Laws of a Sefer Torah, Chapter 9 – Its Length Like Its Circumference and Margins

Introduction – The Order of the Rambam in Sefer Ahava

Speaker 1:

Gentlemen, says the holy Rambam, we are learning in Hilchos Tefillin u’Mezuzah v’Sefer Torah, Chapter 9, the laws of a Sefer Torah. We are going to learn how to actually make a Sefer Torah. Yes?

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

We have already learned the mitzvah of writing a Sefer Torah, we have learned all the laws of the writing. Now we are going to learn, so to speak, the, how should we say, the assembly of the entire Sefer Torah, how a complete Sefer Torah should look.

Right, I think that the Rambam covered tefillin first, because tefillin is the main topic of Sefer Ahava, a mitzvah that one must do every day. And with this, and since for the mitzvah of tefillin one must explain all the laws of writing STa”M, it’s a twin, it’s a shame to separate them, because most of the laws are the same, it’s like one continuation. So with tefillin came mezuzah, and mezuzah itself is a topic of Sefer Ahava. What comes after that? Tzitzis?

Speaker 2:

I hear.

Speaker 1:

Yes. A Sefer Torah also, one must learn with it every day. Okay. Sefer Torah is connected with the laws of reading the Torah, because when comes a chapter after reading the Torah, how does one make a Sefer Torah? But it makes sense that the laws of STa”M should be together. It’s not connected, the Rambam doesn’t connect it anywhere. That one must read from a Sefer Torah, perhaps one law, but the mitzvah to have a Sefer Torah is just like that. Okay.

Yes, in short, we are learning the law of how one makes a Sefer Torah. Says the Torah, yes. In this chapter the Rambam is very practical, and literally he gives people a very clear guide how to write a Sefer Torah. So he begins with laws and he goes more and more practical. Specifically, let’s learn the law with us. The guide is on one law, how to understand one law in the laws of Sefer Torah. Everything else perhaps one already knows, we will talk about this.

Law 1: Its Length Like Its Circumference

The Language of the Rambam

Speaker 1:

The law is as follows: “One does not make a Sefer Torah with its length greater than its circumference nor its circumference greater than its length.” The length of the Sefer Torah, that is the height of the Sefer Torah that one writes, the longer side, “its circumference” means how long the entire circumference of the Sefer Torah is. One closes the Sefer Torah however much it takes to go around.

Speaker 2:

Yes, basically the belt, one puts a belt, so how long the belt is.

Speaker 1:

Yes, how long the belt is, yes.

And the rule is, one should not make one longer than the other. That is, it should be the same length, it should be its length like its circumference. Yes, the Rambam makes it clear, “not its length greater than its circumference nor its circumference greater than its length,” but it should be the same. Yes?

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

Because…

Speaker 2:

And not from beauty, right? This will make the correct measurements for the Sefer Torah, the proportions.

Speaker 1:

Yes, a rabbi, I saw a rabbi who was explaining, Rabbi Tzvi, that a person who is very short and very fat is not beautiful, also too tall and too thin is not beautiful. It must be something in between, approximately, so its length like its circumference. I don’t know if by a person it is exactly the same, but there is a certain proportion that looks normal, that looks human.

Speaker 2:

Right, yes, by a megillah for example, where there is no such law, there comes out more creativity, there are all kinds of very interesting sizes of megillos. A Sefer Torah one can also make small, but it must maintain a certain proportion.

The Measure of the Length – Six Tefachim in Gevil

Speaker 1:

Okay, good. Now, “How much should be its length?” says the Rambam, the length will have to do with the circumference, and the circumference will have to do with how thick the parchment is. So we learned earlier at the beginning of the laws of STa”M that there are two kinds, three kinds, from one hide of an animal there are three things. When the whole thing is whole it’s called gevil, excuse me, and when one divides it, it’s divided, there is klaf and duchsustus. Klaf is the innermost part, I remembered, and duchsustus is the outside part.

Yes, says the Rambam, when it’s the whole gevil, that is when it’s a very thick format, the length must be seen to be six tefachim. How much is six tefachim? Says the Rambam, “24 finger-widths by the width of the thumb of the hand,” twenty-four of the finger thumb, of the width of the thumb.

This is simply a translation of tefachim, which comes here. It’s a translation of tefachim. This is that the length according to the circumference of the gevil, and according to the circumference of klaf will be the thickness of klaf.

In Klaf – I Don’t Know

Speaker 1:

And in klaf it’s also approximately the same thing, but in klaf… oh, says the Rambam, no, he doesn’t say, “And the length of the klaf should be,” basically, this he says, “In klaf I don’t know.” The Rambam doesn’t have the measure in klaf. How did he figure it out this way? This is all a piece of Gemara. So it says in the Gemara a braisa, one must say that a Sefer Torah should be its length like its circumference. They asked Rabbi, well, how much should the length be? He said, “In gevil I know, that it is six tefachim.” On klaf he doesn’t know. So it says in the Rambam. And the Rambam says, “I don’t know” means to say, it should be less, more is no difference. The point is, it should be such that it comes out that it is its length like its circumference.

Discussion: Why “Or Less or More”?

Speaker 1:

And therefore, since there is a Rambam, this is not an obligation, the six tefachim is not an obligation. The six tefachim is basically advice that usually, according to the format as one used to write Torahs then, in the time of the Tannaim, gevil comes out that with six tefachim it comes out. Yes, but with klaf he doesn’t know how much it comes out. Or it must be more, or it must be less. I mean, seemingly it must be… let’s think, klaf is seemingly thinner than gevil, right? It’s thinner, you only have half of it, or I don’t know, a half, a quarter, three quarters, I don’t know. It comes out that by klaf it will be thinner, one must make it what? The length will be a bit smaller. One must make it smaller seemingly, because it will be thinner. Not why does the Rambam say “or less or more”? Seemingly certainly it must be less, and he doesn’t know how much less.

Why didn’t the Rambam give us to calculate it? Because he doesn’t know, he didn’t write on klaf. Soon we will see, soon we will see.

“And So” – Also in Gevil Six Tefachim Is Not Indispensable

Speaker 1:

Now, until soon the Rambam brings the Gemara. This is his way of bringing what it says in the Gemara. “And so,” says the Rambam, the same thing, this is not an obligation, the six tefachim is not an obligation. The main thing is it should be its length like its circumference. They calculated that this is how it comes out. Therefore, the same thing is also in gevil, yes, “less than six or more than six tefachim, if he wants to make it thick or thin, or to make the letters smaller or larger.” And therefore it comes out further that it should be its length like its circumference. He reversed, if he will leave six and widen his writing, he will make wider letters, it will still come out its length like its circumference, he has fulfilled the mitzvah. He has done the mitzvah of… this is a mitzvah, because this is not indispensable, the thing of its length like its circumference is not indispensable. When it was so late it’s only a mitzvah, that is he has done a mitzvah, he has done the mitzvah of making a beautiful Torah its length like its circumference.

Discussion: What Does “Fulfilled the Mitzvah” Mean?

Speaker 2:

Yes, now let’s learn… what is the language “fulfilled the mitzvah”?

Speaker 1:

I just told you, this is the explanation. Okay, “fulfilled the mitzvah” is there is a mitzvah, just as you fulfill all the measures. Rather for a mitzvah, he fulfills the mitzvah. Mitzvah means a beautiful thing, certainly.

Speaker 2:

Yes, but not a mitzvah.

Speaker 1:

“Fulfilled the mitzvah” means it fulfills the matter of its length like its circumference. The point is that it doesn’t say in the Gemara, it only says that the measure of six tefachim is only like good advice for the normal size whatever it was in the time of the Gemara.

And in practice it turns out that it’s approximately the same thing, and with a small change it’s also fine. Not a small change, if you make it through that still approximately its length like its circumference.

