BS"D

S-O-S!

I've had an extrememly eventful week. A week of endings & beginnings, a week of frusteration & joy, of learning & processing.

In preparation for writing the Sefer Torah, I began going through my Tiqun Shm'ot, the book that lays out exactly the way Sefer Sh'mot (the Book of Exodus) must be written. There are times when names of G@d are used to refer to idols or judges, etc, which represents a problem: When to meqadeysh (verbally sanctify) these names & when not to? ALL of G@d's names which appear in the Sefer - there are 10 - must be meqadeyshed. The Qeset HaSofer (Inkwell of the Sofer - the Sofer's rules book) states among its many rules that to err here & sanctify a name which refers to idols is equivalent to "urinating on the Holy of Holies". Oy.

A Tiqun relieves this fear of error by labelling each name "qodesh", holy, or "chol", regular. Now here's the problem:
As I was thumbing through parshat Sh'mot, circling all the qodesh names & putting squares around all the chol names, I came upon a name that was labelled "safeyq" - doubt.
Doubt? How can there be a doubt?
I read the sentence, Exodus 7:16, & it seemed quite clear that G@d was referring to G@d's-self. So why wasn't it qodesh? I e-mailed my Sofer for advice.

I continued my work. Reading pashat Va-era, methodically moving over the letters, it became a meditation for me. I noticed just how many times G@d declares, "Ani Ad@nai!" - "I am The Lord!". Were we not paying attention? Did we treat The Holy One inappropriately? G@d was so tangible, so present with us on our march through the desert, how could we forget that G@d was G@d?

Then again - a safeyq. Again G@d is talking about G@d's-self.
I e-mailed my Sofer again - "EMERGENCY!" in the subject line.

Still further. I see the word "Eloqey" in parshat Bo. It has neither "qodesh" nor "chol" written above it. Why not? Now I'm getting nervous. This Tiqun is a strict standard published in B'nai B'raq (a town so holy, they have no police force, because everyone is too afraid of G@d). If there's no indication, how do I know what to do? I read the pasuq (sentence). It was referring to "eloqey Mitzraim" - the gods of Egypt. So obviously the name is chol. But it isn't labelled, so if a Sofer does not notice, is not sufficiently conscious of the meaning of the full sentence, he could easily make a mistake. A mistake like that is very serious - it passuls (treyfs/makes unkosher) that whole yeri'ah (sheet) of qlaf (parchment). & it must be buried.
I'm waiting to hear back from my Sofer.
I wonder how many passul Sifrei Torah are out there right now...