the outlining idea, the owners and guests would write the last letters themselves and, expectedly, the result was somewhat messy - you could tell that the letters were not uniform. But this mess was a good thing; if a Sefer Torah had perfect letters in the end, it would indicate that it wasn't unveiled in public, which is not a good sign. Only when it had the messy letters we would know that there was a public festivity and other people wrote the messy letters, which tells us that the Sefer Torah was most likely Kosher.

This is a great example of Chazal's saying: "Minhag Israel Torah".

Jewish Fonts - A Guide for the Different Ktavim

2009-05-02T17:09:00.000+02:00

Although all Holy scrolls are written in Ktav Ashurit, there are many subdivisions within this script. Additionally, there are other fonts that are not related to Ktav Ahurit, so I think it's worthwhile to talk a little about the Jewish Fonts.

Let's start from the beggining. There's a discussion in the Talmud if the Luchot given in Har Sinai were given in Ktav Ashurit (the font we use today) or perhaps Ktav Ivri, an obscure and completely different font. We follow the opinion that the Luchot were given in Ktav Ashurit.

So right from the start, we have two fonts: Ashurit and Ivri. The Ktav Ivri is also known as "Paleo-Hebrew Alphabet" and you can see a full verse from Tanach in the pic in the right. It's way easier to write Ktav Ivri than Ashurit - it's basically sketches rather than an artistic alphabet and I imagine it would be a lot easier to write a Sefer Torah in Ktav Ivri.

Another font that became very popular is Rashi's Script, which is commonly found in Chumashim, Talmud and commentators. This font was introduced in the 15th century and it is still printed today in a standard way, that is, with no variations. If you take to account the quantities of Talmuds, Mishnayot, Peirushim out there that use this script, it's no exaggeration to claim that this script has become more popular than the Ktav Ashurit, only found in the holy scrolls.

But I'll spend more time talking about the different versions of the Ktav Ashurit, since this is the script we use for all scrolls and most people have no clue about this. There are four versions:

Beit Yosef
Ariz"al
Chabad
Veilish (Sefardic)

All scripts have the same Halacha status and are Kosher for any Jew, since the differences are very slight. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the foremost authority of the Sefardic Jews today, proves this extensively in his sefer Yebia Omer and before him the Kaf Hachaim claims the same, so there's nothing to fear - whatever script you have is okay.

However, if you can choose between these four versions of Ktav Ashurit, why not make the right choice? Most people who buy Tefillin or Mezuzot don't really pay any attention about the version used by the scribe but just like anything else in life you should make an informed decision. And I will try to organize it for you here.

If you are Sefardi, it's easy - buy a Tefillin/Mezuza/Torah written in Veillish. The easiest way to identify this ktav is through the Shin, which has a distinctive round base like this (you can see a full sample in the end of this post)

For the Ashkenazim it's more tricky. If you are not Hassidic go Beit Yosef, which is the standard and most popular version. But for the Hassidic readers I need to first give the big picture.

The Arizal script was introduced by the Ari, in the 1500's. Before him, the Ashkenazim basically wrote in a uniform way, but the Ari, with his unmatched Kabalistic knowledge, pushed for a few changes in the Ktav Ashurit. He also introduced a new way of writing the Holy Shem, according to the Kaballa and many sofrim today write it this way (click here for my post about the Holy Shem). But what most people overlook is the fact that the Ari only pushed for changes in the Tefillin, not in the Torah scrolls. The Ari never intended to change the way our Torah scrolls are written and that's when the confusion starts.

Most Hassidic scribes today write not only Tefillins, but also Torah scrolls and Mezuzas in Ktav Arizal. Frankly, I don't know why, but that's a fact. One of the few Hassidic sects who oppose this practice is the Tzanz dynasty, since the Divrei Chaim was very clear about writing the Torah in Ktav Beit Yosef and Tefillins in Ktav Ari.

So if you are Hassidic, you should order a Ktav Arizal Tefillin. But if you one day hire a sofer to write you a Torah, make sure you ask your Rebbe if you should use Ktav Ari or Beit Yosef. Anyways, it's easy to identify an Arizal ktav - the Chet and Shins look like this:

On top of all this mess there's the Chabad Ktav, introduced by the Alter Rebbe. I heard from a fellow Chabad scribe that the Alter Rebbe once said that when Mashiach comes this will be the main Ktav, but the fact is that the Chabad Ktav is the least popular of all the four versions of the Ktav Ashurit. This Ktav is very similar to the Ktav Arizal, but you can identify it by the exquisite Lamed and Peh:

So, if you are still reading this, yes, there are many Jewish Fonts. And next time you order a
scroll, make sure you choose the one that is right for you!
_______________
Samples:

From left to right: Sephardi, Beit Yosef, Arizal and Chabad.

A Brief Dikduk Dvar Torah on Pessach and Shemini

2009-04-17T02:34:00.000+02:00

I don't focus much in Dikduk but I had a cool insight on the Parsha of this week and I will share. After all, Dikduk and Safrut do go hand on hand.

The Vilna Gaon often times links the "trop" (cantilation sign) of words to their actual meaning. One famous example, in Shemot 1:13:
Many commentators explain that the Jews stayed in Egypt for less time because of the extreme hardship of their slavery. In the verse above, the Torah describes this hardship and the words have a cantillation sign called "Kadma Ve'azla". Says the Gaon that if you take the name of the cantillation literary it means "Anticipated and went" in Aramaic, indicating that because of the hardship of the slavery the Jews "anticipated and went" from Egypt before pre-set time. I heard this yesterday and I got excited about this kind of Dvar Torah and had the following insight:

In the coming week's Parsha, Shemini, I saw a very rare cantillation sign in the passage that speaks about Nadav and Avihu, the two sons of Aharon who died while doing work in the Mishkan. The Torah explains that they brought an....:
The rare "trop" below the word "Lo" is called Mercha Kefula or, alternatively, "Trei Ta'amei". Following the methodology of the Gaon, if we take the word "Trei Taamei" literary it means "Two Reasons" in Aramaic (I don't know the exact translation of the other name, Mercha Kefula, but Kefula also means two). The Talmud, mentioned by Rashi in this passage, says that there are two reasons why Nadav and Avihu died - either because they entered the Mishkan drunk or because they said an Halacha in front of Moshe, two actions that cause a death penalty. So here again, the trop gave us a hint about this passage.

