Exacting Standards

Local Torah scribe follows directives given by Moses.

BERL FALBAUM
Special to the Jewish News

S

o you think your computer is too slow?
You're impatient waiting a few seconds for it
to respond? Well, consider having to write a
new Torah that consists of more than
300,000 individual letters, all done by hand with a
feather and ink
What's more, each letter must be very exact, some-
times with tiny sharp edges or rounded corners, dupli-
cating as exactly as possible a previous Torah.
Obviously, the job of copying a Torah is not for the
impatient.
"Overall, it is a very exacting process," said Rabbi
Levi Kagan, a Torah scribe who has repaired Torahs
and handwritten many mezuzot and tefillin.
"You sit in one place for many hours at a time," he
said. "It can be very lonely. It's not for everyone. Not
only do I copy the words when I repair a Torah, but I
pronounce each word before I write it. We also go to a
ritual bath each day that we work on the Torah.
"The Bible dictates that Torahs must be handwrit-
ten," said Rabbi Kagan. "The directives come straight
from Moses and how it is to be written is covered in
the Code of Jewish Law."
The Torah and Ten Commandments were given to
Moses at Mt. Sinai during Shavuot. This year, the holi-
day is celebrated-June 6 and 7.

A Scribe's Tools

The proper writing surface is parchment made from

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the skin of a kosher animal, usually a cow, deer, goat or
sheep. The process of preparing the parchment must
be done by a Jew.
A scribe must use black ink and a feather — most
often a goose or turkey feather is used. Yemenites use a
bamboo stick.
"The use of the feather is more a custom than a reli-
gious requirement, but you must use black ink," said
Rabbi Kagan, who lives in Oak Park with his wife,
Elka, and their five children.
But the issue of sharpening the feather is another
matter.
"It takes hours to sharpen it appropriately," Rabbi
Kagan said. "One needs a very good point on the
feather to do the work. It has to be just right, not only
to write clearly and exactly, but so it holds ink for a
good period. And, of course, it wears down frequently
and must be re-sharpened."
In addition, special thread — about $80 a roll —
made of the veins of a kosher animal is required to tie
the sections of the Torah together.
"We do not use one continuous roll of parchment
for the Torah," he said. "The various sections have to
be sewn together."
The parchment, of course, is unlined and scribes use
a ruler and a sharp implement to scratch lines into the
parchment to assure straight lines. The Torah is written
on the "fuzzy" side of the animal skin, not the side
with hair.
Rabbi Kagan attended Lubavitch Foundation
schools in the Detroit area and also studied with the
Lubavitch movement in Brooklyn.

He learned his skills by apprentic-
ing with other scribes, studying this
special art over several months.
"You don't need to be an artist, but
a steady hand and good handwriting
helps," he said.

Rabbi Levi
Kagan works
on complet-
ing the letters
of a Torah.

The Fine Points

"Most Torahs take about a year," Rabbi Kagan said of
penning more than 300,000 letters. "I have heard of
some scribes who have written Torahs in as short as
three months, but that's unusual."
The problem, of course, is concentration and physi-
cal and mental stress and exertion.
"I cannot work more than one and a half hours at a
time," said Rabbi Kagan. "Such strenuous work affects
the eyes, the back and entire body:Every letter has to
be perfect for the Torah to be kosher."
And what happens if a scribe makes a mistake?
"You don't have to start over,". said Rabbi Kagan.
"One can scratch out the letter or word and write over
it. However, if a mistake is made on God's name, the
word is cut out with a knife and then the parchment is
patched.
'Also, every time God's name is. written — every
time — the scribe has to say that he is writing it explic-
itly for the sake of G-D's holiness."
Different handwriting styles represent Ashkenazim,
Sephardim, Chasidim, Yemenites and Chabad follow-
ers.
"You can tell where a Torah is from from the style of
the writing," said the rabbi.

