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!

What is the point of all the scribal laws? Why must the Torah be copied by hand? Why must the sofer endure such a long and arduous process?

The answer to these questions requires us to understand the purpose of the sofer.

Soferim are more than just copyists; they are entrusted with the duty of safeguarding and accurately transmitting the Torah text from generation to generation.  This intense duty of transmission is what the laws of safrus really address, not the mere aspects of transcription.

If the ultimate goal of the copyist is to simply produce a copy of the text, then we could merely use a xerox machine to accomplish our goal.   Alternatively, if you are feeling “old-fashioned,” you could build a robot to scribble out the Torah with quill,  ink, and parchment.

But this is not what the halacha wants of us. The halacha wants the scribe to set his hands, eyes, mind, and heart  upon every single stroke of every single letter of every single word of the Torah.

As the scribe writes, each word must be said aloud.  Additionally, every holy name, before it is written, must be sanctified with the statement: “Behold! I write this for the sake of the Holiness of the Name of G-d.”

Upon completion of a new scroll, every letter must be checked to make sure that its form is correct. Every word must be checked for correct spelling. The layout must be checked to ensure that the text is clearly divided into the requisite number of paragraphs. This process is repeated numerous times before the Torah can be consecrated for ritual use.

Any unrepaired or uncorrected defect  and halacha may requires the scroll to be buried.  The very existence of a defective scroll threatens our mesorah, our chain of transmission, and must be put far beyond the reach of human hand or eye.

To produce a kosher scroll, the sofer must anguish, both in body and soul, over every stroke of the quill…

(more…)

A big yasher koach (”More power to you!”) to Mr. Nathan Bradbury and Family for sponsoring Sunday’s writing! Attached below is a picture of the section completed as per their sponsorship: the bottom 21 lines of column 25, which covers Eliezer’s taking of Rivkah as a wife for Yitzchok.

As always, we appreciate your sponsorship and support in this important and meaningful endeavor. For more information on sponsorship opportunities, click HERE.

Check back tomorrow for a fascinating look into the Tikkun ha-Soferim…

Bottom of Column 25

All of Column 25 (not yet metuyag...)