THE TORAH IN THE WARDROBE MARC MICHAELS

The Torah
in the
Wardrobe
The History and Restoration
of the Alexander Torah
Published in 2017 by Kulmus Publishing

ISBN 978-1-988947-00-6
The moral right of the author has been asserted. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise except under the terms
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998.

© Marc Michaels 5778/2017

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Contents
1. The 613th Commandment 3
2. The Torah of the Book 9
3. Have Torah, Will Travel 11
4. The Red Book 32
5. The Torah, the Housekeeper and 46
the Wardrobe
6. At Home in the Vicarage 52
7. The Twins 55
8. Restoring the Alexander Torah 69
9. Visual Midrash 111
10. Siyyum haTorah 145
Acknowledgements 161
Bibliography 163
About the Author 165
Other books from Kulmus Publishing 166

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1. The 613th
Commandment
The Sefer Torah is the most prized possession of a Jewish
community. It commands great respect and reverence and
is afforded a degree of kedushah (holiness) not matched by
any other ritual object. Its function and importance are well
known, even to those with minimal Jewish knowledge as it
symbolises the uniqueness of our religious values and the
raison d’etre of our culture.

What is less generally well known to the wider world is that

the Torah contains not just ten but 613 mitsvot
(commandments) and the last, but not the least, of which is
to write and own a Sefer Torah - not collectively, but a
mitsvah that is incumbent upon every Jew. Every Jewish
male argues Maimonides,1 but even in orthodox texts there
are some dissenting voices that suggest women are also
bound by this commandment.2

In the past people did write or commission the writing of

their own scroll - indeed the king had to have two - and
used them for study and in the community. In our day the
observance of this mitsvah is a rare phenomenon. The high
cost is prohibitive, limiting this to the wealthy only.

1. R. Moses b. Maimon, also known as the Rambam or Maimonides

(1135-1204, Cordova, Fez and Cairo).
2. Notably the Rosh, the Rif, the Tur, the Drisha and the Sha’agat
Aryeh, the latter stating that women should be mandated to write a
Torah.

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Moreover very few individuals are capable, or more

accurately, happy to take the not inconsiderable time to
study the halachah of sofrut - the scribal laws - and develop
the necessary calligraphic technique to produce an
halachically acceptable and ideally beautifully written scroll.
Nonetheless Sefer HaChinuch1 - the book of instruction -
has this as number 613 and the commandment is derived
from Deuteronomy,2 where it states:

z`ŸGd© dẍiX¦ dÎz

© ¤̀ m¤kl̈ Eaz§ M¦ dŸ©re§
v’atah kitvu lachem et hashira hazot
(and now write for yourself this song)

In context this probably refers to the song in close

proximity to the statement - the poem of Ha-azinu,3 but is
taken to mean the whole Torah by the rabbis.

So each Jew is still mandated to either write for himself or

more likely commission an agent to do so on his behalf -
this is the sofer (scribe),4 who will write by hand (printing is
not acceptable) with special ink – d’yo (made from gallnuts
and copper sulphate) on k'laf (parchment) with a kulmus
(quill or a reed) And, as mentioned, if you happen to be

1. Which systematically discusses the 613 commandments of the Torah.

It was published anonymously in 13th century Spain.
2. Deuteronomy 31:19.
3. One of the three songs ascribed to Moses, it was sung at the borders
of the promised land and is a hymn of hope that God has shown his care
and love for Israel before and whilst Israel may sometimes go off the
path, God will not forget them (Deuteronomy 32:1-52).
4. Sofer is derived from the root xtq [to count] since the scribe had to
count all of the letters and words to check that there was no error. The
first biblical reference to sofer comes in Judges 5:14. Scribes are usually
referred to as Sofer S”TaM (the collective term for scribal works, being
an acronym of the first letters of Sefer Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzah).

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the king of Israel - then you have to have two, your kingly
one and your own personal one.1

In fact the king of Israel gets one other mention in the

halachah of sofrut. If you are a sofer sitting and working
and someone comes in and speaks to you, you must not
respond until you have completed the word you are
writing. If however it is the king of another nation then you
may – presumably because he will have you killed
otherwise. If the king of Israel comes and greets you, you
can safely ignore him as he is presumed to know better than
to disturb a sofer at work. Oddly enough the king of Israel
does not often pop round to my study, so I am fairly safe.

Sofrut, the scribal arts is not merely calligraphy. It requires

kavanah - diligent concentration and spiritual intention.
Also essential is a deep understanding of the details of the
halachah, the laws pertaining to the art, so that the Jew who
makes use of the materials thus produced can be fully secure
in the knowledge that they have been created lishmah, for
the sake [of the commandment], by a person of good moral
standing and integrity. This imbues the work with a spirit of
holiness.