Update: I refer you to Josh Waxman's piece on the Mercha Kefula, where he discusses this pshat and gives a broader perspective to this distinctive trop.

Petuchot and Setumot

2009-04-13T20:08:00.000+02:00

This is one of the most hotly debated topics of Safrut and I just want to write a little bit about the basics and how this subject impacts us today. Although this is a longer-than-usual post, I can safely say it's my most important piece so far in this blog, since it has a direct impact in two daily Mitzvot - Mezuza and Tefillin.

The Basics

The Torah is comprised of many parshiot, or "segments", which can be connected to each other in two ways, in a "Setuma" (סתומה) layout or in a "Petuha" (פתוחה) layout. The Rambam and the Rosh discuss what's the exact layout of Setuma and Petuha and in many instances what is a Parsha Stuma for the Rosh is a Petuha for the Rambam.

The two instances where they disagree are the following:

According to the Rambam, whenever a Parsha starts in the middle of the line that will be considered a Parsha Setuma. The Rosh will say the opposite - according to him this is the layout of a Parsha Petuha.
According to the Rambam, whenever a Parsha starts in the beggining of the line that is the Parsha Petuha. The Rosh says that this is a Parsha Setuma.

The best way to visualize this discussion is by taking a look at the Mezuzot of the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim. As you will see in the next section of this post, the Talmud says that the Mezuzot must have a Setuma layout and the Sephardic Jews write it like the opinion of the Rambam (see pic below). According to the Rosh, this is actually a Parsha Petuha layout !

The Poskim say that the Sofer must try to write the פרשיות in the two layouts in which there's no debate ("universal layouts"), in order to follow both the Rambam and Rosh. There are two universal layouts - one Petuha and one Setuma - and you can identify them in the picture in the right. The "space" at the top is a universal Parsha Petuha while the "space" at the bottom of this picture is a universal Setuma.

Today, all the sofrim don't have to worry about these layout issues since they have the luxury of copying it from spotless computerized Tikkunim, so all Sifrei Torah today have the universal Petuchot and Setumot, which is great. But until recently the sofrim didn't have such great Tikkunim and they occasionally had to use a non-universal layout.

If a Sofer is forced to use a non-universal layout the Rema notes that he should not stray away from the opinion of the Rambam, since he had a very reliable Tikkun in his possession. Most scholars say that this Tikkun is the Aleppo Codex, and I hope I can write a more about this codex in the future.

Impact in the Modern Day Mezuzot

As I introduced in the previous section, the Rambam vs. Rosh discussion has a direct impact in the layout of our מזוזות. The Mezuza has two Parshiot - Shema and Vehaia - and the Talmud says that they must be connected in a Setuma layout. You would think that we again use the "universal" Setuma layout in a Mezuza but that's not the case and that's when this whole subject becomes really interesting. The Sephardim, expectedly, follow the non-universal Setuma of the Rambam and they are "safe", since they have no business with the Rosh's shita. But for the Ashkenazim is really tricky and here is why.

Until some 300 years ago, if one would open an Ashkenazi Mezuza he would see a very odd layout, that would not conform with ANY of the main opinions. Basically, the Parshiot were written without any pause, almost like the two parshiot were in fact one. Although this was a very established Minhag, many Halachic authorities sought to fix the problem and choose an alternative layout. There were two main solutions proposed, one by the Taz (Turei Zahav) and another, more "radical", by the another leading Rabbi (can't remeber the name now..).

The Taz's proposal, which changed the established Minhag just a little and allegedly was good both for the Rosh and Rambam's opinions, was widely accepted by the Ashkenazi Jews and it has emerged to become the standard layout which we use until this very day. You can see the modern day Ashekenazi (left) and Sephardi (right) Mezuzot in the pics below.

There's a third solution, proposed by the Mahari Abuhab, which is very interesting and worth to mention. He proposed the most obvious solution: to use the universal Setuma layout, thus solving all the problems. No one really accepted this solution, and the Shach (יו"ד סימן רפח סק"י) speculates that there is Mesorah that disctates all the words which are line-headers. According to the Mahari Abuhav, the line of the second Parsha will not start with "Vehaia", like the Ashkenazi and Sephardi Mezuzot, but with the word "Mitzva" (see pic below). That might explain why people didn't follow this opinion. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein explores this topic in more depth in יו"ד סימן ק"פ.

I find it strange that the Ashekenazi Jews don't write the Mezuza in the way the Sephardim do, in accordance to the Rambam's shita. After all, the Rema did say that when in doubt the opinion of the Rambam should be followed, and here in Mezuza I would think the same rule applies. I guess the Ashkenazim were hesitant to completely refuse their old Minhag and preferred the Taz's solution, which is a slight amendment to the Mezuza layout they already had.

Impact in Modern Day Tefillin

While the Petuhot/Setumot topic has great revelance to Mezuza, its relevance to Tefillin is even greater. If a Mezuza wasn't written in a proper Setuma way, the Mezuza is still Kosher "bedieved". In Tefilin, it's more problematic - if a Tefillin doesn't have this Setuma layout, the Tefilin are potentially Pasul!

