Anyways –  have reached a point where I’m back to writing regularly.  Here is todays writing, the end of parshas toldos:

[For those of you with a critical eye, there are a few things that have to be cleaned and corrected up here.  I took the photo while waiting for ink to dry.]

One interesting detail is the small “kuf” in the word “katzti” in the top line.   The entire verse is the words of Rivka Imenu: ” Katzti [I am disgusted] with my life on account of the daughters of Ches,” which were uttered in response to Eisav’s having “married out” by taking a Canaanite wife.   This point became Rivkah’s main argument for sending Yaakov away and thus distancing him from Eisav.

Rabbeinu Bechaya explains that Rivkah saw through ruach ha-kodesh that the Beis Mikdash would be toppled as a direct result of the Jewish people intermarrying with the gentile, non-believing nations.  The Kodesh ha-Kadoshim, the holiest part of the Mikdash, was 100 amos high.  The loss of this structure as a result of intermarriage is alluded to by the diminished “kuf,” whose numerical value is 100.  Conversely, the rebuilding of the Heichal is alluded to in Tehillim (Psalms) 84:4 “Even the bird finds its home, the free bird her nest.”  The word “Kan,” nest, is written here with an enlarged “kuf” indicating that this verse speaks of the rebuilding of the Heichal and return of the Jewish people.

The Megaleh Amukos also understands the diminished “kuf” as a reference to the destruction of the mikdash, pointing out that “Katzti” can be read as “Ketz Tov Yud” – meaning “at the end of 410,” hinting that the Beis HaMikdash would only last 410 years.

To add my own humble understanding of this letter: if you read “katzti” without the diminished “kuf”, you have the word “vayatzet,” which appears in Eichah (Lamentations) 4:11: “HaShem kindled a fire in Zion,” referring to the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash by fire.

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Today’s writing: The bottom of column 30.  Since I have been using my new desk and doing a lot more writing  (see mezuza at end of post), my ksav has improved thrice-fold.

The below image is of a 20 cm mezuza that I recently wrote as a commission for Congregation Toras Chaim.  The mezuza was a gift  for a member of the shul who is moving away.

Mezuza Back:

Mezuza Front:

Today's Writing!

Am back into the full swing of writing now that my back is working properly again.  To ensure that I can continue to write comfortably, I built a new writing table out of birch.   The design is based upon one that I found in an old book on scribal arts.

The angle and height of the surface along with the cut-out part in the middle make it much easier to remain sitting upright while working.

Middle Six Lines of Amud 29 - Click to Enlarge!

Unfortunately, I suffered some terrible back problems over the past few months and had to curtail my writing.   After a good deal of physical therapy and medication, I’m easing back into writing and posting.

I am a little behind schedule now, but not badly so.   Sigh.

Now… where were we…. aha!  The tikkun…

Here is a  view of the Davidowitsch Tikkun (click to enlarge):

View of the Tikkun - Click for Full Size

I have inserted the red circles and numbers so that we can easily navigate the page together.

The left page is a facsimile of R’ Davidowitsch’s actual writing from his master scroll.   On the right side is a printed version of the same Torah text with all of the vowels and cantillation marks inserted.

Starting with Section #1 – These numbers indicate the particular line within the column.  For convenience, the 42-line columns are broken up across two pages with lines 1 to 21 on the first page and lines 22 to 42 on the second.    Since most new Torah scrolls are written using this tikkun, soferim now have a common way of referencing their work (i.e. "column x, line y").

Section # 2 – These Hebrew letters indicate the column number (keep in mind that Hebrew letters are also used to write numbers).  In this example, the letters are Lamed-Vov, or 36.   So, this page represents the first 21 lines of column 36.

Section # 3 – This is the name of the parsha.  Originally, the Torah was not divided into chapters and versus as it is now.   The chapter/verse division of the “Old Testament” was originally a Christian invention.  That the Jews adopted in the middle ages (the earliest Jewish manuscript using chapter/verse divisions dates from c. 1330).     The prevalent historical theory is that the Jews adopted these designations as a result of forced disputations. The Rabbis  unfortunate  enough to get roped into these debates had to be fluent in the Christian’s system of reference in order to argue effectively.

However, Jews traditionally divided the Torah into 54 sections, one or two of which is read per week.  Section # 3 is the name of the portion to which our segment of writing belongs.

