This video shows a sofer writing a sefer Torah. This sofer has a good hand, writes at a nice pace, and can ask a decent price. But one can also tell how the sefer Torah industry has commercialised the process, allowing for better productivity.
Note the following:
1) The sofer is writing on a light table, which means he does not have to worry about planning the spacing and can just trace over the letters. This saves a lot of time. This also minimises mistakes and saves time of repairs.
2) The quill is a plastic kulmos with a repository, which means you need to dip it into the ink every few lines instead of every few letters. Also you do not need to sharpen it and make new quills. Both of these save time.
3) The klaf today is more refined and smooth, easier to write on. Not uneven and rough like the old days. I'm sure lots of "mei klaf" is added. This enhances writing speed and quality of writing.
4) Double sirtut. Again this enhances quality and neatness.
5) The tagin / …
The standard way of calculating (for a 42-line Sefer) is to make shiras hayam 150% the width of the standard amud, and shiras ha’azinu 128% the width of the standard amud. I don’t know how that would translate to a 48-line Sefer.
ReplyDeleteA better way of calculating would be to first figure out exactly how much room you need for your own writing and go from there:
- The amud width should be no less than the minimum amount of space you need to comfortably write the most crowded line with proper spacing between words (for a 42-line Sefer, in shiras hayam the most crowded line is the last line on the amud). Write out that line a few times and take the average line length as your minimum.
- In both shiros the spaces in the middle should be at least a shi'ur parasha — even for the lines that are a bit longer (…בא סוס פראה… & תהמת יכסימו). In shiras hayam the 2 spaces in the 3-part lines need to be (at least) a combined shi’ur parasha.
- The best way to calculate a shi’ur parasha is to write out “אשר” many (many) times and calculate the average of every "אשר אשר אשר".
- The last consideration is the maximum line width, which should be no longer than the most you can stretch the least-stretchable line. In shiras hayam that is “כל ישבי כנען”. Again, you will have to write it out a few times to figure out how far you can go before you lose the tzuras ha’os.
Doing all of this work will be time-consuming, but you only have to do it one time for every size Sefer Torah you will write. In the end, you will have a much nicer Sefer.
do not write big or you wont be able to pick up the torah
ReplyDeletemaximum should be 7mm a line
It's a גמרא מפורשת that the proper height for a Sefer Torah on gvil is 6 טפחים to get ארכו כהיקפו. I worked backwards from there.
Deleteand i had such a torah written and it is extremely heavy, there is a reason most gvil sforim are 40-45 cm
DeleteIf you have the 48 line tikkun, take a look at the measurements of the Shira there are work it out. I have it if you don't.
ReplyDeleteRegards
I am behind on some orders and have not even gotten a tikkun yet. Whatever info you have would be great. Tizke l'mitzvos!
Deletewhats your email?
Deleteaviheinberg@gmail.com
Deleteaviheinberg@gmail.com
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