The story with the king thus really reinforces that the
writing must be done with kavanah and concentration and
you should be thinking of the holiness of your endeavour
and not get distracted – it is ‘l'shem k'dushat Sefer Torah’
(for the sake of the holiness of the Torah) with special
emphasis on God’s holy names and in accordance with the
various laws and traditions mapped out in collections such as

1. Mishneh Torah Hilchot Sefer Torah 7:1.

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Keset Hasofer 1 and the Mishnah B’rurah.2 Every letter must

be correctly formed and complete and without a single
mistake. This is also derived from Deuteronomy:3

m¤kz§ ¤̀ m¤kidŸl¡
¥ ` 'd dËv¦ xW£̀
¤ M© zFU£rl© mY¤ x§ n© WE
§
l`ŸnUE
§ oinï¦ Exqª z̈ `Ÿl
u’sh’martem la-asot ka-asher tsivah Hashem Eloheychem
etchem, lo tasuru yamin u’s’mol
(and you should be careful to do
as the Lord your God has commanded you,
you shall not deviate to the right or the left)

and also in the Sh’ma where it is written mzazke

u’ch’tavtem (and you will write them) - the rabbis
deliberately break the word into two mz azke u’ch’tav tam
(and you will write perfectly).4 Additionally, the Talmud
warns that:

It was taught5 - R. Meir said that when he

came near to R. Yishmael, he said to me,
‘my son, what is your work?’ I said to him
‘I am a scribe.’ He said to me, ‘my son, be

1. Keset Hasofer was written by Sh’lomo Ganzfried (1804-1886) in

Ungvar, Hungary in 1835 and it was his first published work. Ganzfried
however, is best known for his later work the Kitsur Shulchan Aruch, a
summary of the halachah needed for daily living. Keset Hasofer being a
similar work, though summarising the rules for scribes, is an excellent
source laying out the halacha l’ma’aseh (lit. laws for doing).
2. The Mishnah B’rurah is an halachic work by Rabbi Yisrael Meir
Kagan, known by the name of another of his books, Chafetz Chayim
(Desirer of Life). It was first published in 1906.
3. Deuteronomy 5:29.
4. Deuteronomy 6:9.
5. In a baraita (a statement from Mishnaic times, but which was not
collected into the Mishna of R. Yehuda Hanasi but preserved outside of
this in the Tosefta (lit. Addition)).

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careful in your work for your work is

heavenly work - perhaps you would omit
one letter or add one letter, and we will
find that you have destroyed the whole
world.’1

This is not mere exaggeration as Mishnat Hasofer 2 gives

two examples of adding or omitting a letter ‘destroying a
world’:
1) zn` midl` 'd Hashem Elohim emet (The Lord is the true
God). Omitting the aleph from emet would give the
hebrew word zn met meaning death.
2) 'd xacie (and God said). Adding an extra vav on the end
of the first word would give exacie (they said) implying that
there is more than one God. Both of these are serious
blasphemies and tantamount to destroying the foundation of
the world, hence the very real warning from R. Meir.

Indeed, it only takes one letter to be too faded or broken in

a scroll for the whole Torah to be declared leqt pasul
(invalid) as opposed to xyk kasher (valid). Something
cannot be 99% kasher - it either is or it is not - there are no
shades of grey.

So it is no great surprise that welcoming a new Torah does

not happen that often and people generally do not have the
honour of participating in this important mitsvah. Instead,
most Sifrey Torah are written for communal use. This is in
itself an interesting development as the biblical mitsvah does
not have a communal aspect and it therefore does not

1. Eruvin 13a.
2. A modern Hebrew commentary on Keset Hasofer written by
Ya’akov Meir Stern of B’nei Brak.

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discharge one’s individual obligation to have your own

Torah. Rabbeynu Asher1 explains that the prime purpose of
having a Torah is study and this can be achieved through
owning a Chumash, Mishnah, and Talmud, leaving the
Torah for communal public learning - though this is not a
universally accepted view.

However some individuals are wealthy and fortunate

enough to be able to commission their own Sefer Torah for
their own use - a family Torah.

This book is about one such Torah, the history of its

journey with generations of that family and its restoration ...
a very special Torah ...

... the Torah in the wardrobe.

YYY

1. Asher ben Yechiel (1250 or 1259-1327) was an eminent rabbi and

Talmudist. He is often referred to as Rabbeynu Asher (our Rabbi
Asher) or by the acronym for this title, the Rosh (lit. Head).

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2. The Torah
of the Book
It is quite rare for a scribe repairing a Torah to know a great
deal - or even anything - about the provenance of that
scroll. The style of writing, the parchment and the stitching
can often be pointers to the age and likely geographical
origin of the scroll, but this isn’t foolproof. Individual
synagogues too may have preserved some history of the
Torah and there may be truth and equally there may some
level of ‘embellishment’ in those tales.

Once in a while, however, when I’m called on to restore a

Sefer Torah, I’m fortunate enough to learn the story and
history of the scroll which both brings it alive and makes it
much more than just a restoration project. Probably the
most ‘famous’ Torah that I have encountered - if a Torah
can be called famous - is the Alexander Torah. Indeed I
encountered it twice, but the first time I had no idea how
unique it was.