Speaker 2:

The approximately you have now put in.

Speaker 1:

What he says is that one can… okay, this is another inquiry, I don’t know. It’s an external inquiry that one must investigate whether its length like its circumference means that it should be exactly the length, this is very difficult, because it depends how tight one rolls it together, I don’t know. Simply it’s approximately.

But what he says here is only that the six tefachim is not that… there are yes those who say, there are yes who say that there is a hint in six tefachim, the Tablets were six tefachim. There are reasons why to think that six tefachim is specifically. But the Rambam says no, it’s only so Rabbi calculated that it will come out its length like its circumference. You make it different, you make the writing smaller or larger, it will also be good. The same mitzvah, you also fulfill, you also have the matter of its length like its circumference.

Law 2: Margins – Empty Space Above, Below, and Between Columns

The Measure of the Margin

Speaker 1:

Okay, another law. It’s also a mitzvah, from the beauty of how one makes a Torah, one must leave a bit of space above and below the page. We already had also in the laws of mezuzah on a smaller scale, less space. Yes, good. Here it is four finger-widths above. The margin below. Below the margin, the empty space, should be four finger-widths, and above is three finger-widths. So from below is more. Why? It should look beautiful. This is how one makes a book. From above not as much space as from below. Interesting. And between page and page should be two finger-widths. Yes. No, good. Therefore, surrounded with empty spaces.

Space for Sewing

Speaker 1:

“Therefore one must leave at the beginning of each sheet and at its end the width of one finger for sewing.” At the end of the sheet and at the beginning of the sheet one must leave over space for sewing. This we know, one will sew together. So one must leave the width of one finger. He continues, “so that there will be between each page and so forth two finger-widths.” When one will afterwards bind them together, there will be between one writing and the next writing two finger-widths. Seemingly this is simple. The main thing is he says that one must add space for the sewing. That is, the finger is besides the sewing. This is perhaps the law. And another thing. There should actually remain a finger. Not that the finger is advice for the scribe, but it should actually be in the book. The finger is not with the sewing.

Space for the Atzei Chaim

Speaker 1:

“And he should leave from the hide,” another thing, besides that one must make on each column space, yes, the end of the column of the Sefer Torah and the beginning of the Sefer Torah will be connected to a piece of wood, to a column, which the Rambam will later say, to the… what is this called? The Etz Chaim, as we call it. He must roll up the hide on the wood. There must remain an extra piece of parchment for that. “At the beginning of the book and at its end in order to roll a column.” It must be the size of a column, a regular column of a Sefer Torah. So basically, the first sheet one must make more than two. This he means. The first sheet one must make one finger, and here one must make more. The first sheet must be longer, and whatever the amount, that one should be able to go.

All These Measures Are for a Mitzvah

Speaker 1:

Says the Rambam, “All these measures are for a mitzvah,” all these measures are for a mitzvah. “And if he decreased or increased,” he didn’t leave at the beginning of the book or at the beginning of a sheet and so on, “it is not invalid.” It doesn’t invalidate it. It’s only for a mitzvah min hamuvchar. One sees many times, what is there for a mitzvah and for indispensability. For a mitzvah means that it’s a mitzvah. The word mitzvah, and the Rambam usually, the word mitzvah means that it’s actually an obligation of a mitzvah.

Speaker 2:

You’re saying that the word mitzvah can mean…

Speaker 1:

Can be, but it’s the language.

Law 9: The Measure of the Margin at the Beginning of the Book and at Its End — “In Order to Roll a Column”

What does it mean? The Etz Chaim as we call it. He must roll up the hide on the wood. There must remain an extra piece of parchment for that. This is what the Rambam says “in order to roll a column”. It must be the size of a column, a regular column of a Sefer Torah.

Basically, the first sheet one must make more than two. This means that usually a sheet one must have one column, but the first sheet one must have longer, whatever the amount, so they should be able to go a column.

Law 10: “All These Measures Are for a Mitzvah”

Says the Rambam, “All these measures are for a mitzvah”. All these measures are for a mitzvah, and “if he decreased or increased, it is not invalid”. If he didn’t keep at the beginning of the book or at the beginning of a sheet or further, it doesn’t invalidate, it’s only for the ideal.

Discussion: The Meaning of “For a Mitzvah” — Two Opposite Meanings

You asked me the language, one sees it many times, there is mitzvah and indispensability. Mitzvah means that it’s a mitzvah. The word mitzvah, although in the Rambam usually the word mitzvah means that it’s actually an obligation, that it’s a mitzvah, but the word mitzvah to receive upon mitzvah can mean… it can be that you’re right, that the word mitzvah is the opposite of… it’s sometimes the opposite of obligation, literally the opposite. Not that mitzvah is the obligation.

The Rambam uses the language “mitzvah min hamuvchar”. Perhaps in other places. No, here in the laws… we spoke yesterday perhaps the language “mitzvah min hamuvchar” to do such and such. “All these things were only said for mitzvah min hamuvchar” in Chapter 7. After saying how he makes the sheets, the large, the small, he says, “All these things were only said for mitzvah min hamuvchar”.

What is the translation? No, then I understand. Mitzvah min hamuvchar, that you make a mitzvah… I can translate there “doing”, I can translate there “doing”. It can be this is the same for a mitzvah. For a mitzvah here always means beauty. Mitzvah min hamuvchar there he speaks of zeh keli v’anveihu.

What is the translation of mitzvah min hamuvchar? Over the translation of the three words. Mitzvah… what is the translation? To do the mitzvah min hamuvchar, to do the mitzvah in the most excellent way. There are many ways of doing the mitzvah of writing a Sefer Torah, this is to do it in the most excellent way of having all the stringencies and beautifications. Not stringencies, beautifications. Yes, I don’t know if one can translate it this way. I think it’s a shortening of “mitzvah min hamuvchar”. The mitzvah one must do from the mitzvah, the normal mitzvah, which is a mitzvah, one must do from the most beautiful. But here, many times one sees that there is “for a mitzvah” and there is “for indispensability”. “For a mitzvah” means beautiful, it’s a mitzvah to do, but one doesn’t have to do.

Proof from Rav Huna: The Kesav Sofer’s Proof That It Is Not Indispensable

Interestingly, he says simply a remark in passing, that the word “mitzvah” has such two opposite meanings. Sometimes it means “mitzvah”, the mitzvah which is a matter in mitzvah, which one is not obligated, and sometimes it means “mitzvah” explicitly that one doesn’t have to do it. He brings from the Kesav Sofer that the Rambam wants to tell us that it’s only a mitzvah, or the Rambam wants to tell us that the Gemara relates that Rav Huna tried to make its length like its width, and he didn’t succeed. Seven Sifrei Torah, and only one he succeeded. The Rambam understood that it must be that it was kosher. Rav Huna was Rav Huna, it was kosher, he just didn’t have the mitzvah min hamuvchar.

This is the proof. Who says that it’s not indispensable? He says “and only one remained that all the rest were invalid”. Rav Huna exerts himself that he wrote seven Sifrei Torah, and he doesn’t know that they are all invalid? But with one he succeeded to have the mitzvah min hamuvchar. I don’t know, this is the proof to be able mitzvah.

I don’t know though if one needs a proof. I think that they learned earlier, the Rambam perhaps has such a rule, that such sorts of things, or perhaps one must use one’s intellect to know, that it must say in the Gemara that “if he didn’t do so it is indispensable”. There are very many details and laws in every mitzvah. In the laws of tefillin we saw, there are things that are indispensable, and there are things that are not. How did he know? Because he gives each thing its worth. A thing that doesn’t say about it that it’s indispensable, by default one assumes that it’s not indispensable, because it must say. I don’t know if one needs a proof.

