G‑d instructed Moses to transcribe His words at Sinai. The very first Torah scroll was born. For thousands of years since, each Torah has been transcribed precisely the same way.
It begins with parchment, ink, a hand-sharpened feather quill, and a G‑d fearing Sofer (scribe). Intense concentration is required. Indeed, to help his focus, a Sofer can be heard while writing saying, “for the holiness of a Sefer Torah.”
It takes one year, 62 large sheets of parchment, 248 columns, 10,416 lines, and a perfect 304,805 letters. Completed, a Torah Scroll is the holiest object in Judaism.
The Torah is brought into its new home, the synagogue’s holy ark, in a celebration reminiscent of a wedding. Elegant velvet, gold and silver, adorn the new Torah.
3,333 years old. The Torah remains flawlessly unchanged. It is a living miracle.
The Jew
Each letter in the Torah corresponds to a Jewish soul. If even one letter were to go missing, the entire scroll is invalidated. So too, each and every Jew without distinction, is of irreplaceable significance.
Each Jew is embodied by a letter in the Torah. Inseparable, these letters bind each Jew to another and the Jewish people become one. Torah holds the collective Jewish soul of our people.
The Egyptians, Babylonians, and Persians splendidly rose but then faded away. The Greeks and Romans followed, but they are gone. Others held their respective torches high, and they too have burned out. The Jew saw them all, survived them all, and is now what he always was. But what is the secret to this immortality?
Torah.
G‑d, Torah and the Jew are indivisibly one and remain a living miracle.