Like in Mezuza, the Sephardim do the Setuma layout like the Rambam, so once again they're safe. Most of the Ashkenazim follow once again the solution of the Taz, but I've heard of many Hassidim who are Makpid in following the Rambam in the Tefilin layout because of the above-mentioned stringency. From my personal research, even tough these groups have Rambam Tefillins, their Mezuzot are written according to the Taz, a rather ironic fact. In my humble opinion both Mezuzot and Tefillin should be written in the same Setuma way - be it like the Rambam or like the Taz - but that is the least of my "problems":

I've heard that some "Briskers" wear two Rashi Tefillin - one according to the Taz and another one according to the Rambam, just to be safe. Now that's really odd. If you would (theoretically) be a Chassidish Brisker you would probably wear two Rashi Tefillins (Rambam +Taz) and two Rabbeinu Tam Tefillins (Rambam+Taz)!

Now I understand better what they say in the name of the Gaon - that we would have to own over 70 pairs of Tefillin if we wanted to be "yotze" all the opinions.

Another Important Discussion

I didn't even mentioned the "Breuer" factor - the recent debate about the Petuchot and Setumot found in the Aleppo Codex, extensively explored by the late Rabbi Breuer. That's a whole different story, and it's difficult to fully understand it before knowing the basics of Setuma and Petuha Parshiot, which you hopefully do know by now. I will get into this in another opportunity. Gitten Tzimmer!

My Progress #3: 11-lined Megillat Ester

2009-03-31T15:07:00.000+02:00

After some 2 months I managed to finish my first Megilla, a small 11-lines Megillat Ester. I put a great deal of effort in this project since I'm not planning to write another Meggilat Esther anytime soon - it's way to much work and this is only a hobby for me. So I wrote it slowly, in the best way I could. No one writes an 11-lines Megilla right off the start since the parchment is more expensive, but I figured that I should do it right if I only do it once.

The original goal was to finish by Purim but I decided to take it easy and not run too much, even though I do feel quite stupid to finish it just 3 weeks after Purim... I was intending to bind whatever I had ready on the day before Purim and bring it to Shul - after all, according to Halacha if the Megilla is 51% complete one could technically recite a blessing over it and read it in public (as long as no full chapter is skipped) and I had a good 75% ready, but I was too busy to bind the klafim together on time.

Be as it may, I'm posting pictures of the whole Megila at the end of this post. I would greatly appreciate if anyone finds mistakes, I only went thru it once and it's easy to overlook your own mistakes.

Also, I added a few little decorations like the ones you see in the popular Hamelech Megilot. As I noted in my post about Megilla lines, the 11-lines Megilla is not "Hamelech" (i.e. it doesn't always start with the word Hamelech at the top of the column) but I did take the liberty to decorate the Hamelechs that appeared in the top of the columns. That's the cool thing about writing your own Megilla - you can do (almost) whatever you want!

From left to right: The Palace, The Tree, The Tear, The Justice

From left to right: The Dots, The Flames, The Crown, The Sharbit

From left to right: The Two Kerubim, Another Crown, The Galaxy

And here it's the full Megilla. I couldn't post it in order, so it's all scrambled together...:

Amazing Megillot #4 - Papercut on Red Leather

2009-03-25T12:18:00.000+01:00

This is a very special and contemporary Megillat Esther made by a personal frien, Uri Revach.

It's hard to do papercut in a Megilla since the Megilla becomes too delicate and thus hard to handle. Aside from this, the papercut work hardly gets its full value since there's nothing behind it - no contrast.

So this artist came up with a solution - he stuck the Megilla in red leather, enhancing the papercut work and also giving to the Megilla a "royalty" feel. He also made the case, which is made out of wood, silver, gold and ivory. All in all, a true masterpiece.

Price upon request.

The Parchement - Klaf or Gevil?

2009-03-21T11:22:00.000+01:00

Torah Scrolls were always written in the "Gvil", the outer part of a fully-grown kosher animal's skin - sheep, goat, deer and so on (see image in the right, credit to the Gewil Institute). That's how Moshe Rabbeinu, the Ran and Rambam wrote their own Sifrei Torah and that was the only parchment used by Jewish scribes throughout the centuries.

As I wrote in my post about the Kulmus, around 700 bce the feather quills started to become immensely popular among scribes in general and, specially in Europe, many sofrim started to favor these quills instead of the "original" reed quills. The parchment was also improved and the European scribes started to write not on the outer, but on the inner part of the animal's skin, because it was more smooth and thus suitable for the delicate feather quills (reed quills are more sturdy and can write in either Gvil or Klaf. Feather quills don't write well in Gvil). This inner part of the animal's skin is called "Klaf" (קלף) and eventually all Ashkenazi scribes switched for this parchment and the feather quill altogether, for both Mezuzas and Torah Scrolls. The Gevil went "out of fashion", so to speak.

The Ashkenazi Rabbis accepted these changes and an all Ashkenazi Torah Scrolls are written in Klaf until this very day.

But the Sephardi world was less influenced by these changes and the Sefardi sofrim kept using reed quills and Gvil parchement, like the original Sifrei Torah. However, as the Sephardi Jews started to leave the Arab world it seems that they were influenced by the Ashkenazi way of writing and many Sefardi scribes today do use feather quills and Klaf, a surprising fact. Virtually all parchments produced in Israel are "Klaf", not "Gvil/גביל".

Last week I luckily found a great Yemenite website which is pushing for the "resurrection" of the Gvil parchment (read "The Gewil Torah Scrolls are Popular once Again" - take it with a grain of salt...). The Yemenite Jews follow the Rambam's customs blindly and as I noted, the Rambam wrote his own Sefer Torah in Gevil, so this campaign really makes sense. But they claim that a Rabbi Mordechai Eliahu, the former Sephardic Chief Rabbi, has a Gvil Sefer Torah, so I guess many Sephardim will like this campaign as well since their older Sifrei Torah are also written in Gvil.

It's easy to differentiate between a Gvil Torah Scroll and a Klaf one. The Gvil scroll is dark in the inside (where the text is written) and lighter in the reverse side; the Klaf scroll is the exact opposite.

