A young man named Rabbi Meir, who would later become one of the defining figures in the Talmud, went to visit the senior Sage, Rabbi Yishmael. The elder rabbi asked him "My son, what is your profession?" "I am a scribe" his young colleague responded. ""My son, be careful in your work! It is the work of heaven! If you add or delete a single letter, you are destroying the entire world!"
For us, the Torah is not just a book. It is G-d's blueprint for Heaven and Earth, it is our instruction manual for life, it is our raison d'etre. There are thousands of laws that go into the writing of Torah Scrolls, Tefillin and Mezzuzot. Few rabbis are versed in these laws. It is a highly specialized area. Beyond that, the scribe is expected to be of the highest moral and ethical fiber. After all, he will be the pipeline for the blueprint of the Universe to become manifest here on earth. Nearly every letter is composed of other letters, representing combinations and permutations of Divine energies. For example, the letter Tzadi is composed of a Yud and a Nun. In Ashkenazic tradition, the heads of the Yud and Nun face each other. In Sepharadic and Chassidic tradition, they face away from each other. The Yud represents the Divine Masculine, the Nun the Divine Feminine. Facing towards each other indicates Unity and Happiness. Facing away means strife and separation; exile. We need to do holy actions so as to bring the faces lovingly together, while remembering that we are not yet there. Numerous books have been written on the shapes of the letters; from children's books, to advanced Kabbalistic texts.
An interesting point of halachah is that the scribe must write not by heart, but from an existing text. There are two reasons for this. One is so he will not make a mistake. But another, deeper reason is that "he is lighting one candle from another, going back to the first Torah that Moses wrote". He is aware that he is a conduit for something far greater than himself. It is a link in a chain that never was, and never will be, broken.
Before he begins to write, he says: "Behold, I am writing for the sake of the Holiness of a Torah Scroll". Every time he comes to a Divine Name (Ten different Names are found in the Torah) he must first say "behold, I am writing for the sake of the Holiness of the Name". Every time he takes a break from writing, he will again recite the sanctification when he begins anew. It takes months to write a Torah (in Ashkenazi script about nine, in Sepharadic script about four). But what he is writing is actually eternal.
In subsequent installments I will describe the materials the Sofer uses, the various scripts that abound, and the deep sense of awe and love that the Sofer (scribe) feels. About a month ago, a student of mine was ready to write his first Torah. He brought it to my home, honoring me with writing the first letter. As always, it was a thrill.