The Story of Rav Huna and Rabbi Acha bar Yaakov

Now we’re going to learn it. But this is an important story. The Gemara says, brings the story, the Gemara says that Rav Huna made seven. There are those who say seventy, I think in the Gemara it says seventy. That’s what it says in my Gemara. He brings the version “seven.” I don’t know why. In the Gemara it says that Rav Huna wrote seventy Torahs, and only one of them succeeded in being orech k’rochev (length equal to circumference). And it says in the Gemara that Rabbi Acha bar Yaakov wrote one on the hide of a calf, and it succeeded, and he died. Yes, as Reb Bunim of Aiven said, “My soul.”

Why, something is a note to something is a thing? You see in the Gemara that to succeed in orech k’rochev is something great… something great… something was a secret about this. First of all, because with parchment we don’t know ourselves, yes. In order to… with klaf (parchment) we don’t know ourselves, there’s one secret number one. And it’s very difficult, it’s a great work. The Rabbeinu held that most Jews were not privileged to have a complete Torah scroll. That’s certain. This is not simple. He himself said that he was not privileged to have Torah scrolls. Yes, that’s simple.

The Rambam’s Problem: How to Make Orech K’Hekefo (Length Equal to Circumference) Intentionally

And seemingly, let’s now go see. What is the reason that it’s not simple at all? Because, Rav Huna didn’t succeed. In other words, he started to write a Torah. He didn’t make a calculation beforehand, and see how it comes out. This is also a proof, not just, if one needs another proof for this. He actually wrote, Rav Huna did it, let’s see if it succeeded. It didn’t succeed, perhaps there’s an element of Divine Providence in this. If someone is worthy, it succeeds for him.

This is a very different way of planning a Sefer Torah, when one must calculate the circumference, because he thinks, for example, and the Gemara sees that it’s a very precious thing. Not everyone always had so much klaf. Yes? It’s a precious thing, because a person starts when he finds a good piece of klaf, he writes a parsha, and he’ll write it further… later he goes there. It’s a simple thing. Yes, it means that one must have the entire Sefer Torah with all the klaf planned. He must say very very carefully. Why do you need to say what needs… it’s a very different way of writing a Sefer Torah.

Yes, later he puts the problem on the klaf in a precise way. I don’t know how you need that. It should be a simple thing. Today, when one writes a Torah, one writes. I mean back then they also copied from another Torah, but… it’s not obligatory, there’s no obligation to have a certain letter on which column and which verses. What one hears is to write according to what it is. Sometimes it was longer… sometimes it comes out longer, sometimes it comes out shorter. It depends how one writes. Today when one writes, one already writes from a plan. It’s very different.

But the Gemara doesn’t seem to be based on a plan, because all these halachos are for a sofer (scribe), it wasn’t made with a plan, and it didn’t succeed. Once it succeeded, and usually it didn’t succeed.

The Rambam’s Kindness: He Solved the Problem

Says the Rambam, now comes the Rambam, here the Rambam is a very interesting thing, that the Rambam very much wanted even though the holy Rabbeinu didn’t succeed, he didn’t make a plan, not only did it not succeed, he also didn’t plan, because if he had planned he perhaps could have figured it out, but the holy Rambam was a Jew who didn’t let things happen by chance. It says in the language of the responsum that someone asked him, “Is it possible to intend that the fold should not come by chance?” He didn’t wait for it to succeed. How does one make it work l’chatchila (from the outset)? One makes a good plan that the Torah should come out orech k’hekeifa.

The Rambam wrote a Torah himself for himself, he fulfilled the mitzvah of writing a Sefer Torah literally, and he figured out a whole process how to do this, and he told us the plan, he wrote down for us the plan in his book how one can do it.

Says the Rambam, yes? So there’s gratitude to the Rambam, because this is a plan that he wrote as a kindness, not to clarify a sugya (Talmudic topic), but to help Jews how to make an orech k’hekeifa. He solved the problem, the Gemara didn’t solve the problem, the Gemara remained that sometimes it succeeds, sometimes it doesn’t succeed. And the Rambam said, I’ll tell you, one can make it so that it should always succeed. Here the Rambam is smarter than the Gemara, so to speak, what does smarter mean? He solved a problem that the Gemara had.

Halacha 3: The Rambam’s Plan — How to Make Orech K’Hekefo

Yes, says the Rambam, “First of all he should intend”, this is the first thing, “he should intend”, he will do specifically, intentionally, prepare, organize, “until he makes the book orech k’hekefo or hekeif k’orcho”, says the Rambam thus, “he begins”, let’s try to say, he goes into many details, I want to try to grasp what the Rambam’s basic advice is, very basic.

What Is the Problem?

What is the problem that we have? The problem is seemingly that we don’t know, usually when a person starts to write his book, he doesn’t know at all how long his klaf will be. He’s going to start writing and he’ll see how many pages he needs. Therefore he has no way to calculate.

And what is the main variable, what is the main thing that changes? It’s actually two things that change: the thickness of the hide, each hide comes out different, therefore the orech k’hekeifa can be different, and the thing that must change accordingly is actually how big the writing is, or how much is interesting. Yes, you have things that are in the halachos. For example, how many letters must be on one page, that’s the halacha. But if he writes higher letters, one needs higher things. How many should be fewer lines, how many fit on a column? One can make bigger lines. If he writes bigger, there should be on the column only 20 lines, or only forty lines. If there are forty lines, or only 48 lines. But no, there are fewer lines, in short, it can take up much more space or less space according to what one does.

So, he doesn’t know how big his klaf is, he doesn’t know how many columns he’ll make in his Torah at all. Today there’s a correction, we know that every Torah that we write, every single Torah has the same, he means perhaps most or so. And my tikun korim (reader’s guide) has exactly 245 columns. But it wasn’t always so. And one doesn’t know at all how much, and he writes each one a bit different, he writes a bit differently.

The Rambam’s Basic Plan — Two Steps

What is the Rambam’s basic plan, he had two steps and he goes into the details, that his basic plan is very simple. First of all, instead of writing each one separately and having to calculate, first make the entire Torah. Perhaps sew it together? Even though I don’t know if practically it’s a bit difficult. But take the entire Torah and sew it together, figure out, first of all, buy like so much klaf. Yes, make it six tefachim (handbreadths) wide, let’s say, start with six tefachim, so high. Then, if you see that it’s still not orech k’hekeifa, you add more klaf and take off. First you can make the entire Torah before the writing of the one… yes, before that. First make boxes. First cut straight from the entire hide. Increase. This is already detail. This is already detail. One minute. Yes, yes, yes, yes. The the.

The main advice is, that before you start to write, you should know how much hide you need so that your Torah should come out orech k’hekeifa. What depends on the… this depends mainly on the thickness of the hide. Take then, buy your entire hide at once, the entire klaf at once. And, yes, he makes pages in your Torah, he makes already the vessel of the Torah, an empty Torah. Yes, he has an empty Torah this person. Calculate, if it comes out too thin you add more klaf, and if it comes out too thick you add more klaf. Now you have your paper, that’s the calculation. Now you must fit your writing into this.

And what should you do? You say, you’re copying from a book. Says the Rambam, the Rambam indeed said, one must know how many columns you have per chapter, copy from a book. Make a calculation, start to write one column, see according to the calculation if it will fit.

Overview of the Process

Speaker 1:

He has an empty Torah, this person, and he calculates, if it comes out too thin, he adds the klaf here, and he has for himself the small yeria (sheet) down. Now he has the paper, this he has, now he must fit his writing into this. And what should he do?