Left: Ashkenazi Klaf Scroll. Right: Yemenite Gewil Scroll (note the reed quill in the scribe's hand)

I was so fascinated by this story that I decided to make a field trip to a klafim factory in Jerusalem. I saw the whole process and the owner explained to me that besides all the Gewil vs. Klaf story there was another interesting development.

Until very recently, all klafim were made out of skin of fully-grown animals. But the Rabbinic authorities always praised the skin of a "Shlil" (שליל), or unborn animal, even tough it was unpractical to write a Sefer Torah from a Shlil - you need dozens of fetuses and that was hard if not impossible to find. But 30 years ago someone in the klafim business heard that the big slaughter houses in the US and Europe had dozens of "shlil" everyday in their factories and they didn't have any use from them. Since then all the klafim factories buy these shlils and make a super-smooth klaf out of it. So our klafim became even better!

The klafim process, as I saw it:
1- Put the skins in chemicals for 4 weeks.
2- Take it out and remove the hairs.
3- Hang it for a few days so it can dry.
4- Stretch it for a few days.
5- Remove the remaining impurities.
6- Cut the Klaf to the desired thickness and size.

Rashi Vs. Rabbeinu Tam - Round 1

2009-03-15T10:48:00.000+01:00

One of the fiercest rivalries among the commentators of the Talmud is between Rashi (11th century) and his nephews, known as the Tosafists. There are many famous discussion between them but in this blog we focus in Safrut and there are two classical discussions pertaining to this subject. We will deal with one of them in this post.

Rashi and Tosafos disagree in regards to the exact shape of the letter Chet in the Jewish Alphabet. A very short briefing: The Talmud says that there's a special "tag" (sketch) on top of the letter Chet, which points upwards symbolizing that God, who's up in the heavens, is eternal since the letter Chet is connected to the word "Chai", to be alive. Rashi and Tosafot explain differently the shape of this mystical sketch.

Rashi says that it is a simple sketch in the left side of the Chet like this while Tosafot says that there's a "pyramid" (a.k.a. "the hunch of a camel") in the very middle of the letter like this , essentially two connected Zains (you can see the original page of the Talmud, where this discussion is to be found, here)

That means that the grandsons (Tosafists) had a different Torah Scroll than their grandfather (Rashi), a striking fact. And the Halachic implication of these two versions is not simple - a Sefer Torah that has some Chets like Rashi and some like Tosafot might be pasul, so the rabbis decided to adopt a "blend" of the two versions, which we still use to this very day: (my own hand-writing). The Sephardim have a slightly different version -> .

But this is not the end of the story. A few hundred years later the Ariza"l (16th century), the most revered Kabbalist, introduced a few changes in the letters of the Torah and one of the affected letters is the Chet. Instead of two connected Zains, the Ari wrote the Chet with a Vav and a Zain, like this .

Clearly, the Chet is the most controversial letter of the Hebrew alphabet and now you know why!

Purim of Saragossa

2009-03-13T19:33:00.000+01:00

Now that we've all celebrated Purim, I want to share with you the story of another Purim, known to few, which is celebrated by the descendants of the Jewish Comunity of Saragossa (also spelled Zaragoza, Siracuse or Syracuse). Since this story is about a Sefer Torah, it's connected and relevant to this blog.

Before the story, a brief Halachic briefing. Everyone must give the proper "kavod" to a Sefer Torah or any other holy scroll and many customs we have today are a reflection of this Halacha. That's why we keep the Torah in a special cabinet, the Aron Hakodesh, and also why we all stand when the Chazzan carries the Torah to the Bimah for the Parshat Hashavua reading. Most rabbis say that one shouldn't take out a Sefer Torah from the Aron just to show it to visitors, another related Halacha.

Specifically pertaining to the holiness of a Mezuza, I've seen a discussion about a case where the gentile king or ruler requested a Mezuza for his house or palace. Some rabbis were very much against it since we fear for the Mezuza's "kavod", while others like the Rema permit it on the grounds that sometimes we make exceptions for the fear that turning down a royal request will create unnecesary tensions ("Eiva" in Hebrew). That's exactly what happened in Zaragoza, in the 15th century.

I quote a better story-teller:

"Scholars still debate the location of the story. Many favor Siracusa (Syracuse, on the island of Sicily) as the location of our story some 600 (1421) years ago. Others refer to Saragossa, Spain as the location. In any event, The Jewish main street of the city contained 12 synagogues. At the annual royal visit three Torahs dressed in gold and silver were taken from each synagouge to welcome and parade the King through the town. One day the leaders of the community decided that the practice violates the sanctity of the Torah and that henceforth the Torah containers would be marched dressed as before but empty without the Torahs. The practice went well for 22 years.

One day an apostate by the name of Marcus at a royal meeting revealed the secret. The King in a fury ordered a surprise inspection the next day and the slaughter of all Jews if Marcus is indeed correct. That night the Prophet Elijah appeared in the dreams of each of the 12 sextons and ordered them to insert the Torah in the empty cases. The next day, upon finding the scrolls in the containers the King ordered Marcus executed and relieved the Jews of taxes for a period. As a result of the miracle, the scroll was written and the 17th of Shevat celebrated as the Purim of Saragossa or Siracusa, still observed in many Sephardi families to this day."

You can read a longer version of this story on the Chabad site.
And the best part, we have some great pics from this rare Megilla! (credit goes to the Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture. Be sure to check the stories of other less known Purims here and here)

Amazing Megillot #3 - The Gross Family Meggilla

2009-03-05T16:33:00.000+01:00

_____

This Megilla is like no other. It's an antique piece from the 18th century Germany and it remains in good condition. The coolness of this Megilla: the illustrations are very complex and detailed, also in various layouts, so the writing is not "uniform" and standardized like normal Megillot - it differs from page to page. Sometimes it has a round shape, or a long shape, as dictated by the illustrations around it.

