TORAH
TORAH SCRIBES, PARCHMENT MAKER AND A BAR MITZVAH
In 1996 I began working on a National Geographic article about the history of writing. During the following two years I visited many scholars and was privileged to have access to museum collections around the world. National Geographic magazine published the article, ”The Power of Writing” in August of 1999.
I was invited into the world of Torah scribes by Rabbi Akiva Garber who was living in Jerusalem and, with his help and guidance, was able to make hundreds of photographs on the subject of Torah. Here is a small sample.
WRITING FIELD NOTES
The following are excerpts from the field notes I made during my visit to Jerusalem based on my conversations with Rabbi Akiva Garber, a STaM scribe (Seforim, Tefillin and Mezuzot). Seforim means "Books," in this case specifically scrolls of Biblical books: the Torah, or Pentateuch (the Five Books of Moses), the Prophets, the Megillot and the other Writings.
Torah, the objects most holy to the Jews, are written in black ink on scored parchment by male religious scribes. Hundreds of laws govern the most minute details of the materials and the writing. Torah scrolls are written on 62 sheets of parchment in 245 columns of 42 lines each. It takes an expert scribe about a year and a half to complete one Torah. At the start of each writing session, the scribe must bathe in a special bath (mikvah) at the synagogue. He states aloud his intention that the scroll be a sacred text as he begins writing. Before each writing of the name of God, the scribe must restate his intention. When writing the name of God he must not speak.
Most parchment is made from bovine skins. Parchment for Torah must be made from skins of animals that can be made kosher (animals with split hooves). A full size Torah has 62 sheets, each sheet requiring the skin of one animal. The finest parchment is made from the skin of unborn animals, which used to be rare and expensive. With the advent of U.S. bio research using fetal tissue from cattle, nearly all parchment is now made from the skins of the unborn. Each sheet of a Torah is made from a separate animal.
The ink for the Torah has three basic ingredients: afatzim, the tannic acid produced from blackened oak leaves in which wasps have made their nests; a gum base which makes the ink stretch so the letters don't crack; and magnesium. All the ingredients are natural and the ink must be very black.
After they are written, the sheets of the Torah are sewn together with gut from a kosher animal, but not before they are checked three times for mistakes, and repaired if necessary. In the past decade, it has become common to substitute a check by computer for one of the human checks.
Torah scrolls are made to take a lot of use and abuse. A portion of Torah is read each day. At the end of the year the scroll is re-rolled in preparation for reading it again. During public reading, the Torah is held up for all to see. Torah scrolls deteriorate and need repairing. Even a single broken or wrong letter in a Torah scroll renders it unfit for public reading. It is common for the fine lines of the script to crack, for entire letters or parts of letters to break off the parchment, or for the writing to fade until it no longer has any body. Old and damaged Torah scrolls find their way to Jerusalem from Eastern Europe and Russia. Rabbi Akiva checks them, repairs those that are repairable and finds them new homes in congregations all over the world.
No part of sacred texts or texts containing the name of God, or any materials associated with the sacred texts (parchment, sewing thread, tefillin leather, etc.) may be destroyed. These materials must be placed in a Ganiza, a kind of storage chamber associated with a synagogue or buried in a prescribed manner, with a proper funeral ceremony. On a computer the name of God can be deleted or erased, but if the text is printed out, the rules as stated above apply.
Tefillin are the phylacteries worn on the arm and crest of the forehead, usually during morning prayers. They are made of leather boxes which contain the 4 portions of the Torah in which they are mentioned. "And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand and for a remembrance between your eyes." Exodus XIII/9 with slight variations in Exodus XIII/16, Deuteronomy VI/8 and XI/18). Tefillin texts are written in black ink on parchment.
In the halakha (Jewish law), hundreds of laws govern every detail about the making of Tefillin, including the most minute details of the materials and the writing. Texts must be written by hand, in order, on parchment from a kosher animal. Tefillin, for the hand, contains four Biblical passages written on four pieces of parchment and placed in four separate compartments; in Tefillin for the arm all four passages are written consecutively on a single parchment and inserted in a single box. Jewish law does not require the checking of Tefillin which are in regular, daily use unless some mishap befalls them, such as exposure to water or excessive sun. It is customary that they be examined yearly.
Mezuzah (Mezuzot) are parchment scrolls which Jews attach to the right door posts of their homes to fulfill what is written in the Torah, "and you shall write them on the door posts (Mezuzot) of your house and upon your gates." Each contains the first two sections of the Shema prayer ("Hear O Israel...") written on parchment in black ink. Mezuzah are generally 21 lines in standard sizes. Jewish law requires that Mezuzot be checked every 3 1/2 years to ensure they are still kosher.
The 613th commandment of the Torah states that everyone must, at some time in their lives, take part in writing Torah.
Cary Wolinsky 1997
Rabbi Akiva Garber, a STaM scribe (Seforim, Teffilin and Mezuzot), repairs a Torah by scraping off the old letters and rewriting them. He follows the many laws and traditions of writing these sacred texts.
Rabbi Akiva Garber, writes Hebrew letters, using a special black, on the kind of scored parchment used in a Torah. The ink for the Torah has three basic ingredients: afatzim, the tannic acid produced from blackened oak leaves in which wasps have made their nests; a gum base which makes the ink stretch so the letters don't crack; and magnesium. All the ingredients are natural and the ink must be very black.
Rabbi Garber explained that a Torah can get a lot of use and sometimes letters wear out or simply pop off. When they do, he can repair them by replacing a small piece of parchment and rewriting the letter.
No part of sacred texts or texts containing the name of God, or any materials associated with the sacred texts (parchment, sewing thread, Tefillin leather, etc.) may be destroyed. These materials must be placed in a Geniza, a kind of storage chamber associated with a synagogue or buried in a prescribed manner, with a proper funeral ceremony, as if they were human. Rabbi Garber saves the letters and parts of a Torah that he replaces and eventually takes them to a Geniza for burial.
Most parchment is made from bovine skins. Parchment for Torah must be made from skins of animals that can be made kosher (animals with split hooves). A full size Torah has 62 sheets, each sheet requiring the skin of one animal. The finest parchment is made from the skin of unborn animals, which used to be rare and expensive. With the advent of U.S. bio research using fetal tissue from cattle, nearly all parchment is now made from the skins of the unborn. Rabbi Garber arranged with a parchment maker for us to see how skins were prepared but when we arrived at the location, the owner refused to allow us inside saying he didn’t want us to steal his trade secrets. Instead, he brought out one skin and held it up so I could photograph it.
Eventually the parchment maker relented and allowed us to see the frames on which the skins had been treated, stretched and dried.
Carrying the Torah during a Bar Mitzvah at Western Wall.
Reading Torah at a Bar Mitzvah at Western Wall.
Displaying a Torah at a Bar Mitzvah at Western Wall.
Orthodox kids pick through trash at Jerusalem's central Geniza adjacent to the Shamgar Municipal Funeral Home in the neighborhood of Romema searching for “treasures” such as collectible rabbi cards.