Put the finishing touches on the third parchment sheet today and started on the fourth.   This yeria takes us through the flood & drunkenness of Noach (Noah) and up to the birth of Avram.

All-in-all, the writing is going well, but the klaf here exhibited a few oddities.  In particular it was prone to smudges – which indicates that it is a little too moist.  I was able to clean off most of it off.  These sorts of problems are always par for the course when working with non-synthetic materials.

[See here for more pictures...]
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In this final (at least for now…) post on taggim we are going to take a look at some unusual examples of taggim and, at the end, some of the deeper reasons for these special “crowns”.

Example #1

These examples of decorated taggim are from a 17th century German Torah scroll in the possession of Yitzchok Resiman, a well-known sofer in New York.

Most of the taggim throughout the scroll are simple, tiny lines without heads (not the “zayins” we described previously).   However, the taggim at the tops of several columns at at the beginnings of several section are embellished, appearing almost like small heraldic shields. 

And a closer view…

Check here for more pictures of taggim oddities…
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Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: “When Moshe ascended to the heavens he    found the Holy One, Blessed is He, sitting and binding taggim, crowns, to letters.

Moshe said before him: ‘Master of the World, who is holding you back from giving the Torah just as it is?’

He replied to Moshe: ‘There is a certain man who will exist in the future, at the end of many generations, Akiva ben Yosef  [Rabbi Akiva] is his name, who will expound mountains of halachos from each and every point…’” …

… Said Rava: “Seven letters require three ziyunin [taggim] each.  And they are: Sha’atnez Getz“

When Moshe arrived in the heavens, he found that G-D had already completed his Sefer Torah.  Does Moshe’s question, “Master of the World, who is holding you back from giving the Torah just as it is?” imply that the Torah was fit to be given even without affixing taggim/crowns to the letters?

See more here…
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Noah's exit from the Ark, building of an alter, and offering of sacrifices

Hi Everyone!

With the bulk of the holiday season now sadly past, I’m  back on the job again.  Today I pushed well into the 10th column.  After this coming shabbos I hope to complete this yeria (sheet), put in all of the taggim, clean up stray marks, and move onto the next sheet.

...and Noah drank from the wine and became drunk...

Please enjoy these photographs – this section of the Torah is concerned primarily with the events following Noah and his families exit from the ark at the end of the flood…
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You may have noticed that certain letters in the Sefer Torah script are ornamented with tiny  “crowns” like this:

The Letter "Shin" - Note the three-pronged crown on the leftmost head

The halacha (law) is that the Hebrew letters shin (ש), ayin (ע), tes (ט), nun (נ), zayin (ז), gimel (ג), tzaddi (ץ) all must be crowned with taggim.  These letters are known by the mnemonic שעטנ”ז ג”ץ ,  sha’atnez getz.  Both the basic and final forms of the nun and the tzaddi require taggim.

The source for this unique requirement is Menachos 29b:

אמר רב יהודה אמר רב: בשעה שעלה משה למרום, מצאו להקב״ה שיושב וקושר כתרים לאותיות, אמר לפניו: רבש״ע, מי מעכב על ידך? אמר לו: אדם אחד יש שעתיד להיות בסוף כמה דורות ועקיבא בן יוסף שמו, שעתיד לדרוש על כל קוץ וקוץ תילין תילין של הלכות

…

אמר רבא: שבעה אותיות צריכות שלשה זיונין, ואלו הן: שעטנ״ז ג״ץ

…

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: “When Moshe ascended to the heavens he    found the Holy One, Blessed is He, sitting and binding taggim, crowns, to letters.

Moshe said before him: ‘Master of the World, who is holding you back from giving the Torah just as it is?’

He replied to Moshe: ‘There is a certain man who will exist in the future, at the end of many generations, Akiva ben Yosef  [Rabbi Akiva] is his name, who will expound mountains of halachos from each and every point…’” …

… Said Rava: “Seven letters require three ziyunin [taggim] each.  And they are: Sha’atnez Getz”

See more here…
(more…)