13
votes
Accepted
Are there any mentions of Torah Scrolls before Ezra?
In Melachim (Kings) Chapters 22-23, King Joshiahu discovers a Torah scroll during renovations of the Temple.
- 5,310
11
votes
Accepted
Is it disrespectful to have a raffle where the prize is a Sefer Torah?
I got interested in the question because we did once win a sefer Torah at such a raffle during a tsedaka dinner for a school. It was organized by an organization run by a well-respected and very ...
- 48.2k
11
votes
Accepted
Writing/buying Seforim rather than Sefer Torah
This is the opinion of R. Asher b. Yehiel (Rosh) at the beginning of his Hilchot Sefer Torah:
וזהו בדורות הראשונים שהיו כותבים ס"ת ולומדים בו. אבל האידנא שכותבין ס"ת ומניחין אותו בבתי כנסיות לקרות ...
- 41.8k
11
votes
Accepted
Were scrolls ever written on both sides?
The Talmud (Shabbat 79b) prescribes specific sides of the hide to be used for writing (depending which parts of the hide are being used) and the majority opinion (YD 271:3) is that writing on the ...
- 97.4k
10
votes
Would a woman be permitted to write a sefer Torah?
The Shulchan Aruch (YD 281:3) writes that a woman who writes a Torah scroll invalidates it:
ספר תורה שכתבו מסור, עבד, אשה, קטן, כותי, ישראל מומר פסולין.
The Aruch Hashulchan (YD 281:1) writes the ...
- 41.1k
10
votes
The length of a line in Torah scroll
The standard ideal length of a line is about 30 letters long, enough to write למשפחותיכם thrice per line (Menachot 30a, YD 272:2). Lines that are too long are hard to follow and lines that are too ...
- 97.4k
8
votes
Why does the Torah have to be in a scroll format
The halachos of writing a sefer torah are הלכה למשה מסני (Halacha given to Moshe on Mount Sinai) which mean that the methodology of the writing of the torah, tefillin, and mezuzos were given as part ...
- 42.9k
8
votes
Accepted
What is this Ktav?
That's a screenshot from the 10th-century Damascus Pentateuch. See the full page here. The writing is fairly typical for that era.
- 97.4k
7
votes
Could a Torah Scroll Be Writtin in Ktav Ivri (Paleo Hebrew)?
In Massechet Mezuzah 1:3, we read:
שנה אותיותיה או שנכתבה עברית הרי זו פסולה.
If you changed [a mezuzah]'s letters or it was written in k'tav ivri, it is pasul. [my transl.]
The same can be found in ...
- 9,777
7
votes
Accepted
Are women explicitly forbidden from handling and reading the Torah?
You are asking two related but different questions. One about touching the Torah, one about reading it.
Regarding touching a sefer Torah there is an explicit Rambam (Laws of Sefer Torah 10:8 based on ...
- 48.2k
7
votes
Accepted
May one place letters under one another as long as there is a space between them?
According to the general psak it is not a psul, although not mehudar,
See מ'ב סימן לב ס'ק קיב
אם בתחלת הכתיבה ממשיך רגל התחתון של הנו”ן והצד”י וכותב האות הסמוכה לתוכה כגון פני או ארצי כשר כיון ...
- 234
7
votes
Can women in niddah dance and hold a sefer Torah on Simkhat Torah?
There is a Rambam (Laws of Sefer Torah 10:8 based on Berakhot 22a) which explicitly permits niddot to touch a sefer Torah
Any impure person, even [a woman in] a niddah state or a gentile, may
...
- 48.2k
6
votes
Are women explicitly forbidden from handling and reading the Torah?
I believe that the answer is NO, they are not forbidden and my reasoning follows. Thank you Eliezer for enlightening me !
The Rambam states: “All tameh people, even niddot, even a gentile, are ...
- 189
6
votes
Why should a Sefer Torah be obligated in Shaatnez?
Bartenura explains as follows.
