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.

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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.

Monday, May 23, 2005

HAPPY VICTORIA DAY!

בס"ד


Blogging in the garden while the coconut curry simmers...

I watched the parade this morning on CH. I really miss going to it every year ever since I moved to Vancouver, so the telly will have to do. Joel & I marked our 11th anniversary of probably seeing each other for the first time, as '94 was the first year he marched in the parade with his high school band & I never missed a second of the festivities...

The party started with "Captain George" Forest at the head. He's the official greeter of Victoria, & he & I used to work next door to each other years ago when I was a tobacconist here. He was a good guy.

Good ol' Gordy Tupper, one of CH's beloved personalities, gets the prize for making the most hilarious accidental comment of the parade: as he spotted the Ocean River Sports float featuring multiple kayakers suspended above the street paddling the air, he enthusiastically exclaimed, "These guys think they're passing water, but they're not!"

& of course, no parade would be complete without shriners on scooters! Actually, my favourite is the pennyfarthing riders :)

I took off this afternoon to enjoy the holiday Monday, which I never do. I'm usually so busy being Jewish that I don't partake in or even recognise "normal" Canadian goings-on. It was a gorgeous day today, too, & I deserve to not work occasionally. I'd make a bad Israeli, as I can only take only 1 day off a week for so long...

Anyway, I strolled up to one of my fave used bookstores, Kestrel, & browsed to my heart's content. I picked up a copy of one of the best books ever written, IMHO, The Piano Man's Daughter by Timothy Findley. My friend Melissa invited me to a reading of his at UVic the year it was published & I remember sitting in the dark so enraptured by the way he threaded his voice through his words.

Several years later, when I was homesick for Canada after living in Israel for almost a year, I used to frequent a particular net-café in the Russian Compound of Yerushalayim. it was Canadian-owned & operated, with all the employees & performers being "Canoe Jews". It was awesome. I could spend an evening there enjoying a folk singer from Calgary or a day there working the web to tunes by Sarah McLachlan, the Barenaked Ladies, Moxy Fruvous or Crash Test Dummies. It almost felt like home...

...so one day I was chatting with one of the girls who worked the counter there, & she handed me a book. "Do you want this?", she asked, "'Cause I'm finished reading it & it was really good." It was The Piano Man's Daughter.

"Really good" was an understatement.

Each night I turned in with this novel, falling asleep before I could put it down. It was such an enchanting read, that by the time I was only 20 pages into it's 500 leaves, I was already dreading the time when I would finish reading it, & then I would no longer have this nighttime companion. I felt sad.

Fast forward 7 years & I have bought myself a softcover of it, with a newer cover illustration (I preferred the flaming piano on the original) & settled myself down in the nearest park. I sat on a large stone, people-watched, & dove back into this story until it was time for me to return home & cook dinner.

Fortified, I floated home on the neighbourhood scent of barbeques & beer.

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