Netivat Sofrut: diary of a Soferet

Adventures of a female sofer learning to heal the world by doing Holy Work...writing a Sefer Torah

נחזיר את השכינה למקומה בצייון ובתבל כלה

"Let us restore the Divine In-Dwelling to Her Place in Zion & infuse Her spirit throughout the whole inhabited world."

So wherever we are, let us bring the Peace of G@d's Presence.

: Name: Soferet; Location: Vancouver/London, British Columbia/UK, Canada

SCRIBAL EVANGELIST As the only living certified Soferet (סופרת - female Jewish ritual scribe) & the first woman to practice sofrut (creation of sacred Hebrew texts) in over 200 years, I feel an obligation to blog about my experiences of The Work. I am also currently researching the foundation of a lost tradtion of women practicing this holy craft. For more on the services I provide, please see Soferet.com; Sofrut Nation. I am now available to engage with students, male or female, wishing to enter into the preliminary stage of learning sofrut. You are welcome to join me on this path. "Tzedeq, tzedeq tir'dof - Justice, justice you shall pursue." Devarim/Deuteronomy 16:20.

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Wednesday, January 14, 2004

ISOLATION

BS"D

Mid-January already. I'm writing wireless from an attic in Seattle as the rain streaks across my window. Parchment & ink lay before me on the drawing table. I've done some good work since I last wrote 3 months ago - is it *really* THREE months?
The shock of the September 9th suicide bombing at Cafe Hillel on Emeq Refa'im in Jerusalem left a deep scar on my psyche. I left off publishing my journal at that point because I was unable to edit my words appropriately for this blog. There were other bombings, other murders, while I was living there, & it's taken me this long to sufficiently recover my author-ity, my author-consciousness.
The last 3 months have been a whirlwind of friends, family, strangers, students, rabbis, journalists, magazines, newspapers, wedding plans, speaking engagments all furiously spinning round me sitting silently here in the eye of this storm with my ink, quill & parchment.
I will begin my journal once again, filling in the time since I left Israel & working my way forward to this relationship of black fire on white flame.
kol tuv