Should he, you’re copying from a book, says the Rambam, the Rambam indeed said, one must know how many columns you have previously copied from a book, make a calculation, the column to write one column, see according to the calculation if it will fit, if it won’t fit make it smaller, or if there’s too much make it bigger, and figure out, make a calculation to know that your writing will fit into the Torah exactly, that’s the whole thing, it’s very simple, he goes into details, but it’s very simple, his process is very simple that it can be.

And afterwards says the Rambam, later says the Rambam, what according to what he calculated, he says exactly how much one can do, and one doesn’t even need to make the calculation, because the Rambam already said certain numbers for each thing, right? Yes. Already, he says it so, agree? Yes yes. It’s afterwards because he says the, no, many details that he says perhaps don’t even come out, nothing.

Step 1: Cutting the Hides — “Marbeh”

Speaker 1:

More likely, but we marbeh (increase) doesn’t mean to say have eight square, because he doesn’t yet cut now exactly. He cuts yes, but… he only arranges the size of the hides, and increases. I mean the increase arranges. One can do everything with an emergency how one can arrange, but increase means not increase, I saw because it means that it means to write the widths specifically, because it can be rectangle, it can be longer than it is wide, it doesn’t mean a square, it means orech k’rochev, it comes out squares, it comes out Pesach, you know that when one buys an original, today one buys klaf, it comes nice, but when one buys a hide, it comes, whatever, first he cuts it, and measures the width, whatever the width, six tefachim, the edge and end for all, it should be straight, should be one sheet six tefachim, one seven tefachim, that’s the first thing, first cut all the hides, that’s all, that’s what marbeh means, just means, cut it straight, it means, it has nothing square, no angle at all square.

Kitzur (in short) means like a routine, one makes the same routine for each one, kitzur the same thing, that it perhaps is the same cut, we have seen not clear what the meaning is, it’s a language of the verse, kitzur v’echad l’chol, literally a language of the verse from Melachim (Kings), but it means seemingly there cutting. In short, he cuts it first all the hides, that’s all.

Step 2: Making a Kerech — Rolling Together All the Hides

Speaker 1:

And afterwards he rolls the hides, he puts them together, and makes from them one kerech (scroll), he makes one… like one rolled-together Sefer Torah. He doesn’t say that you’ll sew, I guess. How will he do it?

Discussion: How Does One Make a Kerech Without Sewing?

Speaker 2:

Ah, I thought until now that marbeh means not yet actually cutting. But marbeh on the… like he calculates how many squares he’ll have on the hide, so that you can actually roll it together and still play around, see how it comes out.

Speaker 1:

The cutting is mainly the top and the bottom.

Speaker 2:

But how will he roll it together? If he cuts it, must he already now make all the sewing also? Seemingly, how do you think he’ll make a kerech?

Speaker 1:

No, kerech means he makes the preliminary, later you’ll already make sewing.

Speaker 2:

I’m asking you a question, how does one make a kerech without sewing? He doesn’t have one hide that is long enough for an entire Torah, there’s no such thing. One must do it. One must do this. There’s no way out of this.

Speaker 1:

I mean so. Unless you can lay one next to the second, without…

Speaker 2:

But you won’t know how big it is.

Speaker 1:

But if you’ll make exactly the double of this, it will be twice as big as this. One can do that also.

Speaker 2:

No, but it’s not… perhaps because the hide… I don’t know if all hides are exactly as thick one as the other. One must first have all the hides that he’ll use. Because the thickness is one of the problems.

The Importance of “Mehudak Yafeh Yafeh”

Speaker 1:

In short, he makes with this a rolled-together kerech, an entire Sefer Torah, mehudak yafeh yafeh (tightly rolled well), well rolled together, because so you can see how long the circumference is.

Very good. And here one sees, I said earlier that one can make it looser or tighter, the Rambam says that one should make it mehudak yafeh yafeh. This is how a Torah comes, well put together.

Step 3: Measuring the Circumference — Six Tefachim

Speaker 1:

Ah, and he adds… He adds… yes, and he adds… He adds… yes, he starts, first it’s only one page, whatever, he adds until it comes to be that the kerech is six tefachim.

Speaker 2:

The measure of the width of the Ark.

Speaker 1:

Yes, which is so wide. It should be six tefachim in circumference around?

Speaker 2:

It should be a width of six tefachim, you already know that. He only needs that the circumference should be six tefachim.

Speaker 1:

And he measures with a thread of scarlet, he measures with a… with a… yes? That goes around the kerech, he makes sure that it takes around one entire hide will go around. He takes a string of six tefachim, and he measures that it’s already six tefachim his Torah. That’s all.

Step 4: Making a Kaneh (Measuring Rod / Ruler)

Speaker 1:

And afterwards, what does he do? He makes a kaneh (rod) with which he stretches a straight line. No one taught him in Yiddish a meter, a kaneh, perhaps what the books understand with a kuf. The point is, he makes a measuring tape, that’s all. Kaneh is a measuring tape. And its length should be forty amos (cubits). Why does he need to have this? So that he can measure the long kerech, the whole thing. Or not the whole, or yes, in total, he must be able to measure the total of the whole thing.

Plus, we want that he should also be able to measure smaller measures. Says the Rambam, one should already in the kaneh also make smaller measures, because it can be that it won’t be an exact, the etzbaos (finger-widths) beginning and end of the… I want it already about this. Perhaps it can simply be, it won’t come to an exact, he doesn’t know, it won’t come necessarily. It can be a hide that is two and a half, he must be able to calculate a half, not become confused.

He says, “And he should divide one etzba from it”, yes, he should make a mark on the ruler, he should make a mark of an etzba, and afterwards for a half etzba and a third and a quarter of an etzba. He should divide the etzba into parts, “so that he knows with it half an etzba and a quarter etzba and similar parts”. He doesn’t mean all parts, because he can when he comes to a whole, he uses yes a piece.

The ruler shouldn’t only be a ruler that shows straightness or that, but it should also have what a meter needs. It shouldn’t only be a ruler that counts whole etzbaos, yes, if it’s forty, he already knows that this is forty. But it should also have one etzba, he should be able to calculate a half etzba when the matter comes, and similar.

Step 5: Measuring Each Hide

Speaker 1:

“And he should measure each and every hide”, each hide that will be used in the Sefer Torah should be measured with the ruler, “until he knows how many etzbaos are in each and every hide, so that he knows how many etzbaos in the length of the entire kerech”. He has added up, and he knows how much is the total of the entire kerech, yes?

Step 6: Testing the Writing on Separate Hides

Speaker 1:

Translation

So now, what does he get from this? Because this way he could calculate how much space he needs to fit his writing into the entire volume. He takes other skins, because these he has already incorporated into the volume. So he takes two or three skins. He has already completed his entire Sefer Torah. So now, when a person wants to test his writing a bit or such things, he begins with a different skin. He doesn’t write on those, because those are a complete Sefer Torah, he has already invested so much work in measuring and connecting them. So he takes other skins, shnaim o shlosha, livdok bahem shi’ur haketav, to measure the size of his writing, v’kotev bahem daf echad.

Step 7: Calculating the Writing — What One Needs and What One Already Knows

Speaker 1:

The Rema says good advice, when you write a complete page, he will now say how to write the page, how many etzba’ot and so forth. Ah, we already know this. He says that the difference will only be… What he says is, that you will now calculate. What do you need to calculate? You don’t need to calculate how high a page is, because that is known, you already know that it’s seventeen etzba’ot. Why? Because if you make a Sefer Torah of six tefachim, six tefachim is twenty-four etzba’ot. If you leave a margin above of three and below of four, it comes out you take away seven from twenty-four, you’re left with seventeen etzba’ot. You already know this, you don’t need to at all… This has no doubt, the height of the measurement you already have.

