Introduction

Sofrut - the Jewish scribal art - is a tradition stretching back for several thousands of years. For the "People of the Book," texts of various kinds are a fundamental part of religious life, whether for communal or personal use. Sofrut requires a good deal of calligraphic skill, but no less importantly, a large amount of technical expertise, both practical and theoretical. We would expect no less for the creation of these artefacts, which have been a central focus of our tradition throughout the ages.

The reader is recommended to Mordechai Pinchas' site for an excellent overview of the Jewish scribal arts.

The sacred scrolls

Brief discussions on sifrei Torah, tefillin, mezuzot and the Megillot are here at HaSoferet.com.

Soferot

A more detailed discussion of women and the halakha of sofrut is on this site and growing all the time.

Women have, by and large, not been part of this tradition. Indeed, the Talmud states unequivocally that if women write sifrei Torah, tefillin, or mezuzot, they are pasul, or unfit for use. Halacha is a dynamic process, changing with the needs of communities, and a very few women in history are said to have been soferot accepted by their contemporaries. Today, there are a very, very few women practising sofrut.

What does it mean for a woman to practise sofrut if her work is unfit for use? Of course, in the egalitarian movements, it is more a question of numbers - even though ideologically there is no problem, in actual fact, there are still very few women involved. Even in the non-egalitarian movements, there is still a conceptual space for women to be soferot. Sofrut encompasses many different texts, and not all of these are invalid if written by women. In these cases, using a text written by an observant woman is a powerful gesture, supporting women's involvement in the community, whilst remaining within halachically-defined boundaries.

Halakha Library

The rules of sofrut are summarised, like most halakha, in various compilations of Jewish law. I have translated a few of the absolutely essential ones here, so that the interested layman can obtain some idea of how much studying a sofer has to do before he can even pick up a pen.

This section may also be of use to would-be soferim, in aiding their comprehension of the rabbinic texts. A sofer must know Hebrew; this is one of the rules, and if you don't know Hebrew you should not be writing. This being accepted, biblical Hebrew and rabbinic Hebrew are different animals, and rabbinic Hebrew isn't the easiest thing to comprehend; the vocabulary and idiom aren't at all like biblical Hebrew. If you are serious about practising sofrut, you should learn to comprehend the originals, but a translation is a helpful tool for learning.