This Megilla belongs to the private collection of the Gross Family, Tel Aviv. You can get a limited-edition facsimile edition for "just" U$ 4,000. You can read more here.

How Many Lines Should a Megilla Have? A Megillat Esther Buyers' Guide

2009-03-02T12:49:00.000+01:00

Purim is fast approaching and many among us are running around looking for a new Megilla, or another Megilla case, another Pirush about Megillat Esther or, of course, a smashing costume. For those who are looking for Megillot, this post will clarify the many types of Megillot out there.

Although everyone has seen a parchment Megilla before, very few people can actually tell a good one from a bad one. Many times I will hear that "Wow, that's a good Megilla - all the columns start with the word Hamelech!", referring to the popular Hamelech Megillot. I guess people think that it requires great skill to always start a column with Hamelech, but that's a mistake.

Let's first get the facts straight - anyone can write an Hamelech Megilla. It requires no special skill, since the scribe must copy the words from a printed Tikkun, which means that the scribe doesn't actually arranges the words - he simply copies it. Today's Tikkunim are perfect and any Sofer can have a Hamelech Tikkun.

The מגילת אסתר המלך are indeed very popular among Ashkenazi Jews and these Megillot usually have 28 or 21 lines (see pictures in the end of this post), simply because that's the best way to come up with the word Hamelech always at the top. But the Yemenite Jews favor non-Hamelech Megillot since they hold that it's better to start every column with a new passuk (verse), so the Baal Koreh will not have to stop in the middle of the passage when moving to the next column.

Most congregations use a 42- lines Megilla for the synagogue's reading, since that's the same size of a Sefer Torah and probably because it's easier to read from in public (less columns). I've also seen a 14-lined Megillah.

But the Vilna Gaon, one of the greatest Sages of the past centuries, was very against all the aforementioned types of Megillot. In all these Megillot - 14, 21, 28 or 42 lines - the names of the Ten sons of Haman are written in a larger size, in accordance to the Halacha that these names should be written in two columns and in a page of their own. The only way to do that is by enlarging the font size (see picture in the right, a 28-lines Hamelech Megilla with the large names in the left side) and the Gaon saw that as a big problem since we have a Mesorah (tradition) which states all the odd-sized letters in the Tanach and nowhere there's a mention for writing the names of Haman's sons in big.

So what Megilla did the Gaon use? The Gaon offered a solution - the 11-lines Megilla, in which the names of the ten sons of Haman fit perfectly, without having to enlarge them at all (see picture in the right - my own 11 line Megilla). The only drawback - the columns do not start with Hamelech.

This Megilla is more expensive since it requires much more parchment than the other ones. My upcoming post, "My Progress #3", will show you more pictures of my own 11-lines Meggila, which almost ready just in time for Purim.

Whatever Megilla you choose, be it 11, 14, 21, 28 or 42 lined, is good and the most important thing is a nice writing and a reliable sofer. But it's always good to know the different options you have and with this information you will buy the Megilla that is right for you. Purim Sameach!

My Progress #2 - Another Pitum Haketoret

2009-02-25T18:24:00.000+01:00

After my first work, I had to write a second Pitum Haketoret because my father needed one. The hand-writing is much nicer and finer than the first one, but I had to correct a few mistakes here and there, so there's minor scrapping. And I commited the capital sin of a Sofer - I accidentaly dropped water on it, which causes irreversable damage. Luckily, it fell in the bottom of the Klaf and I just cut it off.

Like the first, this one is big - 42 lines, just like a Sefer Torah. Most people have pocket-sized Pitum Haketoret today, since it's easier to carry, but I much prefer it big. The rabbis say that it's a very big Segula for Parnassah to say this every day, so I figured that the bigger the Pitum Haketoret is the more $ you will get!

Ktav Ashurit and the Modern Day Siddurim

2009-02-24T22:56:00.000+01:00

First a very brief intro: there's a discussion in the Talmud in regards to what font was featured in the original Luchot. We follow the opinion that it was given in Ktav Ashurit, the very same font we use in all holy scrolls.

According to Judaism, just like the Torah was given in Ktav Ashurit, the world was created by God with these letters and therefore every single letter has unspeakable importance. It's no wonder that a large segment of the Kaballa deals exclusively with understanding the Ktav Ashurit letters - this is a mystical font. In fact, Halacha states even a non-holy text that was written in Ktav Ashurit letters should be treated like a holy text, since the font itself is holy. That's how important this Ktav is.

But when it comes to prayer books, it's hard to find Ktav Ashurit fonts. For some reason, the Siddurim we use today are not written in Ktav Ashurit font; rather, every publisher creates a new patented font when it comes to prayer books and Chumashim. The most popular is Artscroll’s, a modern and neat font that is used in everything the company publishes from Siddurim, Tehillim or Chumashim (see pic in the right). But a few communities have pushed for the usage of Siddurim that use the Ktav Ashurit font, most notably the Sefardic communities and some Hassidic (more specifically, Toldos Aharon and Biali) sects and it’s possible to find them with a little effort.

It’s much easier to find Sefardi editions of Ktav Ashurit siddurim, but I’m Ashkenazi and I bought the two editions I managed to find. The first is a modern and computerized version (if you are looking for one online, see here), only for the weekdays, and the second is a copy of a hand-written siddur (which some rabbis favor over the computer version) - see pictures below. Being a Sofer, I use these Siddurim rather than the popular Artscroll version since I prefer to stick to the millennium-old font rather than a modern day invention… but that’s just me.

Computerized Ktav Ashurit Siddur

Hand-written version

The Holy Shem

2009-02-21T11:54:00.000+01:00

According to Halacha, when a Sofer writes the Shem in Torah, he must do so with the proper Kavanah, that is, he must recite a verbal santification before the writing of each and every Shem in the Torah. If the sofer fails do so, the Shem has no holiness and the Sefer Torah, Tefillin or Mezuzah is Pasul. That’s why there’s the minhag of going to the Mikve before writing the Shem – it’s part of this santification process.

