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!

Tonight I put the finishing touches on the 4th and 5th columns of the Sefer Torah.  Here are a couple of photos:

Second Sheet, Completed 4th & 5th Columns

The 4th and 5th Column

"Said Cain: 'I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" And HE said: 'What is this that you have done? Your brother's bloods cry out to me from the earth! And now, accursed shall you be...'"

Detail of the Ksav in the 4th and %th Columns

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The first yeria (parchment sheet) of the CTC Sefer Torah is finished!   On average, there are 62 sheets per Sefer Torah, which puts us 1/62, or 1.613% of the way finished.

The Completed First Sheets of the CTC Sefer Torah

My problem child, the third column (mentioned in last night’s post), turned out ok, but still isn’t my best writing.   Most of the problems are things that only another sofer, or perhaps a graphic artist, may be bothered by.

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Not Going Well.

I was hoping to report that I would have  the third amud done tonight, but things haven’t exactly gone well.  While the second amud was a joy to write, the third has been just painful.  I had one kulmus (quill) die on me, another crack, and had to cut a new one.  I also discovered a very tiny tear in the klaf that will have to be repared.  And there is lint sticking to the surface of the klaf (parchment). And this is only the tip of the iceberg!

At some point I will probably write a post regarding the ways in which things can go wrong when writing a sefer torah.    So far , the third amud has been an encyclopedia of everything that could go awry.   To my eye, the third column looks as if it was written by a five-year-old (albeit one who was well trained in safrus).   However, it is still more than salvageable    I have about 4 hours of writing, sanding, and checking needed to finish the third amud and will hopefully post photos tomorrow after I have had a chance to fix it up and re-write some sections.

A gute Vokh!

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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