Hand towels because at times they are used to warm the hands. Covers for Sifrei Torah are at times put on the lap to warm a person. Bath towels as at times he may see ...
- 139k
6
votes
Accepted
Cleaning a Torah Scroll
I relayed your question to the sofer who maintains our scrolls. Here's what he said (my notes from a verbal conversation):
The "dust" that came off of the scroll is white mold, not the parchment ...
- 56.4k
6
votes
Accepted
Is there ever a rule not to place certain words on separate lines in a Sefer Torah?
Yes, that custom still exists. The most famous example is the toponym בית-אל.
The Arukh HaShulchan (YD 275:24) lists the following examples, though surely there are some variant customs out there:
...
- 97.4k
6
votes
Count a Torah scroll as the tenth in a minyan?
R David Sperling at yeshiva.co here addresses your question and brings a number of rejected opinions - to be clear the halacha remains that a Torah scroll does not count as a tenth in a minyan
In ...
- 48.2k
6
votes
Why is וַיְהִי בִּנְסעַ the minimum Sefer Torah size?
Rashi to Shabbat 115b explains that it is because these two verses are considered a complete book of the Torah on their own (quoting the gemara later on 116a).
- 41.8k
6
votes
May we illuminate scrolls?
Good question.
The subject was discussed in a few places. A list of sources was brought in the book Yavoh Yedid, by Rabbi Shlomo Za'frani, pp. 128-129.
Here are some of the sources:
Eliyah Rabbah ...
- 24.9k
5
votes
Is it disrespectful to have a raffle where the prize is a Sefer Torah?
Harav Ratzon Arusi,
Wrote as an answer to such question:
"If this lottery is intended to finance things that are sacred, Torah, or Gemach, it is permissible to participate in it, because the ...
- 187
5
votes
Tips for sitting holding a Sefer Torah without hurting your shoulder?
This probably depends in part on the size (eitz to eitz length, I mean) and weight of the sefer torah, but here's what people in my minyan do (and what I do personally) with a medium-sized scroll. My ...
- 56.4k
5
votes
Accepted
Why are specifically the land of Israel and the Torah called a "Morasha"?
THe usage of מורשה as heritage differs from the usage of ירושה based on what the person inheriting the property is allowed to do with it as well as how it is handed down generation to generation. A ...
- 42.9k
5
votes
Were children ever given the honor of reading the Torah scroll in the first century?
According to the mishna in Megila 4:6, a child is allowed to read from the Torah, and so it's safe to assume that it was done sometimes.
קָטָן קוֹרֵא בַּתּוֹרָה וּמְתַרְגֵּם, אֲבָל אֵינוֹ פּוֹרֵס עַל ...
- 3,849
4
votes
Should we allow women to dance with a Torah on Simchas Torah?
R. Nachum Rabinovitch (Siach Nachum, no. 40) addresses this question. Assuming that the congregation and the rabbi do not object, he says there is no halakhic problem with this, as long as the sefer ...
- 14.3k
4
votes
Sending a Torah to the Moon
In Yoreh Deah (282) it seems that you can't simply take a sefer Torah out. There needs to be a holy, good purpose/reason for taking it out or for travelling. To take a sefer Torah to the moon when ...
- 154
4
votes
Is the winding פ in this sefer torah kosher?
I know this is a bit late, but some may find this useful:
Israel Yevin says that "rolled up pe" (פ' לפופה) and other "curved letters" (אותיות עקומות) appear in Masoretic notes. He says "such forms ...
- 3,556
4
votes
Figuring out where Torah scrolls come from
As in every field you go to the professionals which work, deal or research judaica. Especially in the field of Torah scrolls they have the ability, to a certain extent, to even say which person wrote ...
- 167
4
votes
Accepted
Consequences for dropping a Torah scroll
If a Torah falls and hits the ground, the original minhag was to engage in 40 days of sunrise to sunset fasting to atone for the disgrace to the Torah. The 40 days is to be in accordance with the 40 ...
- 42.9k
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