torah is perfect and imperfect, and so are we

​On Tuesday Josh took our two Torahs on a road trip. It was quite the sight, two Torah’s wrapped in tallitot and buckled into the back seat of his car. It felt a bit like he was taking them to summer camp. They are spending the next month or so with a soferet (scribe) in Virginia who is cleaning and repairing them. I am so excited to be able to care for these scrolls, to brighten the parchment and tend to each letter. 

In preparation for their cleaning I have been reflecting on the wonders of Torah sh’bikhtav - the written Torah. Some years ago I took a class to learn how to learn scribal arts. I had been making mezuzot out of found objects and aspired to write the klaf/parchment myself.  I quickly fell in love with all of the customs that surround Hebrew scribal arts. Everything is organic, literally of the earth. The quill used to write, the ink used to drop and drag, the thread used to tie the sheets of parchment together.

There are so many customs that really moved me. 

I love the idea that you can’t touch metal to any aspect of the Torah because it is used to make instruments of war. For this reason you use gold-plated scissors to cut the thread and a rose thorn to make lines on the parchment. It’s awesome! 

I loved realizing that the Hebrew letters contain each other. A ו (vav) is an elongated י (yud). A ד (dalet) is a ר (reish) with a tail. A ה (heh) and a ח (chet) are nearly identical, just a little space separating them. I could go on.

I loved how much intention went into writing every single letter. There are kavanot to be said before, during and after writing every letter. It truly is a meditation, requesting one's undivided attention. I quickly learned the writing was way too exacting for me. I felt caged trying to drag the ink such a small but significant distance. All praise to the scribes. I am better coloring outside the lines. 

While the Torot (plural of Torah) are in the shop we will be replacing the Torah service with extended Torah study, a chance to immerse more fully in Torah sh’be’al’peh - the Oral Torah. This is its own sweet treat since it's a practice we don’t often have enough time for on Shabbat morning. 

Ever since we printed our new siddur I have been more aware of both the power and limits of the printed word. As soon as it went to print, it was imperfect, already ready for an updated reprint. Despite endless proofing, there were typos, mistakes, missing prayers, misplaced words. Apparently this is inevitable. Every printed book is supposed to be perfect but in reality it is the finite nature that makes it inevitably imperfect. It is the nature of the written word to be static. 

Which is why we are ultimately oriented to the rabbinic tradition, the oral torah, which is dynamic, alive, emergent and imperfect. Somehow the oral torah is more perfect and amazingly also ultimately imperfect, infinite, indefinite. 

The scrolls on their own are sacred but they are not enough to live by. The words, the letters, the crowns, are holy because we read, interpret, wrestle and at times override them. It's our relationship to Torah that is ultimately most important, most holy. 

In the words of Pirkei Avot, "Turn it and turn it, only then will everything be in it."

May our study this summer add many green leaves to the tree of life. And may our Torahs return shimmering clean, radiating the white fire of Torah and ready to reveal new insights in the years to come.

As promised, here is my preliminary summer reading list, which attempts to curb my natural proclivity for non-fiction:

Fiction
American Warby Omar El Akkad*
James by Percival Everett
Endling by Maria Reva

*I just finished my early summer reading of his new book of nonfiction: One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This and I urge everyone to consider reading it. It's my #1 recommendation.

Nonfiction
Care and Feeding by Laurie Woolever
Melting Point by Rachel Cockerell
I will undoubtedly read some famous people’s memoirs I find on display at the library. 

Poetry (a new category for me)
Heaven Looks Like Us: Palestinian Poetry