Hebrew Voices #181 – The Woman Who Writes Torah Scrolls: Part 1
In this episode of Hebrew Voices, The Woman Who Writes Torah Scrolls, Nehemia joins Avielah Barclay, the first female Jewish scribe in modern times. They discuss why Judaism clings to such ancient technology, how writing with the proper intent is … Continue reading →
In this episode of Hebrew Voices, The Woman Who Writes Torah Scrolls, Nehemia joins Avielah Barclay, the first female Jewish scribe in modern times. They discuss why Judaism clings to such ancient technology, how writing with the proper intent is just as important as the correct content, and erasing mistakes in accordance with a variety of Jewish traditions.
I look forward to reading your comments!
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Transcript
Hebrew Voices #181 – The Woman Who Writes Torah Scrolls: Part 1
You are listening to Hebrew Voices with Nehemia Gordon. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon’s Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.
Avielah: Andevery time you see God’s name written by this particular scribe, you’ll see it written like that.
Nehemia: Really?
Avielah: Because there is a tradition. Not everyone writes God’s name like this.
Nehemia: Shalom, this is Nehemia Gordon, and welcome to Hebrew Voices. I’m here today in London, England with Avielah Barclay, who is a soferet STaM. She is a professional Jewish scribe who writes STaM, which is Torah scrolls, phylacteries, and mezuzas, right? Do you write all three of those?
Avielah: I do write all three of those.
Nehemia: Wow. So, I wanted to start off with… we were discussing before we started about whether you’re a sofer STaM or a soferet STaM. Soferet is the feminine. Normally what people say, and by normally I mean… almost every time in my life I’ve ever heard the term, it was sofer STaM.
Avielah: Yep.
Nehemia: And STaM is an acronym for “Sefer Torah, Tefillin, Mezuzah.” “Torah scroll, phylacteries,” and “mezuzas”. Which you’ll talk about… we’ll talk about. So, you’re a soferet STaM. You self-identify as a woman, and you are a woman!
Avielah: That’s right!
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Comments
Interesting content! I like the history
Thank you for the fascinating interview with Avielha Barclay!
Thank you for the inspiring and insightful video, I really enjoyed it.
Hello Nehemia, I just finished watching this video for the first time. I intend to go back and watch it again. There is one concern I have regarding a female scribe, which would also apply to a female rabbi. That is, during the time of a woman’s uncleanness (in her menstrual cycle), she would be considered, in a Biblical context, to be unclean. That state of uncleanness would prevent her from handling the Torah, in my opinion. Does this particular scribe work on a Torah scroll during her cycle? Thanks in advance, Robert Pill.
I saw the documentary about this lady a number of years ago. I was fascinated by her pioneering in this area. I was born and raised on Vancouver Island, B.C. and never knew of anyone there who did this. I also find the whole tradition of reproducing the Torah scrolls mesmerising. The reverence, dedication and accuracy with which it’s done takes my breath away. The fact that modern day scrolls show only miniscule deviations from scrolls written hundreds of years ago, even reaching all the way back to the Dead Sea Scrolls, just blows my mind! Truly God works through these people.
She was absolutely delightful to have as a guest, her knowledge and ability is clearly staggering in depth, it’s also fun to see Nehemia ask the questions and learn and display he is still a student and always growing and learning, Prayers for Israel, Nehemia, Lynell, Makor HF, Rood, Keith, Jono and everyone else in Nehemias Orbit keeping us deeply involved in Scripture!
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