Mah Omeret HaSoferet - מה אומרת הסופרת

Reader Question on Ancient/Modern Hebrew Script Usage

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:23:15 PST

בס''ד Q: Hi Avielah, I have a question. In Ki Tisa we read about the Luchot with the Aseret Dibrot originally written michtav Elohim, the script of HaShem, and then the second version b'yad Moshe....

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ALL YOUR CHILDREN

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:30:04 PST

בס''ד “And All Your Children Shall Be Learned: Women and the Study of Torah in Jewish Law and History" – Shoshana Pantel Zolty 1993 Jason Aaronson Page 145 reads: There is also indirect mention...

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Female Torah Scribes = Old News, But Still Good News

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 03:50:48 PST

בס''ד When I was certified to write Sifrei Torah back in 2003 after many years of work and study, the client for whom I was to write my first Torah scroll wanted to generate media attention to...

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The Forward's Sisterhood Blog

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:56:23 PST

בס''ד Thanks to Andrea for sending me this link: please see the comment I left (I don't like to take credit for what I didn't do). http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/122324/ "Shalom! I'm...

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Scribal Space in Our Story

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:42:50 PST

בס''ד I had a question after last Shabbat from an overseas client, which I found of great interest and would like to share here: hi there. what can you tell us about the 3 spaces instead of the 9...

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HAFTARAT SHABBAT CHANUKAH

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:47:41 PST

בס''ד לֹא בְחַיִל, וְלֹא בְכֹחַ--כִּי אִם-בְּרוּחִי... Lo ve-hayil ve-lo ve-choah, ki im be-ruhi . . . Not by power, not by might; but by My spirit . . . - Zechariyah 4:6 May all our earthly...

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Parshat Va-yeshev: Dotted Letters Alef and Tav

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:19:32 PST

בס''ד Be-reshit/Genesis 37:12 reads: וַיֵּלְכוּ, אֶחָיו, לִרְעוֹת אֶת-צֹאן אֲבִיהֶם, בִּשְׁכֶם And once, his brothers went to pasture their father's flock in Shekhem. Va-yeilekhu, echaiv,...

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Hebrew Word Gifts

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:49:09 PST

בס''ד My friend Rory & I did these t-shirt designs together - ok, all I did was the Hebrew script, my own design called "Qeset Ha-Soferet" & first published by MySpace. & I did the writeups on the...

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Care and Feeding of Your Torah Scroll

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:05:56 PST

בס''ד Classic and practical booklet written by Brilliant Sofer Husband, Mordechai Pinchas Sofer ST"M, a few years back to help everyone look after their Sifrei well, and avoid little accidents...

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וַיִּשָּׁקֵהוּ Dotted Kiss in Parashat Va-yishlach

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:27:14 PST

בס''ד Be-reyshit/Genesis 33:4, Parshat Va-yishlach has a scribal peculiarity in the word וַיִּשָּׁקֵהוּ va-yishaqeyhu, "and kissed him". It can be found here in the following Chumashim: Plaut...

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This Month, Six Years Ago

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:40:24 PST

בס''ד This month, six years ago, my Globe And Mail interview with Cori Howard: (pls note - I'm not the first woman to be a soferet like the article states, as women have been occasionally doing...

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Parashat Va-yetzey's Enlarged Final Peh

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:38:14 PST

בס''ד In this week's parsha, Va-Yeytzey Be-reyshit/Genesis 30:42, in a Chassidic Sefer Torah one will find an enlarged letter Fey Sofit in the word u-ve-ha-atiF. וּבְהַעֲטִיף הַצֹּאן, לֹא...

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Parashat Tol'dot Diminished Letter Quf = Familial Desperation

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:26:19 PST

בס''ד In Bereyshit/Genesis 27:46, Parshat Tol'dot we have a letter Quf (ק) which is written very tiny - it's also the leading letter in its word. You can find this pasuq/verse in the following...

