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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Friday, November 26, 2004

WHAT IS THE TORAH OF HARLEM?

BS"D

Sunday, August 22nd, continued
R' Dave & Muz wanted the space back, so I'm out as of this afternoon. Packed everything hurriedly. Had settled in quite well here in Manhattan, despite the car theft the general concrete-ness. I'm going to plant a larger garden when I get home. Still, I'll miss this place. After the car was all packed it was getting to be mincha, so searched all over the upper west side for a minyan, but everyone had held services at 2 pm...so I asked at Roma & the owner very nicely directed me to a minyan up around the corner where they did mincha/maariv with some learning in between for beyn hashmashot. I returned to Roma after davenen & thanked him by ordering too much pizza & eating it while reading a Jewish newspaper article about Madonna, the Kabbalah Centre, The Pope, Mel Gibson & his raison d'être, Emmerich as I watched the car parked across the street. I was to move to Ben & Shoshanah's tonight - he just moved from downtown. It made sense for him to move up by Columbia/JTS since that's where he's doing his Ph.D, & because he could get a huge 2-bedroom for less than the airing cupboard he'd been living in. Headed north & after some very confusing driving around, discovered them both in a restaurant getting a late bite. Very funked-out place. I wish kosher joints decorated like this. I had a glass of water.

We went back to their place & I noticed many security lights & cameras in the courtyard surrounding the double-locked front door. Even a tidy brick & glass security booth, full of 24-hour armed guards. This freaked me out a little, but he said, "No - cameras are *good*!" so I asked him if his very clean & well-secured building was dangerous to live in. He pointed across the street, to the Projects.

We all settled in to the as yet unfurnished flat, had a beer & talked again about the history & customs of Jewish magic as I acquainted myself with the cat. She had the tiniest mew I have ever heard :D
Benny & Shoshanah are wonderful people.

I had a hard time falling asleep that night because of all the yelling & loud music radiating from those dark, forbidding buildings on the other side of the road. More like on the other side of the *world*. What is the secret Torah that can only be found in the Projects?