Shalom,
Today I attended my communities big event, the inauguration of a brand new Torah scroll for our new Chabad center. It is hard to believe it was only four months ago we held our first services in the new shul, and todays event brought out at least 100 people including dignitaries from the state and local government, and the entire Jewish community within 30-40 miles.
In order to raise money for the writing of the scroll the rabbi allowed us to give in varying amounts for a letter ($18) a pasuk, a Parsha, and special portions went for even more (ie the Aseret Hadibroth {10 commandments}). I now have a portion (Shemini) dedicated in my name (and my families) in this Torah scroll which, with G-ds Ratzon (will), shall be used by the next 3 generations of Jews.
It is a commandment of the Torah that each Jew must write a Torah scroll. The sages have determined that a Jew must at least give money toward a letter in the scroll because without every letter in a Torah scroll, it can never be a kosher Torah scroll.
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/979201/jewish/Writing-a-Personal-Torah-Scroll.htm
The 613th mitzvah of the Torah is the obligation for every Jew to write a Torah scroll.1 In the words of the verse2: ""And now, write for yourselves this song, and teach it to the Children of Israel. Place it into their mouths, in order that this song will be for Me as a witness for the children of Israel.""
Although Rashi3 and some other commentaries4 understand this as a command only to write the Torah portion that immediately follows, Ha'azinu (which is referred to as a song), the Talmud5 understands it as an obligation to write the entire Torah. Maimonides6 explains that although the word ""song"" in the verse is referring to Ha'azinu, since it is forbidden to write only a single portion of the Torah on a scroll,7 it is understood that there is an obligation to write the entire Torah.8
Moses fulfilled this commandment by writing (or completing) a Torah scroll on the day he passed away. As the verse states9: ""And Moses wrote this song on that day, and taught it to the children of Israel… Moses finished writing the words of this Torah in a scroll, until their very completion.""
The mitzvah is echoed in the command for a king to write a ""second"" Torah scroll.10 This is understood to mean that in addition to the Torah scroll which he must write as every other Jew does, he also needs to write a second one which he will then carry with him and read from constantly.11
The Details of Writing a Torah Scroll
* In order to fulfill this obligation, one does not need to write the Torah oneself; one may commission a scribe to write it.
* However, if one does write a Torah scroll himself, it is as if has received it from Mt. Sinai.12
* If one simply buys a ready-written Torah scroll, he has not fulfilled his obligation, unless he then fixes at least one letter that was previously invalid.13 Others say that one fulfills the mitzvah through purchasing a Torah, but not in the optimal way.14
* If one fulfilled this mitzvah and then subsequently sold or lost his Torah scroll, he must write or commission the writing of a new one.15
* Some say that this mitzvah cannot be fulfilled with a Torah scroll which is owned in partnership.16 Others disagree.17
* Maimonides18 rules that women are not obligated to fulfill this mitzvah. The Beit HaLevi19 explains that this is because women are exempt from the mitzvah of studying Torah.20 Others question Maimonides' ruling on this matter.21
Why Don't We All Write Our Own Torah Scrolls?
The Lubavitcher Rebbe points out that we don't find any record that upon receiving this mitzvah the Jews en masse wrote hundreds of thousands of Torah scrolls. Nor do we find historically that many people actually commissioned the writing of their own scrolls. The Rebbe concludes that since the main purpose of the scroll is to read from it and that nowadays we read from it in the synagogue, one can fulfill one's obligation through the Torah scroll that is owned by the community. In addition to the fact that as a member of the community, he owns a part of the Torah scroll, he also can be considered a full owner during the time that he actually reads from it – that is, when he receives an aliyah.22 It is an unspoken agreement that whenever anybody is called to the Torah, all of the community members temporarily give that person full ownership of the Torah for the duration of that aliyah. When the aliyah is over, he then ""returns"" the ownership to the entire community.23
Although ownership of a Torah scroll is not sufficient to fulfill the mitzvah, but rather the person must commission a scribe to write it for him, in the case of scrolls written for the community, we consider the scribe an agent of the entire community. In addition, if the Torah needs to be corrected – something which is a frequent occurrence – the scribe who does the corrections is seen as an agent of the entire community. Thus, even those who were not yet born when the Torah was written have a part in the writing.24
This explains how we can all fulfill this mitzvah today—even according to the opinions that one must actually write one's own Torah scroll and not simply be a partner.
In addition, the Lubavitcher Rebbe initiated campaigns to unite all of Jewry in this mitzvah by having as many Jews as possible purchase letters in Torah scrolls that are written in Jerusalem. Separate scrolls are written specifically to unite Jewish children. To purchase a letter in the Torah scroll for adults, click here, and here to purchase a letter in the scroll written for children.
Topic: In Other News : A new Sefer Torah is Born (Read 793 times)