Checking, Checking...

Although I finished writing the first amud (column) of the new Torah Friday morning, there was still some work left to do.   Before moving onto a new column, I always  go through the previous column at least twice.    The first sweep of the text is to check for any obvious misspellings or imperfections in the letters.  The second sweep is to remove any flecks or wayward speckles of ink.   These checks are both done with the aide of a good-sized magnifying lens….
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At shul this Shabbos, a fellow asked me a question that I have heard a few times in the past: “Is it true that if you make a mistake when writing a Sefer Torah, that you have to start all over again?”

The answer is: “Well, not quite…”

There is a very big difference between writing a Sefer Torah and writing tefillin or mezuzos.   When relaying the mitzvos of mezuzos and tefillin, the Torah (Devarim 6:6) opens with the words:

והיו הדברים האלה אשר אנכי מצוך היום על לבבך

These words shall be…

Our sages understand this statement to mean that the words of tefillin and mezuzos “shall be” as they are in the Torah – meaning written in the order in which they are given in the Torah.  The result is the halacho of ki-sidran, the law of the letters being written “in order.”

In tefillin and mezuzos, if one makes a mistake in a letter and only catches it after finishing his writing, he cannot go back and correct it because the corrected letter would have been written out of order.  In such a case, the section of the tefillin or the mezuzah is now posul – unfit for use. (more…)

The First Line, First Verse of the CTC Sefer Torah

For a sofer, the prospect of beginning a new Sefer Torah is a little like being a tight-rope walker.  One stands at the edge of the platform, staring down a long narrow rope, peering past any natural apprehension to focus on one thing: balance.  Creating a new Sefer Torah is about just that.

There are, without exaggeration, thousands of halachos a sofer must know and satisy in order to create an object of such incredible kedusha.   Along with these halachic requirements, the sofer must also strike a balance between aesthetic, financial, and material considerations.

The burden upon the sofer is intimidating.  However, Tehillim offers a prescription:

השלך על־יי יהבך והוא יכלכלך

Cast your burden upon HaShem, and He shall sustain you…

Thus the Sefer Hasidim writes: ” Before one starts to write any sort of sefer, he should fast one day and pray to Ha-Kadosh Boruch Hu for success, that nothing adverse should happen in the course of his writing, and by doing so he will be successful and no harm will come to him.”

On June 24, 2009, after having spent a day in fasting and prayer, the time came to step out onto that tightrope and to start writing.   The kulmusim (quills) were cut, the kesses (inkwell) was refilled, and many in the Congregation Toras Chaim family were present as the first word of the Torah, Bereishis, was written.  (The Sheelos U-teshuvos Beer Yitzchok YD 19 states that it is a mitzva to gather for the beginning of  new Sefer Torah and to celebrate, as that the event constitutes the initiation of a mitzva). (more…)

Last Wednesday evening, June 24, 2009, at the home of Rabbi Avrohom Bloomenstiel, Congregation Toras Chaim began the writing of what will be our first sefer Torah. Rabbi Bloomenstiel  (below) describes the custom of having a small L’Chaim in celebration of the beginning of the writing.

Watch the video of Rabbi Bloomenstiel write the first letter of the Torah.

See the word Bereishis being written in a slideshow of still shots. See up close with all the detail. Click here.