Was out of town over the weekend – but am back at at the writing table again.   Today I wrapped up Parshas Bereishis – the first section of the traditional division of the Torah.

The Torah is read publicly every Shabbos of the Jewish year.  The Rambam (known to the rest of the world as  Maimonidies), in his Mishna Torah,  Laws of Tefillin, Mezuza, and Sifrei Torah, Chapter 8, provides a division of the Torah into 54 parshiyos (divisions) based upon Masoretic traditions evidenced by the Aleppo Codex.  Following this division, the public reading of the entire Torah is completed each year of the Hebrew Calendar with adjustments made to accommodate leap years and the schedule of holidays.

The first of these 54 divisions is Bereishis (Genesis 1:1 – 6:8), which spans the creationg of the world to the generation of Noach.

I will be posting photos of the completed parsha tomorrow afternoon along with some new videos.

Check back then!

In the second column of the first yeriah you will find the first of several letters that must be written small.  This is the letter  “hey” in the word behibaram, “…when they were created”:

Why is this letter small?  What must any letters be written small?

There are  several different ways of interpreting these small letters…
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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…)

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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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…)