But what do you indeed need to know according to your writing? Aval rochav hadaf hu lefi haketav. We learned that there must be thirty letters, but how wide is thirty letters? How many etzba’ot is thirty letters? It depends, one writes this much, one writes that much. Here comes even… V’chen minyan hashitot shebadaf, the amount of lines on the page, is also talui lefi haketav, how high his letters are. Lefi sheb’otah shitah mani’chin k’shitah, they learned that between every two lines there must be an empty line. So if he writes very high, automatically there will come out considerably fewer lines. You can’t compress, because you have no choice, you must first know, what you’re now going to check is according to the thickness of your writing how much… how it works, how much space it takes up.

Step 8: Calculating How Many Pages Fit in the Volume

Speaker 1:

He says further, “shekotev daf echad shebodek bo al pi mah sheya’aseh”. He writes the page that the… the testing page he writes according to what he wants. He checks, yamod, yes, he should measure with the measuring tool, he takes out the measuring tool, he should measure rochav hadaf with the fingers of the measuring tool, of the ruler, “v’ya’aseh al rochav hadaf shtei etzba’ot bein daf l’daf”. He should add two etzba’ot between page and page. The two meanings that this should be, two etzba’ot between page and page. “V’yachshov kamah dapim yavo’u bakerekh shegolel bo sefer haketav shebodek bo”. He should check how many pages would come out in the entire volume, the writing that he measured, how many writings would this come out in the Sefer Torah, in the rolled writing, he will know the calculation of the pages.

It’s very simple, you already measured your entire Torah earlier, your volume is a thousand etzba’ot. You have now written one column, your one column let’s say you figured out is ten etzba’ot, let’s say, I don’t know four etzba’ot, I don’t know what his words are, ten etzba’ot. It comes out that you need to have, it will fit into your Torah, not ten, but add two, it will fit approximately eighty columns in your volume, yes? These are made up numbers. Because you know how much will fit in.

Step 9: Calculating How Many Pages Are Needed for the Entire Torah

Speaker 1:

Now, how much do you need? How do you know how many columns you need for your Torah? Says the Rambam, “v’ya’arokh kamah nikhtav badaf zeh shebodek bo min haTorah kulah”. You need to know what percentage of the entire Torah you have in your page. How will you know? “Mesha’er”. You won’t know it exactly. The Rambam doesn’t say that you will copy exactly from that sefer. “Aval mesha’er lefi sefer shekotev bo”. He says, I wrote in my column one page or one column from the Torah, that Torah that I’m making, I count the columns of that Torah. He’s still writing from a Sefer Torah, he should look at that Sefer Torah how much there is. That Torah has, I know, two hundred columns, it comes out, I know that I need two hundred times as much space as I made, u’mechashev. Kol haTorah kulah teluyah beyamin, and he needs to have “zeh ketav shekotev bo b’koach”.

Step 10: Adjusting the Writing

Speaker 1:

Very good, if one has enough space, not too much and not too little, write according to the writing. This is a good shi’ur ketav, this is the good size of your writing.

V’im, you make a calculation, the pages come out from the Torah, then “yarchiv baketav ad sheyismokh min hadapim”, then write a bit larger writing, a wider writing.

Adjusting the Size of the Writing to the Number of Pages

This is a good shi’ur ketav, this is a good size of your writing.

V’im rotzeh lachshov minyan hadapim yater min haTorah, should one yarchiv baketav ad sheyismokh minyan hadapim, he should write a bit larger writing, a wider writing, and then he should make a check that it succeeded. V’im hu rotzeh pachot, if he has too much more Torah than how many pages he has, how many pages, yater min haTorah yater min hadapim, yema’et baketav, he makes his writing smaller, ad sheya’amod minyan hadapim kefi dikdukei ha’otiyot, v’chen ya’aseh b’chol daf vadaf.

The Rambam’s Innovation — One Adjusts the Writing to the Format

The point is, it’s very simple, the Rambam simply holds, all these details are confusing guys, but the point is very simple. You, your main problem is your writing, you don’t know in advance how many pages of paper you’ll need. The Rambam tells you, I have simple advice for you, first cut out the paper, calculate how much, and then write according to the paper.

It could be that the Gemara didn’t hold that one should do this, because perhaps there is more of a rule that the writing should be according to how you hold that the writing is beautiful. I simply, the Rambam says here an innovation in halacha, that it makes sense that a person should make his writing larger or smaller so that the Torah should come out, yarich vikatzar.

I don’t know, perhaps the Rav here who said lo itrami li, not because the advice of the Rambam from the Gemara didn’t occur to him, it’s not genius that one can calculate first, perhaps he held that it’s not correct.

Beauty of the Sefer vs. Exactness of Proportions

Basically the question is this, we have seen here in the Rambam quite clearly, he says that your greater focus should be on the parchment and all these things should be correct, and then adjust your writing strength accordingly. The Rambam holds that I don’t know, that the mitzvah min hamuvchar that it should be beautiful, the sefer should be beautiful, is more important than the exact your script, and you adjust your script. It’s an interesting thing.

So he says, the Rav here simply tried to go the other way around, first write the most beautiful… The Rambam said one must write ketav yafeh, we learned earlier. There is an actual halacha that it must be beautiful. Who says? I thought, perhaps the Rambam thought that this is stated in the Gemara. It’s stated in the Gemara, but it’s not stated in the Gemara which size writing it should be. Size of writing you can make whatever you want. It’s not me’akev, but it can be a person has a certain taste, he wants it should be large.

Digression: The Difficulty of Writing a Sefer Torah as a Project

I mean, I’ll tell you something else. Finishing the entire Sefer Torah with all the halachot that should be correct, is a very huge project. Someone who is once in a good mood and has warmth and he writes down a beautiful portion in the Torah that speaks very strongly to him in one day, mah yafit umah na’amt. The Rambam says, first you should work bitterly hard on the technical, go buy skins, the entire Sefer Torah needs to be bound, and you only have one writing.

Rabbeinu Yonah wrote seven Torahs. Presumably he wasn’t a sofer or something. He did, presumably he had money, he paid for it. Seven Torahs one doesn’t write with one’s own hands. Perhaps one Torah. The Rambam also wrote one, but the one, it counts a bit for us, the Rambam has this, because this is stated in the Gemara, and that one isn’t stated.

It also means that the day that Moshe Rabbeinu wrote thirteen Sifrei Torah, he thought, writing out thirteen Sifrei Torah he had to prepare… Yes, but Moshe’s was a miracle. The miracle can be the reward. Moshe’s Torah was kosher according to all opinions, it can’t be.

Speaker 2: Wait. I say the opposite, the miracle is much greater that Moshe in one day, besides writing fourteen Sifrei Torah, he calculated the entire…

Speaker 1: Yes, Moshe had to do the matters of parchment.

Speaker 2: Yes, but Moshe had to do the calculations, he had to do the innovations. I think that for Moshe there are other things.

Measurements of Margins — Four Etzba’ot Above and Below

Speaker 1: One learns here that there must be four etzba’ot from above and from below. Yes, for example the custom is, when one makes a small Torah one doesn’t make so much space. This presumably comes according to the pages themselves. But what do the poskim say? Because it must be beautiful. It’s not me’akev the three etzba’ot and four. The Rambam also said it’s not me’akev. Even the halacha is, when it’s a Torah that is so.

Yes, for example in a megillah, usually the megillot that are sold don’t have so much. You who buy, you’re not particular about this by a megillah. But he says that it’s a small megillah, you make it as it comes out for you. The Rambam here takes very seriously all these numbers that are stated, the entire exactness. Okay.

Problem with Disproportionately Small Sifrei Torah

Certain people make a very small Sefer Torah, it comes out the proportions above and below disproportional. Yes, it comes out strange. I think for example that there are more matters to be lenient, the letter should be nicely large, it makes it easy to read. Okay, as a ba’al korei I have negiyut. When you stand, someone says he wants to make small, but it has completely different stringencies, one must be careful which is preferable. Yes.

