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, July 24, 2006

WHO NEEDS TO SLEEP?

בס"ד
29 Tamuz


I'll be giving a lunchtime teaching over at the Conservative Yeshivah in, oh, about 8 hours. Followed by Mincha. Come one, come all!


Written later...
My talk at the CY went swimmingly, I think. Had about 20 people show, all eager faces. A pleasant surprise was chatting with Simon afterwards & even pleasanter that he gave me a very handsome tallit katan with p'til tekhelet tzitzit. No pic for now, as I've already exceeded my upload limit on Flickr. But soon...

R' LeBeau was very kind & guided the discussion - many of the students asked really good questions, too. They were all very bright. R' Hillel brought me Megilah Khaf"Dalet amud Bet (Tractate Megillah of the Babylonian Talmud, 24 column 2) & the Shulchan Aruch Quf Khaf"Chet, se'if Lamed"Gimel (128:33) to illustrate a story I had used as an example of how we pronounce the letter Ayin as a glottal stop & not just a silent consonant who carries vowels & has no voice of its own (like Alef). I'd learned the Talmudic source years ago & had not only forgotten it but had also failed to find it again. A matter of moments after the class ended, R' Hillel had found both the source plus a reference to it & brought both volumes to me, laying them out on the table. Rabbi Supah-Genius, he is.

I stayed for some chevruta learning & had the pleasure of meeting their Rosh Yeshivah R' Pesach Schindler (who'd attended my talk). Then sat through a lecture from R' Joel Roth - after all his writings & rulings, I was so curious to experience him in person.

Later I dropped in on my bestest friends - they're family, really - in Jerusalem. Yehuda is the most gifted bookbinder on the planet & Maurene is a high-up techie. We had a really good visit, long over due, I listened to one of their son Adam's tracks (he's a bassist) & then toddled off to my Sofer's.

In honour of the Rosh Chodesh meals my Sofer's yeshivah used to put on, his family hosts people for Rosh Chodesh meals now - & so tonight begins the Nine Days & the month of Av.
It was great fun - I met more of his family (who was staying with them because they've been bombed out of their home in Haifa) & one of his students. I really have great admiration for both my Sofer & his wife. Very lucky to know them.

Chodesh tov - a good month - of Menachem Av!




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10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

What time does that work out as? BTW, is the email address I have for you still good, or should I change "aviel" to "avielah"?

8:55 p.m.  
Blogger Soferet said...

בס"ד
Hi there, Simon!
12:45 'til 1:40, or thereabouts. & yes, I haven't got 'round to changing my e-address, so drop me a line :)

11:15 p.m.  
Blogger Talmida said...

I can't decide of whom I am more jealous -- of Simon meeting you, or of you meeting Simon!

;-)

4:56 p.m.  
Blogger Soferet said...

בס"ד
Hey, Talmida!
Well, I suppose Simon & I will have to come to Alberta to meet you now, won't we?
;)

10:06 p.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Or...you could just stick around until Talmida visits Israel :)

12:18 p.m.  
Blogger Soferet said...

בס"ד
True enough :)
Come join us, Talmida - leave behind Deadly Sin # 2 & head for Jerusalem!

12:49 p.m.  
Blogger Steg (dos iz nit der šteg) said...

(attack of the diqduq geeqs!)

alef = glottal stop
‘ayin = voiced pharyngeal fricative/approximant

1:55 p.m.  
Blogger Soferet said...

בס"ד
LOL!
Ok, Steg, thank you for the correction. I do value it :)
So...how do I explain 'Ayin's sound to calligraphers & Kabbalists in a simple way which doesn't require them to be linguists?

2:33 p.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My Arabic teacher at uni said that 'Ayin is the sound a camel makes when throwing up. I hope your pupils will find that helpful ;-)

4:27 a.m.  
Blogger Soferet said...

בס"ד
Ew - snap!
I've ridden a camel, but it never threw up, at least within earshot of me.
Blah!

12:55 p.m.  

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