Treasure from Sinai

For Jews the mitzvot {commandments) are loyal daily companions, providing comfort, a sense of purpose, and spiritual inspiration from our earliest childhood to our final days. They remind us of who we are and where our destiny lies. They are the pathways we were given to travel in order to maintain and strengthen our relationship with God and to make us the best people we can become. Through the observance of mitzvot we maximize the joy of Jewish living to the fullest. And, of course, most important, they are our obligations, as mandated by the Torah given to us at Sinai by God through Moshe, His loyal servant.

The Jews were privileged to be given 613 mitzvot: 248 positive mitzvot that tell us how to live our lives and 365 negative commandments that tell us what behaviors to avoid in order to perfect ourselves. Many of the mitzvot, though, are linked to the time when the Jewish people live in their land with their Temple. Today there are only 77 positive commandments that the great sage, the Chofetz Chaim, lists as being applicable to all of us.

In this book you are invited to examine these 77 mitzvot, our Treasure from Sinai that are the legacy of all Jews. Below are a few choice excerpts.

Jewish homes are identifiable by the mezuzah attached to the right doorpost on the front door. The mezuzah is usually found about 2/3 of the way up. It is an ancient tradition to kiss the mezuzah as you pass through the doorway.

Actually, all doorways in the house need mezuzahs. The mezuzah scroll itself is hidden by the mezuzah cover (unless the cover is made of glass or see through plastic). The mezuzah cover protects the mezuzah scroll from damage that might make it unfit for use. The gates in the walls around a Jewish city neeed mezuzahs as well. When entering the Old City of Jerusalem through the city gates you will see large mezuzahs that have been placed there by the city municipality.

A mezuzah scroll must be written on parchment in black ink by a sofer, a scribe, who uses a pen made out of a feather.

Torah source: Deuteronomy 6:9, Parashat Va'etchanan
"And you shall write them on the doorposts of your home and on your gates"

A mezuzah should be given to a scribe twice every seven years to be checked if it is still kosher.

The mezuzah is a reminder to the people living in the house that the home should be dedicated to the beliefs and values as set forth in the Torah.

All the doorways in the home have a mezuzah to remind those living there that God is everywhere. Even in the privacy of the innermost rooms of his house a person's actions are being monitored by Him.

A mezuzah that has even one letter missing or extra is not kosher. This type of error is uncorrectable and the mezuzah is invalid.

A mezuzah is written with a quill pen made by snipping off the bottom of a feather and then cutting it to a point. A razor or sharp knife is used to make a slit in the center of the point.

If you are moving and the people moving into your previous house are Jewish, you may not take the mezuzahs with you. In Israel you must leave mezuzahs in the house when you move (though you may substitute a cheaper mezuzah for the ones you had in your former home.)

The letters written on the outside of the mezuzah scroll are shin daled yud, spelling out one of God's names. It is also an acronym for Shomer Daltot Hashem, meaning God watches over the entranceways (of our homes).

All mezuzahs are rolled up from left to right. That way when it is unrolled the first word at the top will be the word Shema.

In Israel a home needs a mezuzah as soon as people move in. Everywhere else the occupants have up to thirty days to put them up.

There were Jewish mayors of New York City who put up mezuzahs on Gracie Mansion, the mayor's official residence.

Onkelos was a citizen of Rome who chose to abandon the pagan Roman gods of Mt. Olympus for belief in Judaism and one God. Onkelos was also a nephew of the Roman emperor. When Onkelos's uncle heard of his conversion to Judaism he was furiously angry that a member of the emperor's family had rejected the religion of Rome. Soldiers were sent to place Onkelos under arrest. When they arrived Onkelos spoke to them and persuaded them to convert. A second group of soldiers were sent; they, too, converted. When the emperor sent a third group of soldiers they were ordered not to talk to Onkelos when making the arrest. Though they didn't say a word to him, as they escorted Onkelos out the door he reached out to touch the mezuzah on his doorway. He then asked the soldiers if they knew what it was. He proceeded to explain that the servants and guards of kings and emperors protect them. However, the King of kings needs no guards and He protects His people. Hearing these words, these soldiers also converted and the emperor finally gave up. Onkelos eventually translated the Bible into Aramaic, and his translation is printed on the side of almost every Chumash.

Does a bathroom door need a mezuzah? No
Does a closet door need one? No
If two letters are touching is the mezuzah kosher? No
If paint accidentally got onto a mezuzah, is it still kosher? If paint just gets onto the mezuzah cover and not the mezuzah scroll that's okay, but usually if the cover got paint on it, the paint probably seeped onto the scroll too. If there's paint on the cover you should take out the scroll and have a sofer check it.

The Torah scrolls are a Jewish community's most holy and precious possession. The handwritten Sifrei Torah (Torah scrolls) contain the words that Moses wrote down, as dictated to him by God. It is God's message to each and every Jew and to the entire world. It is the great legacy of the Jewish people, read publicly in the shul from beginning to end every year, forever influencing and guiding the Jewish people. After all is said and done, when the Torah finishes telling us all the commandments, the last and final mitzvah is the obligation to write a Torah

Torah source: Deuteronomy 31:19, Parashat Vayelech
"And now write this song for yourselves"

The first Torah was written by Moses himself. He made 13 copies. He gave one to each tribe and one was placed in the holy ark.

