Scribe (1966), Hand Color

10"x14" hand color edition of 13 pcs

In the Talmud, the 3rd and 4th-century sage Rava uses the quote to assert that every Jew must write their own Torah scroll. Nearly 1000 years later, the commentator known as The Rosh had a new take on the tradition, in keeping with the customs of his time. Torah scrolls were already kept in synagogues' arks and were not used for studying. The Rosh argued that the commandment need not be understood literally but instead could be applied to books that are written for individual Torah study.

By the 18th century, the commentator Rabbi Danzig wrote that a Jew's obligation was to own but not write sacred books for studying. As printed books became more available, studying the Torah replaced the narrower understanding of writing one.

The Scribe in this image is a real person. He is a Torah mender. In this Lithograph, he is reading/checking the Torah word for word, line by line. Numerous laws detail the precise figure of each letter.

When writing a Torah, the Scribe must pronounce each word out loud before copying it, leaving sufficient white space surrounding it. The Torah is not Kosher if a letter is missing, smudged, or cracked. Printed torahs are not Kosher. A Kosher Torah is used to copy.

The Scribe is the 4th Lithograph released and one of the most unique. There were only 13 hand-colored litho-pastels - many unique. They were never released for sale. This was a work in progress for a larger edition of a colored lithograph that my father never completed.