Torah Scroll

Ritual Objects

A Torah scroll—sefer torah in Hebrew—is a copy of the Torah written by hand on parchment according to various rules to ensure its accuracy, readability, and holiness. It is primarily used in synagogues during Jewish prayer services.

Notable Sources

All Sources

The King's Reading

MISHNAH

The king's ceremonial reading of the Torah every seven years is a moment of communal unity and reverence for the Torah. The Mishnah describes the process of transferring the Torah scroll to the king and the specific portions read and includes an account of King Aggripa's emotional response.

How is the portion of the Torah that is read by the king recited at the assembly, when all the Jewish people would assemble? At the conclusion of the first day of the festival of Sukkot, on the eighth, after the conclusion of the Sabbatical Year, they make a wooden platform for the king in the Temple courtyard, and he sits on it, as it is stated: “At the end of every seven years, in the Festival of the Sabbatical Year” (Deuteronomy 31:10)…

Mishnah Sotah 7:8

Guarding Sacred Texts

TALMUD

The sages decreed impurity on Torah scrolls to prevent them from being damaged by mice attracted to sacred foods stored alongside them. The talmudic tractate Shabbat explains the practical reasons behind the sages' decisions.

The Gemara explains the next case in the mishna: And a Torah scroll; what is the reason the Sages decreed impurity upon it? Rav Mesharshiya said: Since at first, ignorant priests would conceal teruma foods alongside the Torah scroll, and they said in explaining that method of storage: This is sacred and that is sacred, and it is appropriate that they be stored together. Since the Sages saw that they were coming to ruin, as the mice who were attracted to the teruma foods would also gnaw at the Torah scrolls…

Shabbat 14a:7

Written and Unwritten

KABBALAH

Torah scrolls are written without vowels, punctuation or cantillation marks. The Zohar, a foundational work of Kabbalah, discusses the separation between the letters that are written and the unwritten elements, which some believe were transmitted together from the beginning, but in different form.

Now, the inwardness of the interrelationship between the Book of the Law (Sepher Torah) and that day has been expounded elsewhere. In this regard we have been taught as follows. It is written: “And they read in the book, in the Law of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading” (Nehemiah 8, 8). The inner implication of this verse is that the verse-divisions, the tonal accents, the Massoretic readings, and all the minutiae of the text with their profound mysteries, were all delivered to Moses on Sinai…

Zohar, Vayakhel 17:217-218

Moses' Final Act

HALAKHAH

There exists a tradition that Moses personally transcribed the entire Torah before his death, ensuring its preservation and distribution among the tribes. In the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides details the transmission of the Torah, emphasizing its divine origin and the meticulous care taken to preserve it.

Moses, our teacher, personally transcribed the entire Torah before he died. He gave a Torah scroll to each tribe and placed another scroll in the ark as a testimonial, as [Deuteronomy 31:26] states: "Take this Torah scroll and place it [beside the ark…] and it will be there as a testimonial."

Mishneh Torah, Transmission of the Oral Law 2

The Martyrdom of the Torah Scroll

LITURGY

The martyrdom of Rabbi Chananya ben Tradyon underscores the connection between the Torah and its scholars, even in the face of death. This poignant narrative is part of the Yom Kippur Musaf service, recounting the martyrdom of ten rabbis under Roman rule.

He commanded them to bring out Rabbi Chananya ben Tradyon from his house of study, and on a pyre of green brushwood they burnt his body. Layers of wet wool were placed on his chest to prolong the agony; and when they were removed he was consumed immediately together with the Torah Scroll he held.

Machzor Yom Kippur Ashkenaz, Musaf for Yom Kippur, The Ten Martyrs 19

The King's Two Torah Scrolls

COMMENTARY

A Jewish king is uniquely obligated to write two Torah scrolls to ensure he remains humble and constantly exposed to the Torah's teachings. The Torah commands that one scroll be kept in the king's treasury and the other be carried with him at all times.

The term “Mishneh” can be rendered in a variety of ways, and is most frequently translated as “second.” According to this interpretation, the king is required to write two Sifrei Torah. While there is a broader national obligation to write a Sefer Torah (Devarim 31:19), a king is obligated to write an additional Sefer Torah. The Gemara (Sanhedrin 21b) elaborates that one Torah is to be held in the king’s treasury, and the other must be kept on his person at all times. The purpose of this constant exposure is explicated by the Pesukim (Devarim 17:19-20):…

From David to Destruction, Editor's Foreword 6-7

Reverence for the Torah Scroll

HALAKHAH

The Torah scroll is treated with the utmost respect and reverence, reflecting its sanctity in Jewish tradition. In his monumental 12th-century legal code, the Mishneh Torah, Rambam outlines the specific prohibitions and respectful handling required when in the presence of a Torah scroll.

A person should not enter a bathhouse, lavatory, or cemetery while holding a Torah scroll, even if it is covered by a mantle and placed in its container. He should not read from the scroll until he moves four cubits away from the corpse or from the lavatory.
A person should not hold a Torah scroll while naked. It is forbidden to sit on a couch on which a Torah scroll is placed.