Division of Skins into Pages — And What to Do When a Yeri’ah Ends in the Middle

Okay, ah, we haven’t yet finished this section. In short, it’s simple, yes… Okay, another interesting thing. Okay, you know already, you begin to write. It’s simple. You begin writing. Approximately a volume. You begin to write on the Sefer Torah, and you copy from a sefer. On the Sefer Torah that you’re preparing.

U’mechalek kol or v’or dapim dapim, it comes out then each skin the pages of that skin separately, one marks that here is a page and here is the next page, kefi rochav hadaf shebadak bo v’lo cheshbon matchilah, how wide the page is was already calculated earlier, that means you make the division that here, according to that size, according to how wide you write, yes, sheyisha’er min ha’or shelo yichtov bo k’shi’ur arba, there remains for him left over three or four fingers, v’shi’ur zeh l’daf ha’acharon sheb’chol yeri’ah, when you remain left over three or four etzba’ot from the end of a yeri’ah, of an entire yeri’ah, that the next yeri’ah one will sew to it, it touches the end where one sews to the next piece, there you need to leave over an etzba, but plus more than an etzba, the Rambam already said earlier that between every two pages there must be two etzba’ot, where the Rambam by the end of the yeri’ah mentioned leaving over more than one etzba, that means leaving over also between every two pages two etzba’ot, there there there the innovation that he wants to say here is, that he doesn’t need to worry, the person made his calculation with all the skins, he didn’t yet calculate, he didn’t yet know then how large, how wide each letter needs to be, because he didn’t yet even know.

The Rambam’s Innovation — One Doesn’t Need to Worry About Leftover Space

How wide his pages need to be. When he made his first volume he already put together, but his each skin is random, according to how long the skin was he made it. Now he figured out how large his column is. Now, each skin comes from an animal, it could be one is longer, one is shorter. Not necessarily that it fits in exactly, it won’t exactly later a certain amount of pages that one writes in one yeri’ah.

Now it comes out, he finished, he already placed his four yeri’ot on the yeri’ah, now he has space only for half a yeri’ah. One can’t write half a page of the yeri’ah. A person thought, well what will be? My entire calculation now becomes ruined. I can’t cut off a page, and now will be my calculation how long the Torah needs to be will be ruined.

Says the Rambam, don’t worry, it won’t be ruined. Why not? Because you don’t have fear, because you already calculated your amount of columns that you need is already exactly calculated according to how long the Torah is. Now you can cut as much as you want, if it’s just at the end to add another yeri’ah, to calculate with the calculation how many columns you need.

Speaker 2: You don’t need to add until the end or what?

Speaker 1: Right, the point is that you no longer need to have the length of the Torah to calculate, because you already transferred your size of the entire Torah, now it basically goes on the amount of columns that you calculated how many columns you need. You already know basically how long your Torah needs to be, you no longer need to worry that you’re ruining your Torah that you used to measure.

Speaker 2: Yes, correct?

Speaker 1: Yes, very good. This he says, “yani’ach mimenu rochav etzba k’dei tefirah”, this he said this, this must be at the end, “v’yiktotz hasha’ar al rochav”, he shouldn’t worry. “Shelo b’hekrech”. “V’yiktotz v’lo orot acherim al hakerekh shehigbil”, until adding to the volume actually more skins against. “V’ein tzarich lachshov atah”, you don’t need to stand and calculate, I took down here three etzba’ot, because it will already by itself be nofel minyan hadapim. “V’lo mosif al minyan hadapim”.

Measurement of Width of the Sefer — Six Etzba’ot

Further, already. And this, the Rambam, the entire reasoning that the Rambam made, he assumed that you want to make six tefachim, because the Rambam made, and perhaps there is indeed some matter to make six tefachim. Six tefachim. So that he should make rochav hasefer yater al shesh etzba’ot, “shishah posach shishah”, one wants to make a smaller sefer, he calculates further with the calculation. Just as the plan with his size, v’yetzei orko k’chaf melo pachot v’lo yoter, v’hi shelo yit’eh b’cheshbon. So, one shouldn’t try to make us any mistakes in his calculation.

Measurement of Thumb — Seven Measures

The Rambam, what we said earlier that there is such a thing as a shi’ur thumb, how much is it? He says, “rochav ha’agudal amru b’chol hashi’urim ha’elu, uvo she’arah Torah, v’hu habeinoni”. One speaks of the average thumb. Says the Rambam, “u’kvar dikdaknu b’shi’uro”, I measured how much is an average measure, “u’metzanuhu shehu rochav sheva se’orot beinoniyot zo b’tzad zo dechukot”. It’s the width of seven se’orot, seven barleys, beinoniyot, regular size, seven times seven dechukot, one next to the other tight, equal. “V’hu k’erekh shtei se’orot b’rochav”, and it’s the same size as when you would place two pieces of barley in length, width, one between the other.

Discussion: Why Se’orot? What is a “Beinoni”?

Speaker 2: Yes, a beinoni I can tell you the secret that the Rambam revealed here. This is the shi’ur thumb. Why it’s easier to calculate an average se’orah than an average finger, I don’t know.

Speaker 1: Okay, but we’ll see at the end. “V’chol tefach mikol hamidot she’amarnu”, a tefach is four of the size etzba’ot that we said how much an etzba is, “v’ha’amah shesh tefachim”. You have now, I told you the thumb exactly according to barleys, and now you can calculate how much an amah is.

Speaker 2: Yes, but can you tell me what is the advantage of barleys?

Speaker 1: I have no idea. Okay. A beinoni I want to tell the secret. You understand, you ask, it’s not stated in the Gemara a beinoni thumb. Is the difference between fingers of people more often changed than the difference between the size of barleys? Did the Rambam hold? I don’t know. He says beinoni. There is a beinoni, there are large and small. Scientific people have larger fingers and whiter fingers. Very good, but he speaks of a beinoni. However figures out who the beinoni is, what does the Rambam do to me?

English Translation

Speaker 2: My binoni means in the number. That’s a medium measurement. But the Rambam is concerned, what happens if Jews go read this in Yemen and in Mexico, and places where I’ve heard that people run a bit different sizes? What’s the difference? They go there to that place. But according to my humble opinion, one must calculate in every place where there is a dispute.

Speaker 1: Rabbi Chaim Naeh says it’s two centimeters. Okay, I don’t know. Anyway, the women’s section can go home and check their husbands’ and see.

The Problem with Eggs

Speaker 1:

What’s the difference? They go there to that place, who says there’s a difference? But it’s bones, actually, one calculates that in every place it must be the same. It was decided that this is true, because there must be concern that one should take the eggs. But nitkatnu hadoros, nitkatnu habeitzim, nitkatnu ha… in short, it doesn’t help. Rabbi Chaim Naeh says it’s two centimeters, okay, I don’t know. Anyway, the public can go home and check eggs and see.

They didn’t see that it doesn’t match up, that the length of two eggs is not at all the same width as seven eggs across the width. In short, the Rambam didn’t solve the problem, for us he made the problem worse, because we don’t know what to do.

Halacha 10: The Precise Dimensions of the Rambam’s Sefer Torah

Speaker 1:

Now, the Rambam is going to say, earlier I told you an order and a method how you can figure out a Torah. If you want to copy me, you want to copy me, you can go with my numbers, you don’t need to arrive at, you don’t need to make the whole calculation, I’ll tell you the numbers. Says the Rambam, “Sefer Torah shekasavti ani”, I’m going to share with you even more information, I’m going to give you the precise dimensions and the amount of sections and lines of my Sefer Torah.

