A kosher Torah scroll is handwritten by a scribe - all 304,805 letters
Every synagogue Torah is copied by hand to exacting rules; a single wrong letter can render the whole scroll unfit for use.
A ritual Torah scroll - the first five books of the Hebrew Bible - cannot be printed. To be valid, it must be handwritten on parchment by a trained scribe, a sofer, who is qualified in the laws governing every stroke.
The scale is exact. A complete scroll contains 304,805 Hebrew letters, set across hundreds of columns. Writing one is a year-long labour: one recent project ran to 62 sheets, 248 columns, 10,416 lines before the final letter was set down.
One year, 62 sheets, 248 columns, 10,416 lines, and finally 304,805 letters later, it is written.
Precision is everything. The scribe declares the intention to write the scroll before beginning, and the work must follow specification exactly. An uncorrectable error - especially in a name of God - can make the scroll pasul, ritually unfit, no matter how much has already been written.
Sources & references
2 referencesWell-established. Corroborated by 2 independent sources.