Mishneh Torah, Tefillin, Mezuzah and the Torah Scroll 10:6

Revolutionizing Torah Scroll Production?

HALAKHAH

A novel method for producing Torah scrolls could make these sacred artifacts more affordable, but has raised significant controversy and objections with regard to its halakhic status. Rabbi Yitzchak Abadi has proposed a new method for creating Torah scrolls, megillot, tefillin, and mezuzot that challenges traditional practices.

Halakhah prescribes that each letter of a Torah scroll be formed by a qualified scribe. That requirement effectively bars use of printing or of photographic processes. However, recently, Rabbi Yitzchak Abadi, formerly of Lakewood, N. J., and now a resident of Har Nof in Jerusalem, has developed a novel method for use in producing Torah scrolls, megillot, tefillin and mezuzot. If acceptable, utilization of that method would dramatically reduce the cost of those sacred artifacts.

Contemporary Halakhic Problems, Vol V, Chapter XIII Silk Screened Torah Scrolls 7

The Intention Behind Torah Scrolls

RESPONSA

The intention behind preparing Torah scrolls can impact their validity for religious use. In this medieval responsa, Rabbi Yaakov of Marvege addresses whether the intention during parchment processing affects the blessings recited over Torah scrolls.

Regarding our Torah scrolls. Even though Rabbeinu Yaakov of blessed memory permits processed parchment, even without the use of gall, there still remains a doubt. For when our parchment is processed, it is not done with the intention of becoming a Torah scroll, and I asked whether one can recite the blessing on reading from such scrolls that weren't processed with the correct intention, or not. They responded: we hold this tradition, that while certainly anything processed with the wrong intention is invalid, if it is neutral it is valid…

Teshuvot Min HaShamayim 6:1-2

Ensuring the Torah's Survival

TALMUD

Rabbi Ḥiyya's proactive and hands-on approach ensured the transmission and preservation of the Torah and Mishna. The Talmud recounts Rabbi Ḥiyya’s meticulous process, from producing materials to teaching children and encouraging them to teach each other.

Rabbi Ḥiyya said to Rabbi Ḥanina: I am working to ensure that the Torah will not be forgotten from the Jewish people. For I bring flax and I plant it, and I then weave nets from the flax fibers. I then go out and trap deer, and I feed the meat to orphans, and I form scrolls from the skins of the deer. And I go to a town that has no teachers of children in it and I write the five books of the Torah for five children. And I teach the six orders of the Mishna to six children…

Ketubot 103b:19

Not for Sale

RESPONSA

The stringent conditions under which a Torah scroll may be sold highlight the sanctity and value placed on it in Jewish tradition. Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, a prominent 20th-century Sephardic rabbi, discusses the halakhic considerations regarding the sale of a Torah scroll.

And behold we have learned a confirmed law: We only sell a Torah scroll in order to [derive the funds to] study Torah or marry a woman. But a dilemma was raised whether it is permitted to sell it in order to buy a new one with its value, since [the new one] is already in the hand of the scribe and it needs to be redeemed, meaning to pay the scribe the wage for the writing of the new Torah scroll which has already been written. And the doubt is lest it is, on the one hand, similar to [the dispensation for] studying Torah…

Mishpetei Uziel, Volume VI, Yoreh De'ah 67:15

Renewing the Torah for Every Generation

COMMENTARY

Writing a new Torah scroll is a legal responsibility incumbent on each individual. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks emphasizes the commandment of writing a Torah as a way to engage personally with the Torah, making it a living document for every person.

If hak’hel is national renewal, the command that we should each take part in the writing of a new sefer Torah is personal renewal. It was Moses’ way of saying to all future generations: It is not enough for you to say, I received the Torah from my parents (or grandparents or great-grandparents). You have to take it and make it new in every generation.

Studies in Spirituality; A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible, Vayelekh; To Renew Our Days 16

The Institution of Weekly Torah Readings

REFERENCE

Rabbi Yechiel Heilprin’s 18th-century chronicle, Seder HaDorot, describes the historical institution of Torah readings on Mondays, Thursdays, and Shabbat.

The prophets at the time of Moses ordained that we read from the Torah scroll on Mondays, Thursdays, and Shabbat (Sefer HaYuchasin in the chronology, and see above).

Seder HaDorot, Almanac 2488:2

The Joy of the Torah

CHASIDUT

The holiday of Simchat Torah, when a public reading cyle of the Torah is completed and another begun, traditionally involves dancing and celebration with the physical Torah scrolls. Rabbi Nathan of Breslov’s Likutei Tefilot includes a prayer that the joy in the Torah characterized by that holiday be continuously present throughout the year.

Help us draw this appreciation into our hearts throughout the year, particularly on the holy day of Simchat Torah. May we then dance with infinite joy as we hold the Torah scrolls.

Likutei Tefilot, Volume I 93:32-33

Torah Scribe, by Ephraim Moses Lilien (1874-1925), from Die Bücher der Bibel.

Relatedראו גם

Writing a Torah Scroll

Sheetsדפי מקורות

Related Sheets