Additionally, there’s a special kabbalistic way of writing the Shem, as thaught by the Arizal and thus not only the preparation to write the Shem is difficult, but also the actual writing itself.

According to Halacha once the Shem is written it can’t be erased, a prohibition derived from the Pasuk in Devarim Deut. 12-03:04, which states "ואבדתם את שמם מן המקום ההוא לא תעשון כן ליהוה אלהיכם (and you shall destroy the names of pagan gods from their places. You shall not do similarly to G-d your Lord)." Any paper containing the Shem cannot be thrown in garbage, and in fact there’s a glued paper in my Kollel’s door containing Shemot that no one can remove (photo in the right).

Because of this prohibition, the old printed Chumashim do not spell the full Shem but use a peculiar alternative, the Yud-Yud (photo in the right). This way, if a Chumash gets ripped or simple lost there will be no transgression of the aforementioned problem. But why did the publishers chose specifically Yud-Yud?

If you look in even older books, you’ll see a line under or above the Yud-Yud – I saw this in old Ketubot from all sorts (Hebrew University has a great collection).

I’ve heard two explanations for this. If you look in Sefardic and some Chassidic siddurim you’ll see that all the Shemot are written in the form of “Shiluv” (photo in the right), that is, in a combination of the letters of the written Shem and the way we pronounce the Shem (they are not the same). That’s a Kabbalistic custom and you will see that the Shiluv starts with Yud and ends with Yud. That might be the reason why the Yud-Yud was chosen to replace the Shem in the Siddurim.

But I saw in the Darkei Moshe another explanation. As I said, the ancient books have Yud-Yud with an underline. This underline is a Vav, and if you take the Gematria of the Yud (10) Yud (10) and Vav (6) you will get 26, which is the same numerical value as the Shem.
(The same explanation is said about the Aleph, which consists of two Yuds and one Vav. That’s an allusion that G-d (26) is one in this world).

Since some 15 years ago, the seforim publishers stopped using the Yud-Yud by and large, rather using the explicit Shem. I happen to know the owner of one of the most popular publishers of Jerusalem and he told me the Gedolim had asked him to use the Shem because unlike some time ago, the Seforim are much more durable and it’s easier to keep them in good condition. However, I’ve seen one very recent edition of the Chumash that uses a creative solution – they wrote the Shem but disconnected the “foot” of the first Hey (photo in the right). In a first look you may not realize, but it’s there and consequently there will be no problems in case the Chumash gets ripped or something.
(A side point: Why disconnect the first Hey? If they would do it in the second Hey, the first two letters of the Shem would read Yud-Hey, which is another Shem and we would be back to square zero).

All in all, it should be clear now that a very beautiful Sefer Torah or Tefillin or Mezuza can be worthless if the Sofer didn’t follow the rules of the game. Be carefull, and do your due diligence before you buy something so holy. This is just as serious as any other investment and if you fail to do your homework you might be getting yourself in the Safrut version of Maddof’s Ponzi scheme – a worthless piece of parchement. Be aware!

Amazing Megillot #2 - The Agam Meggilla

2009-02-18T16:13:00.000+01:00

I saw this one in the website of the Library of Congress. I've seen other works by Agam but never a Holy Book and this Megilla really stands out because of the cool visual effects that Agam's trademark. Here's the Library's official description:

"The Agam Megillah (London and Israel, 1997). A recent addition to the Library's Hebraic collections is a modern decorated megillah by noted Israeli artist Ya'akov Agam. Produced on parchment measuring thirty-two inches high, the limited edition includes a silk-screened border by the artist, with the text handwritten by the scribe. In this megillah, the traditional text is adorned with distinctly modern decorative artwork. (Copyright © 2001 Artists Rights Society [ars], New York/adagp, Paris)"

My Progress #1 - Pitum Haketoret

2009-02-15T16:10:00.000+01:00

This was my very first work, a large one-column Pitum Haketoret. It took me some 17 days to complete it and I managed to avoid any mistakes, so no scraping was needed. I used my own feather quill to write, and I had to do a lot of sharpening and all that messy stuff, but I'm really happy with the result and I use it every day after davening.

The Story of the Kulmus

2009-02-14T11:28:00.000+01:00

The Kulmus is the feather a Sofer uses when writing in the Klaf. The previous statement is actually not entirely accurate – the kulmus is not necessarily a feather, in fact, the original kulmus was made from reeds. Let me explain. The Sefer Torah written by Moshe Rabbeinu wasn’t written like ours – he used reed quills, which are bamboo-like wood pencils. Reeds are viewed positively by Chazal, who said we should be “Soft as a reed and not hard like a cedrus” and for centuries reeds had the merit to be used for scribal writing.

Safrut is not “vacuum-sealed” and it was influenced by the calligraphy of the gentiles. Until 700 BCE, reeds were the most common writing instrument and that explains why the original Halacha is that Hebrew scribes must write a Sefer Torah with reeds. After 700 BCE, feather quills were "discovered" and became increasingly popular for writing purposes (source). In fact, some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are dated around 150 BCE were written with feather quills rather than reeds (source). That explains why the Ashkenazi scribes stopped using reeds, rather favoring the popular and "new" feather quills. I've also heard that the reeds in Europe were not as good and sturdy as the reeds found in the Middle East, and if true, this is another piece of this puzzle.

The main pro of using feathers is the fact that it stays sharp for longer than a reed – at least twice as long. Reeds are wood-pencils and wood wears out very quickly, forcing a scribe to constantly cut it sharp (it’s critical for a Sofer to have a sharp Kulmus, otherwise the Taguim will not come out properly).