He says like this, “Rochav kol daf midafav arba etzba’os”, yes, that’s how I wrote. “Vehashoros shetzarich lihiyos rochav kol daf mishtayim shtayim etzba’os”, it’s six fingers, I’m sorry, larger. Why must it be wider? Because you have space in the middle, simple, yes, one leaves empty space. “Uminyan hashitin shebechol daf vadaf achas vachamishim”. How many lines on each page? It comes out 51 lines. It’s more than the Rambam said earlier, he said it should be between 48 and 60, according to the minhag hasofrim. “Uminyan hadafin shel kol hasefer masayim shishah ve’esrim”, 226. Wow, it’s smaller than our Torahs, interesting. Yes, “Ve’orech kol hasefer be’erech shlosh me’os veshishim vashesh etzba’os bekarov”. I need to write down numbers, and calculated, as he says, if you don’t want to calculate, if you want to copy me, you can simply do as he says, “Elu hashesh esreh etzba’os ve’arba etzba’os”, if you want to calculate it, it will come out that you have six fingers larger than what I said when one puts a minyan hadafim.

And why does the matter at the end of the sefer and at the beginning of the sefer come out? It comes out for extra spaces, there should be empty space on the Sefer Torah. As we discussed that one must give more space at the beginning and at the end to roll up onto the wooden etz chaim, onto the pole.

Halacha 11: Oros Eilim and the Secret of the Number

Speaker 1:

Now says the Rambam, which skins did I use? One must calculate the thickness of the orech hahekeif. I’ll tell you a secret, I used oros eilim. Actually, if one uses oros eilim and one goes with this calculation, one can fulfill the calculation of the holy Rambam. The Rambam is precisely exact on the measure of a ram, and you want to use the size to write, no problem.

There’s another secret in the thirteen sixty-six. One must ask the mekubalim, “Elef shlosh me’os veshishim vashesh”. What’s the secret? It’s certain that the Rambam had in mind some deep secret in the number of the fingers of the holy Rambam. Secret of the twenty-six, with today’s books in the holy Rambam. I don’t know what the secret is. Another fifty-one lines in each column. Okay, correct.

In short, until now says the Rambam, if you want to write with my amounts, or even if you want to make it a bit smaller, and in honor of that you’ll have a bit more pages conversely… ah, perhaps the “chaser daf o shtayim o shalosh o yoseir”, perhaps he means to say that the whole orech vehekeif is not precise. It could be that you’ll have two three pages more or less, because the orech vehekeif I don’t know if it can be precise.

Well, good, memeilah lo tig’u, you don’t need to toil and you don’t need to make the correct calculations.

Discussion: Do Today’s Sofrim Check the Calculation?

Speaker 1:

Anyway, we’ll need to see if one can do like the Rambam with a Torah. I don’t know, today’s Torahs… I’ve seen people talk, I haven’t checked in my sheets, one must check if it’s… if you have a sofer who can come in with a comment and tell us if they check this, if today’s sofrim make the calculation beforehand that it should come out orech kekefo, if they do the calculation with the Rambam and so on.

I’ve personally seen what people claim that it comes out approximately like this anyway, according to how we conduct ourselves to write according to the… but I’ve never heard that they talk about this, so I don’t know. I need to ask, if someone knows they should tell us, send in a message, one writes about this.

Now, but it could be, it could be that in today’s times one must be less strict overall, because when the klaf is very very thick and people write very large letters, it can come out that the hekeif should be terribly long and the orech should be terribly narrow and it should be completely disproportional, which wouldn’t be beautiful. And it would then come out very difficult to use, because they would be crazy heavy and huge Sifrei Torah.

One thing, since all klafs are not very thick, it’s never… usually it works out, you understand? One must be less strict.

Speaker 2:

I hear, I hear.

Speaker 1:

It’s true that one is already accustomed, the Torahs that we have usually have a certain proportion, it doesn’t look weird, as someone says a rough finger. On this I said an example that a megillah is a place where it often looks weird and people come with such a smile “see, this is my style, because this way I can hold it when I stand”, but each person and their thing. There are people who have disproportionally very long megillos with only a few lines in each.

Speaker 2:

Yes, because the 11-line megillos are really funny.

Speaker 1:

Ah, the Chazon Ish wouldn’t have agreed to that just like that. The megillah, it’s a nice whole megillah, it’s also not orech kekefo, it doesn’t make sense, it’s much more high than it is… no?

Speaker 2:

Ah, it’s smaller.

Speaker 1:

Ah, that’s the story that one sees this normally, but a megillah is not orech kekefo. Look, let’s think, a megillah is a different… it’s not relevant, it’s not the same last, it’s not so long, the hekeif is not long.

Speaker 2:

It’s more orech kekefo by the way.

Speaker 1:

No? Yes! Ah, it could be the whole thing doesn’t apply here. Yes, you’re right. If someone has a megillah that’s as high as three feet the whole thing, but it’s so small, that does look a bit funny. No, it’s not too modern. There’s a “rule” like “rectangles”, there’s a “rule of thirds”, yes, the wise men of design have such “rules” how things look. There’s such a “rule” generally, yes, that you have a certain “size”, one paints a third of the wall, two thirds. There are such halachos about this. It appears that orech kekefo is a very aesthetic halacha. Very good.

But the tefillin was also very similar to orech kekefo, that it should be merubah. The Rambam also said that merubah means it should be merubah in the width, but it should also be like orech kekefo. “Proportionate”, “proportionality”. Yes, merubah is one thing, the Torah doesn’t say merubah, it’s higher, lemaaseh it’s higher than wide, but it makes sense, that’s how a beautiful thing looks. Okay, very good.

Halacha 12: Yeri’os — Three Pages to Eight Pages

Speaker 1:

The yeri’os he’s now going to tell us. “Ein osin biyeri’ah pachsos misheloshah dafin velo yoseir mishmonah dafin.” Each yeri’ah, a Sefer Torah is sewn together, yeri’ah means one piece of klaf, that’s not sewn together. A yeri’ah should not be less than three pages. That means, a Sefer Torah should not be sewn together from crazily many yeri’os, and also should not be more than eight pages, there also shouldn’t be very long yeri’os. Why shouldn’t it be more than eight pages? Seemingly, the fewer yeri’os makes it nicer, seemingly you could think. It’s also the “proportion”, what could it be that it’s nice. Too long is also not too much. He brings that one must stand it on the teivah, there’s too much, doesn’t mean it’s a beauty, a matter of noy. I don’t see the big “issue”.

And just a yeri’ah of nine pages, and it makes you… usually a yeri’ah from a hide of an animal, there’s no room for eight pages, one must go search that it should be only one of two. That’s normal as it’s relevant. If it happens, I have a yeri’ah that is indeed as long as nine pages, and one must cut, just like there is by tefillin, that one wants to make a chumra of or echad, that the whole tefillin is from one hide.

Speaker 2:

Are you talking about the batim or the tefillin?

Speaker 1:

We learned that the tefillin shel yad lechatchilah must be on one, bedieved they say that one can perhaps glue it together, but… no, bedieved is, one puts it in together is also good. Yes, but also here, one should make the whole… the Rambam says that the batim in the tefillin is the tefillin. The Rambam doesn’t say that one should button together little pieces. Today when one makes the batim, a part of them are not from one hide, yes, but… okay.

Okay, says the Rambam, in honor of the halacha that “lo yosifu al shmonah dafim”, he says that “ein nizharim shelo yarbu al tishah dafim”. One can divide it, because it must at least be more than thirty, let it be four here and five here, one should divide it. “Bameh devarim amurim, bitchilas hasefer uve’emtza’o”. One good. That means, then normally start writing three or four or five. “Aval besof hasefer, afilu pasuk echad bedaf echad, osin oso daf levado”. Because what’s left with the extra words? He’s stuck, it’s simple. What’s he going to do, rewrite the whole thing fresh? Yes, because it’s indeed there. No, door. He makes.

