(Heb. Sefer Torah). Handwritten copy of the Five Books of Moses, kept in the Ark of the Synagogue and taken not for the Reading of the Law on each Sabbath as well as on Mondays and Thursdays, New Moons (see Moon), Festivals, and fast days (see Fasting and Fast Days). The scroll must be written on parchment or vellum by a Scribe (sofer) familiar with all the laws involved. Only parchment obtained from a ritually clean species of animal may be used, although the animal need not have been ritually slaughtered. The parchment, which must be specially treated in advance to ensure durability, has to be embossed with lines before the scribe begins writing. The ink must be black and is generally prepared according to a traditional formula. Whereas reed pens were once used, scribes today write with pens with metal nibs. Jewish law defines in great detail the shape of each letter, but there are differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardi rulings on these shapes. The Torah scroll contains no vowels or cantillation marks, nor are there punctuation marks dividing sentences or phrases. Sections (e.g., the two songs in Ex. 15:1-19 and Deut. 32) are marked off by either a blank space equivalent to at least nine letters within a line (setumah = "closed"), or by leaving the balance of the line open (petuḥah = "open"). Four lines are left blank within the different books of the Pentateuch. Thirteen of the letters of the alphabet have little lines drawn above them, known as tagin or "crowns." Six of the columns must begin with a specific word, but there are no other requirements regarding the layout of the columns, which can have between 45 and 60 lines. Most Torah scrolls, though, begin each column (except for the above-mentioned six) with the letter vav. The sections of the parchment are sewn together, using tendons obtained from ritually clean species of animals. Once the entire scroll is ready, it is mounted on two wooden staves, known as the atsé ḥayyim ("trees of life"). In Ashkenazi congregations, the full scroll is then tied with a sash and covered with a cloth mantle (me'il). In Sephardi congregations, the cover is made of either wood or metal and is known as the tik. In German congregations, it was customary for parents of a newborn child to prepare a sash (wimple) to be used in tying the Torah scroll. This sash was generally embroidered with the name of the child and wishes for his future well-being and donated to the synagogue when the child grew up, sometimes for his Bar Mitzvah. The Scroll is adorned with the Torah Ornaments.
If an error of any kind is found in a Torah scroll, such as two letters touching or an error in copying, the scroll may not be used again until the error is corrected by a scribe. If correcting the error would necessitate the erasure of God's name, the entire segment of parchment containing the error must be replaced with a new one. Should three or more errors be found in a Torah scroll, it may not be used again until it has been checked from beginning to end for further errors and all errors have been corrected. In Ashkenazi congregations, if a Torah scroll has been found to need repair, the custom is to tie the sash of a Torah scroll over the mantle rather than underneath it, as an indication of the fact that the scroll may not be used until it has been repaired.
The Torah scroll is the most venerated of Jewish ritual objects. It is customary to stand as a sign of respect whenever the synagogue Ark is opened and the scrolls become visible to the congregation (see Petiḥah< On Simḥat Torah (Shemini Atseret in Israel), Hakkafot (circuits) are held in the synagogue both in the evening and in the morning, at which time all the Torah scrolls are removed from the ark and ceremoniously carried around the reading desk seven times. Ḥasidic custom outside Israel is to have such hakkafot on both Shemini Atseret and Simḥat Torah. The last of the 613 According to biblical law, the entire Jewish community had to gather on the Sukkot festival in the year following the Sabbatical Year in a ceremony known as