The Sefardim however kept the original tradition of reed kulmusim by and large and until this day Safrut stores sell reeds alongside with feathers in their shelves. Because of the sharpening issues the Sefardic scribes usually don’t do the Taguim themselves, they will rather finish the Parsha and hand it over to a Metaieg, a Sofer who specializes in writing the Taguim.

The Poskim have subscribed to the feather quills and will allow the Sofer to use any instrument to write, even though it’s clear that the original Kulmus was from reeds.

In fact, a few other alternatives have appeared now that we are living in a technology-intensive world:

Plastic kulmus, which is sold already sharpened, that is available for cheap and it’s quite good. I’ve used it in my first Meguila.

Steel kulmus, which is pretty much a fountain pen made in the shape of a feather quill. I’ve tested it but it didn’t work well for me. And it’s expensive.

Gold-dipped feather Kulmus. This is one really expensive, but you can write a whole Sefer Torah without having to sharpen your quill.

Aside from the obvious advantage of not needing any sharpening, the plastic/steel/gold kulmus hve another great pro. When writing with a feather, you will have to always cut it in the same size, in order to ensure that all the lines are written uniformly. But in practice that’s very hard to accomplish and, unless you are a master scribe, the letters will come out different in every column - sometimes thinner, sometimes a little thicker and that's not aesthetically good. With a plastic/steel/gold kulmus all the letters will be the same, effortlessly, since you don’t have to sharpen it.

So next time you see a Sofer writing with a (special) fountain pen, don’t shoot him. It’s permissible to write with other instruments besides feather quills.

Feather Quills (sharpened/ unsharpened)

Plastic Kulmus

Reed Kulmus (sharpened/ unsharpened)

Keset Hasofer and my Amazing Find

2009-02-12T19:26:00.000+01:00

Countless books were written about Safrut throughout the centuries. The library of a Sofer must surely include the basics: Tur, Shulchan Aruch, Mishnat Sofrim (authored by the Chafetz Haim) and the Talmud passages relating to the writing of Sefer Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzot. But anyone trying to get down to the practical Halacha will soon find that the plethora of information in this subject makes it difficult to get the final answer of rather basic questions, like the permissibility of writing with feathers, opposed to reeds. This question is a very telling example. If one will only look at the Tur and Shulchan Aruch he will conclude that it's prohibited
to write with feathers, as stated in these books. But, hey, all Ashkenazi sofrim do write with feathers, so what is going on?

That's when the Keset Hasofer comes into the picture. Authored by same author of the popular Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried, this sefer intended to organize and give a final answer to all Safrut-related questions. Like he did in the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, Rabbi Ganzfried compiled this book in a way anyone could understand and the Keset Hasofer was accepted as the last word for all Ashkenazi sofrim. For instance, he writes that the minhag of the scribes is to use feather quills and that there's absolutely nothing wrong with this practice. The final answer.

One of the leading rabbis of European Jewry in the first half of the nineteenth century, the Chatam Sofer said that no sofer could start to write a Sefer Torah, Mezuza or Tefillin before mastering the Keset Hasofer. In fact, he wrote the Haskama (letter of aprobation) featured in the beggining of the Keset Hasofer, alongside with the Haskama of the Tzanz Rebbe, also known as the Divrei Chaim.

Besides writing about the Halachot of Safrut, Rabbi Ganzfried decided between conflicting versions of the Torah and Megillat Esther, and that was perhaps his most important contribution to the Safrut world. Although all Jews have virtually the same text of the Torah, there are very few places - actually seven instances - where it's unclear how to write a particular word and the codices we posses have conflicting versions. Rabbi Ganzfried ruled which versions to follow in the latter part of the Keset Hasofer and thanks to him, we all follow the same unified text of the Torah (as I will explain in another post, the Teimanim differ).

Having all this in mind, I knew I had to buy the Keset Hasofer but I couldn't find it anywhere. I tried the usual book shops in Jerusalem, to no avail. So I forgot about it. I started to search for another important work, the Torah Shelema of Rabbi Kasher, and a friend directed me to a used-books shop in Mea Shearim. The smallest bookshop I've ever seen, this shop was specialized in old books but it is almost impossible to find anything there - all books, from the Zohar to Feldheim, are mixed together. So I decided to leave, but in my last look back something got my attention - a very old Keset Hasofer.

Unable to hide my excitement to the shop keeper, I was really happy to see that the book was in mint condition, despite its age. As I opened the front page, I saw the date - 1902. And I could also read the name of the owner in the top - "Aharon Toisig". I was sure this was no coincidence - this book was destined to come to my hands! So after some half hour discussing the price, I got this book for 120 shekels, or 30 dollars, a bargain.

Below are some pictures of this sefer.

Amazing Megillot Series #1

2009-02-11T19:46:00.000+01:00

I saw this absolutely fabulous Megilat Esther in a Jerusalem Judaica store. It's not an antique piece - it's actually brand new. I can't find out who's the artist, I only know he's Russian, and this "bargain" has a price tag of U$ 100,000. It's easily the nicest Megilla I've ever seen, since everything is perfect - the writing is spotless, the color drawings make a strong statement and the sketching work is a very original idea.

The Mitzva of Writing Your Own Sefer Torah

2009-02-11T00:14:00.000+01:00

The very last commandment of the Torah, number 613, is the obligation of every Jew to write a Sefer Torah to himself. That's right, every one. You probably know very few individuals who actually did this and there are many reasons why this Miztva is no so wide-spread.

First, the Maimonides own words: "Every Jew must write a Sefer Torah (...). If he writes it himself, it's like he has received the Torah from Mount Sinai; if he however doesn't knows how to write it, others may write on his behalf" (source). In fact the Rambam wrote a Torah for himself, as he states in Hilchot Sefer Torah: " (...) I have relied on it in the Torah Scroll that I wrote according to the Halakha".

