Torah scroll

Did You Know?

• Torah reading is traditionally reserved for Monday and Thursday mornings, as well as Shabbat, fast days, and Jewish holidays.
• A yad (hand-shaped pointer) is used to follow the text during reading to avoid skin contact with the parchment.
• The installation of a new Torah scroll is celebrated with a ceremony called hachnosas sefer Torah, involving dancing, singing, and a festive meal.

History

Biblical scrolls were abundant and widely circulated in late Second Temple Judaea, as findings from Qumran, Masada, and the Bar Kokhba refuge caves indicate. The En-Gedi Scroll, a Hebrew parchment radiocarbon-dated to the 3rd or 4th century CE, was found in situ in the Torah niche of the ruined synagogue of Ein Gedi, which was abandoned in the 7th century CE after a fire. It contains a portion of Leviticus, making it the earliest copy of a Pentateuchal book ever found in a Holy Ark. Its text is identical to the later Masoretic Text, preceding it by several centuries, and thus constitutes the earliest evidence of that authoritative text version. Researchers concluded that by the fourth century CE, no halakhic rule yet prescribed that liturgical scrolls must contain the entire Pentateuch; as of 2018, no other statements regarding when this rule came into being could be made with certainty. The scroll is badly charred and required noninvasive techniques to read.

Production

A Torah scroll is a handwritten copy of the Torah's Hebrew text, created on specially prepared parchment with a quill or other approved writing tool dipped in ink. Making one fulfills one of the 613 commandments. The scroll contains exactly 304,805 letters, and a trained scribe, called a sofer, must copy each one precisely—a task that can take about a year and a half. Any mistake can make the scroll pasul, or invalid. Jewish law, as recorded in the Talmud, requires the parchment to be gevil, treated with salt, flour, and m'afatsim (a mix of wasp enzyme and tree bark). Only gevil and klaf are kosher parchment types. The ink must stick to a flexible surface that bends as the scroll is rolled, so special inks were created, though ink still flakes off over time. If too many letters wear away, the scroll becomes invalid. Before writing, the scribe uses a sargel (ruler) to mark guidelines, with only the top line drawn and letters hanging from it. Most modern scrolls have 42 lines per column (Yemenite Jews use 51). Strict rules govern the shape and placement of each Hebrew letter. If a mistake occurs in a word that is not one of God's names, the letter can be scraped off. But if God's name is written incorrectly, the entire page must be cut out and replaced with a new one sewn in. The old page is treated with respect and either buried or placed in a genizah, never destroyed or discarded.

Commandment to write a scroll

It is a religious duty (mitzvah) for every Jewish male to either write or have written for him a Torah scroll. This is the 82nd commandment as enumerated by Rashi and the final one in the Book of Deuteronomy, being law number 613 of 613 as recorded by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin. Writing or commissioning a Torah scroll is considered a tremendous merit, and having one written in one's honour or memory is a significant honour.

Torah decorations

The gold and silver ornaments of a Torah scroll are collectively called kele kodesh (sacred vessels). The scroll is often girded with a strip of silk and robed with a protective fine fabric mantle. It is decorated with an ornamental priestly breastplate, scroll-handles (etz ḥayyim), and a crown of the law fitted over the upper ends of the rollers; some scrolls have two crowns. The metalwork is often beaten silver, sometimes gilded, and the handles, breastplate, and crown may have little bells attached. The housing has two rollers, each with two handles, and between the handles and rollers are round plates carved with images of holy places and engraved with dedications. In Mizrachi and Romaniote traditions, the scroll is housed in an ornamental wooden case called a tik; some Sephardic communities also use tikim.