That’s how it is, “vesofrin osan mish’ar hayeri’os”. Yes, okay. Let’s go further.

Halacha 13: Sewing the Yeri’os — With Giddin

Speaker 1:

Yes, sewing the yeri’os. How one sews them together. “Ein sofrin hayeri’os ela begiddin shel behemah o chayah tehorah, va’afilu mineveilos uterefos, vetzarich sheyihiyeh min hamin hamutar kedei sheyitferu vo hatefillin”. This is the halacha leMoshe miSinai. “Lefikach im tefarnan shelo begiddin, o begidei behemah temei’ah, pasul”. He has invalidated the Sefer Torah. What must he now do? It doesn’t remain invalid. It’s invalid as long as it lies there. What must he do? He should take it and he should sew it back together with kosher.

Halacha 14: How One Sews — Not From Top to Bottom

Speaker 1:

“Keitzad sofrin hayeri’os? Keshemani’ach shtei yeri’os zo eitzel zo, eino sofeir kol hayeri’ah kulah mitechilah ve’ad sof”. It shouldn’t be sewn from top to bottom of the yeri’ah, rather top and bottom should remain a bit divided the yeri’os. Why? Says the Rambam, “kedei shelo yikare’u be’eis shegollin osah”. If one would have made it tight, when it would have been completely sewn from top to bottom, it would tear in the middle. And now it’s been seen that otherwise it tears a bit from top or from bottom, and that one can fix easier. It won’t tear, it’s already open. It’s clever. Because even if it will tear a bit because one goes tight, it tears top or bottom, where there one can easily fix. If one must fix something in the middle, one shouldn’t go back, and there’s nothing that should be torn. It’s not tied. I mean that this is indeed that. Shiur yeri’ah, benichoisa, me’at lema’alah, me’at lematah, according to what he needs. It’s seemingly yeri’ah, truly, I feel that it means a bit like… in short, one leaves way. Peshuto kemashma’o, one leaves it always a bit open. Conversely, there it opens a bit.

The Law of Space and Sewing

Speaker 1:

It won’t tear, it’s already open.

No, it can, even if it’s tight, it can indeed tear a bit because one goes tight, it tears top or bottom, and that one should be able to easily fix. If there are edges, there’s nothing that should tear, it’s not tied at all.

That’s indeed there a shiur yeri’ah. Veno’ach me’at lema’alah ume’at lematah belo tefirah, that’s seemingly a yeri’ah. Truly he says, I feel that it means like, in short, one leaves ways. The sewing is always, one leaves a bit open. Conversely, there it opens a bit, not dangerous, it remained open, there’s indeed a bit of space. One makes everything tight, and if it will stretch, one will fix it.

The rule is, the thing, if one is too tight, too exact, it’s not good, because it breaks too easily. One must always leave a bit of space that it should be able to stretch, open up.

Yes, but I see this has a foundation.

Pillars of Etz Chaim

Speaker 1:

Ve’oseh lo shnei amudim shel etz, why does one make two, which is what we call etz chaim, two woods of wood, echad bitchilaso ve’echad besofo. Vesofeir ha’or, it’s interesting, the Rambam says “shel etz”, means that the halacha is specifically wood.

Today there are what are called golden, but it’s only top and bottom. The wood itself one doesn’t make, yes? It’s a halacha? I mean that the woods are what connect the sefer. I don’t know if it’s a halacha. Today there are those who make a silver thing, one doesn’t make from inside. I’m not sure, I mean that there’s still a wood, where on top and bottom of the wood one puts gold or silver. That’s an offering, that’s perhaps a halacha.

Further see the question, amudim shel etz, why wood? Echad bitchilaso ve’echad besofo, vesofeir ha’or shebah bitchilah uvasof al ha’amudim begidim kedei sheyihiyeh nigal aleihem. It’s quite practical, that was what they couldn’t think of something else, because on wood one can also sew up with the sewing, one can connect it on the wood, kedei sheyihiyeh nigal aleihem.

Very good. The point is, that it’s not just going up the writing on it, it’s not nice, it will become broken, I know.

Space Between Pillar and Pillar

Speaker 1:

Veyarchik bein amud le’amud kerochav kesav shebedaf. That’s the same thing, ah, a bit more space, not just two fingers, but perhaps a bit more.

A Sefer Torah That Tore — The Law of Fixing Tears

Speaker 1:

Says further the Rambam, Sefer Torah sheniker’ah bo yeri’ah, which is good shtei tefiros. Okay, now he’s going to clarify that it tore. A tear in a Sefer Torah. A tear with an ayin. What happens if a Sefer Torah tore? How does one fix it? When may one fix it?

Says the Rambam, a Sefer Torah that tore in the middle of a page, a yeri’ah, the question is where is now the hole? If the hole tears through between whole whole lines, it would make the Torah very ugly, because one’s going to fix now and there’s going to be patches in the middle of words. But if it’s only in two lines, that means only two words are going to be heard, one should indeed fix it, one should take it. But toch shalosh, if it tears into three lines, lo yitpor, one shouldn’t fix it, rather one should replace that yeri’ah.

Difference Between Old and New

Speaker 1:

Says the Rambam, bameh devarim amurim? Beyeshanah, an old Sefer Torah. What means yeshanah? Not necessarily that it’s old twenty years, it means that it’s an itzuvo nikar. That one doesn’t recognize the… They learned earlier that a Sefer Torah is treated with a material called itzba, a chemical called itzba, which makes the smoothness or what? The processing, yes. And such a Sefer Torah that has the oldness and one doesn’t recognize the processing, one’s going to very strongly see the tear with the sewing. Aval im nikar hagevil she’itzbo, but if it’s however a very good quality gevil that still has the effect of the itzba, then one won’t see the tear so strongly, the tearedness between the lines, it is indeed kosher.

The Logic of the Difference

Speaker 1:

And just like that, I don’t know what the explanation is, I would have thought perhaps just old Torahs, it’s already old, replace it for a good year. On a new Torah you’re going to redo because it tore a bit?

No, I mean it makes sense, because think of a good quality, thick parchment that has torn, you fix it, but it’s thick, it’s strong, yes? You can use it. But the weak one is already broken to begin with, and you’re going to sew it, it won’t be on the same level, it’s going to break twice, it’s already both old and torn, it’s already not good. I mean for the same reason why on an old person you don’t do all kinds of surgeries.

I mean that by daf l’daf and by tibur l’tibur yitfor.

That is, we learned that toch shalosh means that it tore a… between words, but the space between words is easier. It’s then a yeria, a yeria has… okay.

Sewing Tears with Sinews

Speaker 1:

So the Rema, “kol hakreim”, all these torn pieces that you sew together, you only do it with sinews that sew these sheets to one another. You also need to use the sinews min hamuter b’ficha. You need to… is this also a halacha l’Moshe miSinai? Or is this just, you understand, sewing with sinews is halacha l’Moshe miSinai, so it’s me’akev, no problem case. No, but or the honor of the sefer Torah is that everything that’s used is only min hamuter b’ficha. Okay.

Guarding That No Letter Be Missing

Speaker 1:

V’chol hakreim yizaher shelo techsar ot achat, that all these sewings are only good as long as everything is nice and it hasn’t damaged any word. If it’s not good, he brings that the Rema says that there are those who conduct themselves that you sew when it’s torn with silk, or others conduct themselves, he also says that you put… I’ve seen this, you put such a piece of parchment from underneath, and then with glue or something like that, then there’s also a way that you can fix it. Okay.

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Speaker 1:

Until here is chapter 9 of how to make a sefer Torah, Hilchos Sefer Torah.