The Rambam is not the only well-known personality who fulfilled this Miztva with his own hands. The first person to do it was Moshe Rabbeinu, who according to our tradition miraculously wrote thirteen (one for each tribe plus one extra for verification purposes) Sifrei Torah in the day he died. Other famous sofrim include Ezra, (400 b.c.e.), Rabbi Meir, (2nd century), the famous masorete Aharon Ben Asher (9th century), the Meiri, Avraham Sofer (1800's) and many others.

Over the centuries, many Sifrei Torah were written but, expectably, very few survived the test of time. Countless were burnt in the various pogroms and persecutions we suffered throughout the ages, but we do have a few scrolls that are almost one thousand years old.

The most notable example is the ספר תורה that the Ran, or Rabbeinu Nissim of Gironda (1320-1380), wrote for himself. One of the most revered Rishonim and the Gadol of his time, the Ran wrote a beautiful scroll in Gvil and it is still intact today, housed in the National Library of the Hebrew University. This scroll is not displayed in public, although I have a friend who saw it a few years ago in a special exhibition in the National Library. In my visit to Hebrew University just last month, I saw a "duplicate" of this Torah which looks exactly like the original and you can see my snapshots below.

Another famous Rabbi who wrote his own Torah is Rabbi Yitzchak Abuhav of Toledo (1300's) and this scroll is still in use today in Tzfat, in the city's uber-famous Kabbalistic Abuhav Synagogue (read the legendary story here).

Today, very few Jews write their own Sefer Torah, be it via a hired scribe or by themselves. Most of the Sifrei Torah sold today go to communities who need it for the services, but such purchases are "public" and the nature of this Mitzva is that every individual should have a Sefer Torah for himself. The community's scroll for the weekly Torah reading is not part of this Mitzva, to the extent that an individual will lose this Miztva if he writes a Torah for himself but later relinquishes it to the Shul without any explicit condition of retrieving it back.

So why so few Jews fulfill this Mitzva?

Firstly, the reason why 99.9% of the Jews don't write a Sefer Torah by their own hand is simply because is really hard to do so. This requires a great deal of time, will and patience. But why most Jews don't hire scribes to do the work for them?

The most obvious reason a financial one. It's really expensive to hire a good סופר and a Torah could cost up to U$50,000, a figure that is too high for most of us. But there's also an Halachic loophole.

The Rosh (Rabbeinu Asher, 1259 – 1328) writes that a Jew can fulfill this Mitzva by buying a Chumash, Talmud or any other Torah book. According to this, it would seem that you can fulfill this mitzva by buying any Feldheim or Artscroll book, which many of us posses anyways. But there is a discussion on how to interpret this Rosh. Some say that he thinks that today there's no Miztva of writing a Torah whatsoever, while some say he was merely saying that in addition to writing your Sefer Torah you can fulfill this Mitzva in another way - by purchasing Torah books. But everyone will agree that writing a Torah scroll is not the only way to fulfill this Miztva.

So if you take the financial issue added to this Halachic loophole, it understandable why most Jews don't write Sefer Torahs.

But I must stress that almost all authorities agree that the best way to fulfill this Miztva is by writing a Sefer Torah yourself or via a hired scribe. In fact, I'm planning to start writing my own Sefer Torah soon, although this project will likely take a few years. But if the Ran, Rabbi Abuhab could do it, why not me?

The Ran's Sefer Torah

Left: Detail of Shirat Hayam

Right: Steel cover of the scroll, saying "Ani Nissim MiGerundi Katavti Sefer Ze lekehilat (...)"

Left: Account of the whereabout of this scroll, written by the Ran's son in the outer side of the scroll. See transcript of this revealing short story here.

Right: Explanation note from Hebrew University

Welcome!

2009-02-10T00:16:00.000+01:00

I think I should write a little introduction explaining the story behind this blog.

I started blogging a few years ago about Jewish Music, in a time where Jewish Music was a major interest for me. There weren't many blogs about it and I knew I had interesting things to share, so I started YK's Jewish Music Forum.

After these years, my interest has shifted towards different things, although I still like JM. Most importantly, I decided to fulfill a childhood dream and started a Sofer Stam program with a well-known sofer in Jerusalem, just few months ago. Suddenly, Safrut became a major field of interest and I'm spending a large part of my time doing extensive research about it. I can safely say that this is a very fertile subject, with tons of amazing and puzzling finds.

I wanted to develop a database so I would not forget all the cool things I came across and I realized that blogging about it will do just that. Granted, this is a topic much less "in" than Jewish Music and I'm not hoping to attract the masses here, but this is a blog that is really missing in the web. The Safrut blogs out there are few and I haven't found one that is run by a stereotype Sofer - male orthodox Jew; all of them are run by people out of this segment. There are also a few "Soferets" - woman scribes - who have blogs but again, very very few blogs run by the typical Sofer. But I did find great resources out there, one of them a great site run by Mordechai Pinchas , featuring lots of handy information about Safrut and I encourage all of you to take a look in his great diaries.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all what you are thinking. I'm not a professional Sofer - I started Safrut as a hobby and I don't sell any of my works. I'm young and have no beard, but I am strictly Orthodox and I think it's vital to have at least one blog that represents the majority of the Sofrim.

But aside from that, I'm starting something grand over here. The real reason why I became a Sofer was my desire to write my own Sefer Torah, in compliance with the Mitzva of Kitvu Lachem et Hashira Hazot - there's a miztva for every male Jew to write his own Torah and I'm planning to actually do it myself. This blog will broadcast this major journey and I will hopefully be posting my progress here. This objective is very very challenging, perhaps one of the most arduous Mitzvot out there, but I will try my best. May G-d Help Me!

To those of you who know my music blog, I favor quality over quantity when it comes to blog posts. I will not post daily, rather, I tend to write longer and more detailed posts, which are pretty much small articles on a specific topic. For the basics of Stam you can find other resources in the web; here I will go a little deeper and write about things you most probably never heard before. So stay tuned, add me to your RSS list (that will be the best way to follow this) and wish me luck.