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Sefer Torah
Writing a Sefer Torah
A Torah scroll is written by hand, one letter at a time, over about a year. There are 304,805 letters in it, and if a single one is missing the whole scroll cannot be used.
Not a printed book. A Sefer Torah is the five books of Moses written out by hand by a sofer — a scribe trained for it — with a quill, in ink he prepares himself, on parchment, in letters whose shapes are fixed down to the crowns on them.
It takes about a year. And every letter carries the whole thing: if one of the 304,805 is missing, cracked or malformed, the scroll is not kosher and cannot be read from until a scribe repairs it. That is why a Torah is checked, and why the idea of a single letter mattering is not a sentiment somebody invented for a fundraising page — it is the law of how the scroll works.
The last of the 613
The final commandment of the Torah — the 613th — is that every Jew have a Torah scroll written. Not bought, not inherited: written.
Almost nobody can commission a whole one. So the way it is done is that a letter is written for you, by name, in a scroll the community is writing together — a letter, a word, a verse or a portion. That is what a campaign like this is: one scroll, and a few hundred people who each have something in it.
The Rebbe encouraged exactly this, and for a reason beyond the practical one. A scroll where every letter is indispensable and no letter is worth more than another is a fair description of a Jewish community, and having a letter in one is a way of saying so.
What can be dedicated
Two kinds of thing: the writing itself, and the silver and velvet the finished scroll is dressed in. Every one of these is a real part of a Sefer Torah.
In the scroll
A letterאות
One of the 304,805, written for you by name. The smallest thing anybody can have in a Torah, and the whole scroll is invalid without it.
A wordתיבה
Several letters together — often a name, or a word that meant something in a family.
A verseפסוק
A whole sentence of the Torah, which people take for a wedding anniversary or a birth.
A portionפרשה
One of the weekly portions — the one read on a bar mitzvah, or on a yahrzeit, or the week somebody was born.
A bookספר
One of the five: Bereishit, Shemot, Vayikra, Bamidbar, Devarim.
On the scroll
The crownכתר
The silver crown that sits on top of the scroll.
The breastplateחושן
The silver plate that hangs on the front.
The rollersעצי חיים
The two wooden staves the scroll is wound on. Literally, trees of life.
The mantleמעיל
The velvet cover the scroll is dressed in.
The pointerיד
The silver hand used to follow the words, so a finger never touches the parchment.
The binderגארטל
The sash tied round the scroll before the mantle goes on.
Each one is arranged with the Rabbi, for what it is and for what suits your family, and can be paid over time.
The day it comes home
When a scroll is finished it is not quietly delivered. The last letters are left blank on purpose, and on the day, people are given the honor of holding the quill with the scribe while each one is filled in.
Then the scroll is dressed — the binder, the mantle, the breastplate, the crown — and carried out into the street under a chuppah, the same canopy used at a wedding, with music and torches and dancing the whole way to the Shul. At the door the Ark is opened and every scroll already inside is brought out to meet the new one, and they are danced in together.
It is one of the happiest things a community does, and it is open to everybody, whether or not you have a letter in the scroll.
Not sure what to dedicate?
Say what the occasion is and see what people usually choose.
Ask about a dedication
Tell us what you have in mind — a letter, a portion, the crown, or simply that you would like to be part of it — and Rabbi Weinfeld will come back to you himself.
Ask about a dedication →
Questions people ask
What does a letter cost?
Every dedication is arranged with Rabbi Weinfeld, one at a time, and it can be paid over time. Tell us below what you had in mind and he will come back to you — including if what you can give is smaller than you feel you should say out loud. Nobody is turned away from having a letter.
Do I have to be religious to have a letter?
No. The mitzvah belongs to every Jew without qualification, and that is rather the point of it: a scroll is 304,805 letters and not one of them is worth more than another. People who have never been inside a synagogue have letters in Torah scrolls all over the world.
Can I dedicate one for somebody who has died?
Yes, and it is one of the commonest reasons people do. A letter, a verse or a portion can be written in memory of a parent, a spouse or a child, and their name is recorded with it. Many families choose the portion read on the week of the yahrzeit.
Can children have one?
Yes. A letter is often given to a child for a birthday or a bar or bat mitzvah, and children understand the idea of it immediately — that the whole scroll would not be a Torah without their letter in it.
Do I write the letter myself?
No — a Sefer Torah is written by a trained scribe, a sofer, and the letters have to be formed exactly. What happens is that the letter is written for you, by name, with your intention. At the ceremony when the scroll is finished, people are given the honor of holding the quill with the scribe as the last letters are filled in.
How long does a Torah scroll take to write?
About a year of a scribe’s work. It is written by hand with a quill on parchment, one letter at a time, and if any letter is missing or malformed the scroll cannot be used until it is corrected.
Chabad of Silicon Valley is a registered 501(c)(3), EIN 84-3752618. A dedication is tax-deductible to the extent the law allows, and can be given by card, check, stock or transfer — the details for each are here.