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The Making of a Torah Scroll.........posted Mar 5, 2007

You might think that writing a Torah is a matter of having good handwriting. But Rabbi Menachem Youlus, of Wheaton, Maryland, the Sofer (scribe) who is now overseeing the creation of Tikvat Israel's new Torah scroll, has to do a lot more than just put pen in ink. He's almost like a Broadway impresario, juggling parchment, computers, inks, and Israeli scribes to ensure that the Torah scroll meets his exact specifications--and reflects a love of Torah from its makers to its users. And he makes sure that the Torah scroll is built to wear well over time.

I spoke to Rabbi Youlus in February about what happens when a Torah is commissioned--as Tikvat Israel did this fall. He explained that his mind first turns to finding a suitable scribe to do the actual writing. Rabbi Youlus works with several of the 200 or so officially certified scribes in Israel who are capable of writing a Torah. These scribes receive certificates either from the ultra-orthodox Bet Din Tsedek or the Israel Government Rabbinate through the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

But Rabbi Youlus demands a lot more than just a certificate. He asks for writing samples and interviews the scribes. The interview covers more than just how well they write--Rabbi Youlus asks the scribes about their personal lives and about their devotion to Torah. One of his major criteria for choosing a scribe is "Yirat Shamayim", the divine connection that a scribe must establish and reestablish with God. Rabbi Youlus also asks them about their relationship to the State of Israel, because he requires that the scribes he works with support the modern Jewish state. And Rabbi Youlus prefers scribes who do not work at the task full-time. He believes that scribes that spend part of the day studying, rather than writing all day long, approach the task with greater fervor and impart more love of the Torah into their work.

The next step is to purchase the parchment. Parchment is made of kosher animal skins, and there are four houses that supply parchment for Torah scrolls and similar items such as Mezuzahs, Tefillin, and Megillot. Rabbi Youlus prefers to use parchment from the same source--the same animal or groups of animals--because it looks better and, surprisingly, wears better. Because parchment varies a great deal, Rabbi Youlus gets an expert opinion on each batch from (in his view) the world's foremost authority on the subject--a woman in B'nei Barak, Israel. Only when she has approved of the parchment will Rabbi Youlus move on to the next step.

Rabbi Youlus also thinks carefully about the ink the scribe will use. The ink needs to be beautiful, but also able to be absorbed properly by the parchment so the writing will last. Rabbi Youlus modifies the ink formula for the specific climate where the Torah will be housed (and, yes, our Torah will be written with ink formulated for Rockville, Maryland). Rabbi Youlus either directs the scribe on the preparation of the ink or ships ink to the scribe.

Time to start. There are 62 separate pieces of parchment, or panels, in a single Torah scroll. The Israeli scribe writes the individual panels of Bereshit (Genesis) first. When the book is finished, it is submitted for a computer scan. A different scribe then checks the panels, along with the scan--and any mistakes are corrected.

Once this initial stage is finished, the panels are shipped to the United States--for even more checking. This stage goes beyond the basics. It is now time to check the parchment panels for imperfections, and to make sure that each letter is formed correctly. And now it is time for Rabbi Youlus himself to get involved because it is at this stage that Rabbi Youlus or his brother-in-law Rabbi Ayson Englander examines the Torah. Once again, mistakes must be corrected--and, if necessary, parchment repaired or replaced.

Think that puts an end to the checking? Not in the least. Rabbi Youlus sends the panels back to a third group of scribes in Israel--a group that has no financial connection to him. This independent group will make further recommendations for corrections. The corrections are made, and the panels then sent back to the United States for one final view by yet another scribe--one who is world-renowned for finding mistakes.

And then--believe it or not, one last computer check. Rabbi Youlus says, "We're human, and we miss things that the computer catches. But then again, sometimes the computer misses things that we catch." The final corrections are made, and the writing is finished.

One word kept coming up in our discussion of all this checking--the word "care." Rabbi Youlus stressed how much care he and his team take to make sure that the Torah scroll is perfect, and how careful each scribe is when checking the scroll.

Sometime late in the process--depending on the Torah--comes the time to sew the panels together into a scroll. Once sewn, correction becomes more difficult, and finding "inconsistencies" in the parchment becomes impossible. So Rabbi Youlus prefers to wait until later in the process until sewing the panels together.

Rabbi Youlus purchases the Atzei Chaim, the wooden rollers on which the parchment is mounted, from a well-known firm called Herskovitz in Israel. He thinks that these are higher quality, lighter and stronger, than those from Pakistan. (Yes, about half of the rollers on new Torah scrolls today come from Pakistan). These rollers have a special "wing" to protect the edges of the parchment as the Torah scroll is wound back and forth during use. Rabbi Youlus calls this "preventive medicine" and it is yet one more way in which he creates a scroll that can be used for many years.

As Rabbi Youlus says, even at this point, the Torah is not quite finished. For example, the Torah needs a cover. We've been fortunate in having our own Shirley Waxman offer to take on this responsibility. She is sewing a beautiful cover that will complement the careful work of Rabbi Youlus and his scribes.

Rabbi Youlus says that the Torah comes with "some assembly required." Come to think of it, Judaism itself comes with "some assembly required." The scroll is a holy object, but it won't be doing its work until members of Tikvat Israel chant from it on Shabbat morning in front of the congregation. And the 613 commandments are only words until, by our deeds and actions, we use them to make holy things happen.

In fact, even the writing in the Torah scroll is not quite completed. That's our job. Rabbi Youlus will leave uncompleted letters--outlines that need to be filled in--in the scroll. It is up to us to fill in those outlines.

Everybody who makes a donation to the Tikvat Israel Torah Fund will be able to fill in one of those letters. And you don't need to be a qualified scribe like Rabbi Youlus, or have artistic talent or know Hebrew. All you need is the desire to take part in a holy act that binds you to our community and the community of the Jewish people--and a few free minutes on April 29. So send in your pledge card today, and make an appointment to participate with Rabbi Youlus and your fellow members of Tikvat Israel in this amazing experience.