I'M JUST PARCHED

בס"ד
19 Nisan/5Pesach


The pictures are finally in! YAY!
Thanks to R' Linda Motzkin & R' Jonathan Rubenstein, you can now have a gander at our adventures in the preliminary steps of parchment making :)

Qlaf (or klaf, as it is more popularly but incorrectly transliterated) is one of the kosher types of hide Sifrei Torah are written on. The other type is gevil - mentioned here & here, but look for more about it in a later post. Sofrut-o-rama.

But first:
WARNING * WARNING * WARNING
Very gory pictures below of raw deer skins being denuded of their fat, blood, tissue & other matter in preparation to become kosher Sefer Torah parchment! Photo credits got to R' Jonathan.
Don't say I didn't warn you...



Above: This is Dr. Michael C, R' Linda M & me in the Motzkin-Rubenstein back yard. We have 2 of the 4 skins we'll process mounted in the fore- & background. We're all wearing heavy duty rubber gloves, boots & black plastic garbage bags to keep the dead Adirondack deer guts off of us.



Above: We're all looking over at a big ol' bulldog who came sniffing around the yard, as she caught the scent of venison carcass on the breeze. When she saw a bunch of humans in slaughter garb standing around all the bloody stuff, she left with a cautious look on her face.



Above: Working the underside of the skin with a fleshing tool especially made to peel all the viscera away from the dermis. As you can see, I've cleaned most of this (pale pinky-white area) of the extraneous guts (red/brown/beige) necessary before the next step in parchment making. We all made the verbal declaration in Hebrew together before we began, saying that we were about to flesh the hides for the sake of the mitzvah of Sefer Torah.



Above: More of the same, just harder & in close-up. This is an excellent upper-body workout :)

After we fleshed all 4 hides, we brought them into the garage & sunk them in tubs of water with lime (don't inhale this - wear gloves & goggles, too), declaring that we were also placing the skins in the lime for the sake of the mitzvah of Sefer Torah. The lime has a ph sufficient to allow one to pull the fur out after soaking it - how long depends on humidity & temperature. Usually a week or two, at least in upstate NY :D

In the old days, when tanners couldn't acquire sufficient mey afatzim/gall-nut water, they used to use dog poop for the same application (before lime was used), which is why even in ancient times a Jewish woman could obtain a divorce (& a settlement) from her husband if he was a tanner. The rabbis recognised that the marriage couldn't work if she couldn't stand his smell...

2 weeks ago, I was in upstate NY, where I have many dead ancestors & living friends. While there I spoke in Saratoga Springs at Skidmore College, for the Department of Women's Studies, the Department of Religion & Philosophy & with the Campus Chaplins' group. They were all fantastic. I was so lucky, thank G@d.

I even made the school's faculty paper.

I also had the delightful privilege of spending a few hours over delicious coffee with none other than the Velveteen Rabbi! Thanks for the gorgeous post, Rachel, for so many links to my various posts & of course most importantly for the coffee & conversation!

I also got to hang out & learn with my sofrut student. A nice change from our telephone chevruta.

Jen, my "little sister soferet", made the 3-hour car trip with another woman who wants to become a soferet. We all talked shop, just us girls. A husband listened in & took photos
It was such a great trip.
Thanks, everyone :D




Technorati tags: religion, Judaism, Torah, Canada,journal, weblog, blog, diary, parchment, klaf, New York, soferet, sofrut, scribe, art, Technorati.