Section # 4 – Rachav ha-Shura: The Width of the Line – these numbers are what make the Sofer’s tikkun so unique.   If a quill is sized properly, then one can fit 62 yuds side-by-side across one line of a column.  Therefore, we think of a line as being 62 yuds wide.   Now, with a few exceptions (such as between paragraphs), the entire length of the line must be filled from start to finish.    The Beis Yosef YD 275 explains that each letter of the Aleph Beis is a certain number of yuds wide as well.   For example, a vov is 1 yud width.  A ches is 2 yud-widths, while a shin is 3 yud-widths.   Ideally we try to fit exactly 62-yuds-worth of letters in each line.  That way, all the letters will fit perfectly without having to stretch or squish anything; each one will remain in its proper proportion and easily fill the line.   However, because you can’t cut words in half, add or drop letters at will, sometimes one will not have enough letters to fill the line and you will have to stretch or squish a little to make everything fit.  These numbers on the side guide the sofer as to how much he will need to adjust (stretch/squish) if he has to0 few or too many letters for the line.

For example, look at line 1 – the rachav ha-shura is Yud Aleph, which stands for yeser 1 – 1 extra – meaning that the total width of the letters in this line is 1 more than the 62-yud ideal, meaning that the sofer has to constrict his script slightly.

Now look at lines 7, 8, and 13 – the rachav ha-shura here is Shin-Tov – meaning Shalem ve-Tam – whole and complete.  In other words, the total yud-widths-worth of letters we are to write in that line tallies 62 exactly.    So, the sofer only needs in these lines to make the letters in their proper proportions and everything should go swimmingly.

Lines 5 and 11, though, are ches-dalet, an abbreviation for choser 4, lacking four.  This means that we only have 59 yud-widths of letters.  Therefore we will have to stretch the writing a little to fill the line.

Knowing by how much a line is lacking or overfilled is invaluable to planning your writing and producing a nice, even script.

Rabbi Davidowitsch’s legendary skill as a sofer is that he can proportionally stretch and squish all the letters in a line so subtly  that one can barely tell when he has had to manipulate anything.   Compare the letters of line 11 with those of line 21, and you will see that line 11’s letters are broader and "breathe" more than the letters in line 21, which are a little narrower and close.   The reason is that line 11 is lacking 4 yuds, thus requiring stretching, while line 11 has 5 extra yuds, requiring squishing.

Now, you may have seen some letters stretched very looooooooooooooong in some Torahs.  This is because the sofer has tried to make up for lacking yud-widths all in one letter rather than dividing up the elongation among all the letters of the line.

Section # 5 – the small superscript kufs here indicate the word below is a divine name and must be verbally sanctified prior to writing.  Throughout the tikkun, one will also find a superscript samekh (indicating that there is a dispute as to whether the word is a divine name) or a ches (indicating that the word looks like a divine name, but is not actually such).   These three designations are VERY important to know – a mistake in understanding which names are divine can render an entire Torah scroll worthless.  We will do divine names in a future post.

Section # 6 – Again, the name of the parsha.

Section # 7 – is the Chapter number (31, in this part)

Section # 8 is the book of the Torah, which is Bereishis, or Genesis in our example.

A large part of being a sofer is simply learning to interpret the tikkun and copy from it swiftly and with complete accuracy.

Before I embark on a new section in my tikkun I first read through the page and highlight anything tricky (i.e. very lacking or overfilled lines, divine names, dots over letters, etc.) with bright yellow just ot make sure that nothing catches me by surprise!

The 7th Yeria - All Done!

The seventh yeria is all done ! Everything went pretty much as expected – no real surprises.

You may notice that the writing looks  closer in some sections here that it has in previous yerios.  This is because this yeria contains a preponderance of yeser lines (lines that have more letters in them than they are intended to accommodate – see Monday’s post for more info…)

This sheet covers a lot of significant events in the Torah.  Avraham, following the passing of Sarah, orders his servant to seek out a wife for his son, Yitzchok.   Yitzchok Marries, and has children of his own: Yaakov and Eisav.   The yeria ends with Eisav spurning his birthright.

Enjoy these photos and check back on Monday for more posts…

The Second Column... Eliezer Meets Rivkah and the Family of Besuel...

Detail of the 2nd Column

Avraham Takes Keturah as his Wife...

Eisav Spurns the Birthright, and Yitzchok Travels to Gerar

Checking, Fixing, Tagging...

Long night of checking the 7th yeria, doing some corrections, and adding in taggim where needed to wrap it up.   By tomorrow afternoon the entire 7th yeria should be done and I will post some pics.

The Second part of the post in the Tikkun is still forth coming – check back tomorrow for more!

My "Gloopy" Alef

The 7th yeria was just going swimmingly – no quill issues, good clean klaf, and then:

Blorp!

-  the quill just belched forth this massive amount of ink and my beautiful Alef  turned into, well, what you see above.

Usually, after dipping the quill in the ink, one can drain off the excess by touching the underside of the quill gently to the side of the inkwell and holding it there for a moment.

However, one in a rare while a tiny bubble forms inside the quill that, upon popping, results what you see above.   Sigh.

Time to shave, scrape, sand, erase, score and rewrite.

At least it’s only 1 letter!