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Sad Lamed: Be-reyshit/Genesis 27:30 Parashat Tol'dot

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:48:47 PST

בס''ד וַיְהִי, כַּאֲשֶׁר כִּלָּה יִצְחָק לְבָרֵךְ אֶת-יַעֲקֹב, וַיְהִי אַךְ יָצֹא יָצָא יַעֲקֹב, מֵאֵת פְּנֵי יִצְחָק אָבִיו; וְעֵשָׂו אָחִיו, בָּא מִצֵּידוֹ. And it happened that as soon as...

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Diminished Letter Khaf in Be-reyshit/Genesis 23:2, Parshat Chayey Sarah

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:31:20 PST

בס''ד This week's Torah reading has another diminished letter - Khaf - which tells us something of the complexities of family relationships. Depending on which Chumash you're using, the verse...

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Dotted Letters Example #2b: Be-reyshit/Genesis 19:33, Parshat Va-yeira

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:16:01 PST

בס''ד Be-reyshit/Genesis 19:33, Parshat Va-yeira relates the time when Lot is drunkenly seduced by his own daughters, after they escape the destruction of Sodom. You can find the verse in the...

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Dotted Letters Example #2a: Be-reyshit/Genesis 18:9, Parshat Va-yeira

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:07:12 PST

בס''ד In Be-reyshit/Genesis 18:9, Parshat Va-yeira (Plaut p.123, Cohen p.87, Hertz p.64, Sforno p.87, JPS p.25, Jerusalem p.17, Stone p. 80) the word אֵלָיו eylav has three dots, one dot each over...

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Dotted Letters Example #1: Be-reyshit/Genesis 16:5, Parashat Lekh Lekha

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:51:04 PDT

בס''ד Be-reyshit/Genesis 16:5, Parshat Lekh Lekha has a letter Yud which is naqud, dotted above, in the word "u-veynekha". This word can be found in the following Chumashim: Plaut p.111, Cohen...

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Eytz Chayim Hee - The Torah of Idolatry

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:04:57 PDT

בס''ד BS"D New York City's underground fashion's latest darling, bad-boy wild child Levi Okunov, is dressing women up as Torahs. Now, I'm not the smartest person in the world. Sometimes it...

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Parashat No'ach: Intercessory Prayer

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:25:37 PDT

בס''ד Although there are several peculiar scribal oddities found in this week's Torah portion (according to Yemenite tradition, Sefer Taggin, the Machzor Vitri and various other sources and...

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Small Letter Hey in בְּהִבָּרְאָם Parashat Bereyshit

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:05:25 PDT

בס''ד This letter Hey balances out the enlarged Hey which can be found in Parashat Ha'azinu, Devarim/Deuteronomy 32:6. You can read more about that here. Parashat Bereshit, Bereshit/Genesis 2:4...

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Bereshit 2:25 and 3:1 - the ayin t'luyah

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:28:04 PDT

בס''ד A scribal post by my husband, Marc Michaels (a.k.a Mordechai Pinchas, sofer stam): So one of my favourite kabbalistic touches happens in Bereshit where Adam and Eve are found to be [arumim]...

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Oy gib mir a heym vu di bufloksn geyn - Enlarged Letter Bet in Parashat Be-reyshit

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:08:23 PDT

בס''ד That would be Yiddish for "Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam..." Thanks to Marie Jaffee for her translation and hat-tip to Rebecca Boggs for her transliteration. I'd like to talk...

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Parashat Ha'azinu #3 - Diminished Letter Yud (י)

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:40:16 PDT

בס''ד In Devarim/Deuteronomy 32:18 there is a letter Yud which is written very small compared to all the rest of the letters. It's the last letter in the word תֶּשִׁי teshi, meaning neglected or...

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Parashat Ha'azinu #2 - Enlarged Letter Hey (ה)

avielah@soferet.com (Soferet Avielah Barclay) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:53:56 PDT

בס''ד The letter Hey of Ha-le-Ad@nai in parashat Ha'azinu, Devarim/Deuteronomy 32:6 is a standard letter written enlarged according to Midrash Rabbah Aqim. This parasha is almost always read on...

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