As most people know, Torah scrolls and other sacred writings are all written upon parchment. However, the parchment used for Jewish holy writings is very, very different from parchment used anywhere else.

The Torah states in Shemos 13:9, Lemaan tihiyeh Toras HaShem be-ficha, “So that the Torah of HaShem should be in your mouth.”

The Gemora in Shabbos 108a learns from this verse that the Torah must literally be mutar beficha, permitted to place in one’s mouth, meaning that the materials which comprise a Sefer Torah must come from those animals and sources that are Kosher. Therefore, the hide upon which a Sefer Torah is written must be from a kosher animal. The animal from which the hide is obtained doesn’t need to actually be shechted, which would make it literally possible to eat the hide, but the animal must only be of a kosher species. It is therefore possible to write upon the hides of deer, cattle, and kosher birds. Theoretically, one could even make kosher parchment from the skin of kosher fish! However, the Rishonim tell us not to use fish skin because “de-nafish zuhamei,” it “contaminates” continually. The meaning of this statement is a little unclear. According to some, it means that fish skin never stops smelling like…well… dead fish, and it is thus inappropriate to use them as parchment for holy writing. Others understand it to mean that the natural oils in the skin continually seep out even long after the skin is cured. These oils will eventually ruin anything written on the hide. Either way, we don’t use fish skin even though it is technically permitted.

Once the animal is flayed, the hides are soaked in water for two days to clean and soften the skin.

About to Place the Hide in Water

After that, the hides are immersed in a lime-water bath to remove the hair.

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Close-up of the 2nd Column of Text

Tonight I put the finishing touches on the second column. The writing went much smoother than on the first because, by the time I started this second column, I had just managed to get all of the kinks out of the quill…

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The Zohar Chadash on Shir ha-Shirim makes the famous statement that there are 600,000 letters in the Torah. The Megaleh Amukos explains that these 600,000 letters correspond to the souls of the Jewish people. Interestingly, the Megaleh Amukos sees a hint to this fact in the very name “Yisroel,” the initial letters of which are an acronym for “Yesh Shishim Ribo Osiyos Le-Torah” – There are 600,000 letters in the Torah.

The Zohar Chadash’s statement is, however, difficult in light of the fact that our Sifrei Torah only contain 304,805 letters! As far back was can verify, via ancient texts, this has always been the case. There is no evidence nor mention anywhere of there ever having been a 600,000-letter Torah Scroll. (more…)