The longest Torah portion is Parashat Naso in Numbers. It has176 sentences (pesukim.)
The shortest portion has only 30 pesukim. It's Parashat Vayelech in Deuteronomy.
The Book of Genesis (Breishit) is the longest of the five books of the Torah and Leviticus (Vayikra) is the shortest.
There are 5845 sentences in a Sefer Torah, and 245 columns.
Writing a sefer takes an average of 1,000 hours.
On the average a Torah costs $25,000.
There are 304,805 letters in a Sefer Torah

When someone is going through hard times or is confused about what is the right thing to do he will have his Sefer Torah to study for inspiration and guidance.

Because everyone is obligated to write a Torah, there will be many Sifrei Torah available for Jews to study from.

If someone inherits a Sefer Torah do they still have a mitzvah to write one? Yes

If a person cannot write a Sefer Torah himself, he can have a scribe write it for him, and it is considered that he has fulfilled the mitzvah.

A Torah can be sold only to provide money needed to redeem a Jewish prisoner, pay for a wedding or to enable one to study Torah, or to buy a Sefer Torah of higher quality.

The sefer can only be written on special parchment prepared for the purpose of writing a Torah.

A Torah can be written only on lined parchment. The lines are called sirtut and are cut onto the parchment.

The pen used by the sofer (scribe) is a quill made out of a turkey feather. The scribe must write the words with his right hand, but if the sofer is left-handed he uses his left hand.

The Sefer Torah cannot be written from memory; it must be copied from another sefer.

If even one letter in the sefer is missing the entire sefer is pasul (invalid) until the correction is made.

Every time he writes God's name the sofer must say it's being written "le'shem kedushat Hashem" (for the sake of God's holiness).

The pieces of parchment that the Torah is written on are sewn together with thread made of the sinews of a kosher animal.

When a sefer has been declared invalid (pasul) the custom is to tie the belt which is normally tied around the sefer underneath the mantle (Torah cover) to the outside of the mantle as a universally understood sign that the sefer is pasul.

Everyone must stand when a Torah passes by. When transporting a Sefer Torah it should be treated with honor. For example, when transporting a sefer in a car, a passenger should hold it on his lap. It should not be put in the trunk. If no passenger is in the car it should be placed securely in the front seat. Usually a sefer that is being flown to another country is not sent as cargo but travels with the passengers in the airplane.

Damaged Sifrei Torah are put in a clay receptacle and buried in a Jewish cemetery next to the grave of a tzadik, a righteous person.

Thousands of years ago King Ptolemy of Egypt assembled 72 rabbis, placed them in separate rooms where they couldn't consult each other, and commanded that they translate the Torah into Greek. He was hoping to discredit the Torah and the Jews. Miraculously all 72 translations were exactly the same and the reputation of the Jews and the Torah was preserved. This translation was called the "Septuagint."

A quill pen is made by snipping off the bottom of a feather and then cutting it to a point. A razor or sharp knife is used to make a slit in the center of the point.

The last letters of a new Torah are only outlined by the scribe. The person or family that sponsored the writing of the sefer chooses whom to honor with the great merit of filling in the last letters at the hachasat Sefer Torah. This is the dedication ceremony in which a newly written Sefer Torah is brought to shul upon its completion. It is a very festive affair.

First, using the scribe's quill pen, the people chosen for the honor fill in the letters that complete the Sefer Torah. The sefer is then wrapped in its new mantle and brought into the street. Police have already blocked the street to traffic to allow the procession to make its way unhindered. A chupah wedding canopy is spread out over the Torah and hundreds of people sing and dance in front of the Torah as the one holding it walks down the street. In Israel a van with a giant Torah crown that has flashing lights often leads the procession. Children with torches burning brightly line the street and march as a fiery procession before the Torah. When the Torah nears the synagogue, its new home, the other Torahs of that synagogue are brought out of the holy ark and taken out into the streets to "greet" the new Torah. All the Sifrei Torah are then brought back into the shul and returned to the ark to the accompaniment of singing and prayers.

The Sifrei Torah of the Jews in Iraq are written on parchment made out of deer skin.

Ilan Ramon was the first Israeli astronaut, one of the seven astronauts on the Columbia space shuttle who were killed tragically when their space vehicle blew upon reentry. On his historic mission Ramon took a Sefer Torah that was only four and a half inches tall. It too was destroyed in the disaster.

The story of the Sefer Torah that went to outer space began decades earlier in the infamous Bergen Belsen concentration camp. There it was in the possession of chief rabbi of the Netherlands, Rabbi Dasberg. The rabbi met a young boy, Joachim Joseph, who was soon to pass his bar mitzvah birthday. Despite the great risks involved the rabbi and the boy decided they would celebrate his bar mitzvah. Late in the night the rabbi prepared the boy to read the Torah portion on his bar mitzvah. On the night of his birthday the inmates of the barracks covered the windows and lit four candles and the Sefer Torah was taken out. Joachim said the blessings over the Torah and read from it as the inmates listened. In the shadow of Nazi persecution, one Jewish boy celebrated his bar mitzvah.

Knowing that he himself would probably not survive the camps, the rabbi decided to give the sefer Torah to Joachim. But he made a condition with Joachim: he must promise that after the war he would tell over the story of his bar mitzvah.

Surviving the war, Joachim went to Israel and eventually received a doctorate in physics. Ilan Ramon visited Dr. Joseph to discuss the experiments that were going to take place on the shuttle. Ilan noticed the Sefer Torah on the shelf and asked to hear its story. A few months later Ilan called from Houston for permission to take the sefer with him on the shuttle.

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