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 / …
With the Shimmusha Rabba tagin, I find that even the tikkunim are inconsistent on one tikkun from the shel yad to the shel rosh. That bothers me incredibly. You can't expect the sofrim to be consistent when the tikkunim they are copying from are not!
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Even meyuchsdike parshiyos in Chabad (one group) there are so many differences.
DeleteHowever it is still important to fix if they are disconnected, because it may be a shaolio of an extra vov, as by any tag with a rosh that is not connected to the os
Just out of curiosity, which tagin are generally made in Chabad? Shimusha Rabba/Rambam/Tikkun Tfillin? Arizal/Matzas Shimurim?
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