Jews are often referred to as the ‘people of the book’, but

this particular Torah features in no less than three books -
and, with the one you hold in your hand or are reading on
your screen - a fourth. It appears in the bestseller Hanns and
Rudolph - German Jew and the Hunt for the Kommandant
of Aushwitz by Thomas Harding, Three Rabbis in a
Vicarage by Antony Godfrey, and the chronicle of the
family history, A Measure of Time written by John

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Alexander - the present custodian of the Torah, as the eldest

‘Alexander’. Moreover, whenever I mentioned that I was
working on it to various rabbis of my acquaintance,1 they
had heard of it - a famous Torah indeed.

Additionally it is ‘jam-packed’ with special features that you

rarely see in scrolls and certainly not in the more modern
scrolls that follow a standard tikkun (copyist’s guide) that has
lost much of the ‘magic’ of the past. More on that later. The
Torah itself has also had a fairly chequered past and it is no
small miracle that it has survived at all to even reach my
workspace for restoration.

All in all a tale worth recounting.

YYY

1. In this trade one can’t help know quite a lot of rabbis.

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3. Have Torah,
Will Travel
The Alexander Torah appears to have been originally
commissioned in 1790 by one Moses (Moshe) Alexander of
whom next to nothing is known. However, he lived in
Thalmässing, a small town near Nuremberg in Southern
Germany.

The choshen (breast plate), yad (the hand used as a pointer)

and the rimonim (decorative bells), that it wears were also
made at that time. On the Torah mantle (not the original,
but one made by Angela Harding)1 is embroidered in
Hebrew the words,

dad` zacp
xcpqkl` zgtynn
mdxa` 'x oa dyn 'x oexkfl
mdxa` 'x za dpg zxne
2
d"r
Donated [with] love
by the Alexander family
in memory of R. Moshe son of R. Avraham
and Mrs Chanah daughter of R. Avraham
peace be upon them.

1. The wife of a grandson of Dr Alfred and Henny Alexander..

2. Most likely this acronymn is melyd mdilr aleyhem hashalom
(peace be upon them).

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The Alexander Torah and its accoutrements. Photo from the Alexander
Family Archive reproduced by kind permission of John Alexander.

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Close up of the mantle. Photo: Marc Michaels.

A Torah takes just over a year to write, and so to put this in

context, this Torah was most likely being written as the
French Revolution of 1789 was taking place and during the
beginnings of the Jewish Emancipation in Europe with Jews
emerging from the ghettos and gaining equal rights in the
countries in which they lived.

Of the original scribes also nothing is known. Yes, I did say

scribes - plural.

One of the oddest things I encountered whilst working on

this project was that the Torah turned out to be the work of
two scribes. One, a master sofer with beautifully consistent
k’tav (writing), the other, however, appeared to be a
student with relatively poorly formed writing and some

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quite serious spacing issues and a tendency to make a bet

that looks more like a kaf 1 and not to put long enough tails
on his letters yud. More on this later in the book.

The idea of more than one scribe contributing to a Torah,

in itself is not that odd, in that often old Sifrey Torah are
sometimes composites, made up of sections from different
similar scrolls when parts of the original became too
damaged to repair. However this wasn’t the case here,
except for one section that was completely replaced at some
point in its history.

Right: a black
bin-liner chock
full of parts of
Sifrey Torah
that a Sofer can
use to replace
parts of a very
damaged Torah
or in extreme
cases create a
‘patchwork’
Torah.
Photo:
Marc Michaels.

Instead, every so often, the student’s writing would appear

randomly for a few lines here, half a column there,
completely mixed in with his master’s writing, something I
had never seen before. What was even stranger is that, as
mentioned, the student’s writing was poor - occasionally to

1. An issue that is specifically called out in the halachah, for example

Keset Hasofer 5:2 reads, ‘One must take care over the protrusion
that is behind it and to square it off so that it doesn’t appear like a kaf
and if it look like a kaf, it is invalid’.

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the point where it would be considered pasul nowadays.

Yet the teacher did not correct it. That said, occasionally
the master scribe was ‘guilty’ of the same issue. I must admit
to being surprised on many occasions that the master scribe
let the student’s work stand and didn’t affect some repair
himself. Certainly scribes appeared to be a lot more lenient
in the past and the halachah as it has developed has got a lot
stricter. I thus concocted a fanciful theory that perhaps the
‘student’ was in fact the client, Moses Alexander; and that
the master felt uncomfortable admonishing the client too
much as he may have been the one paying the bills. One is
supposed to write a Sefer Torah for oneself and not rely on
a scribe to act as your agent and perhaps this was a joint
venture of some kind.1

In 1714, there were only 21 Jewish families who lived in

Thalmässing, but the community must have thrived as by
1743 there were over 227 Jewish inhabitants including 118
children.2 However at the turn of the 19th century when
the Alexander Torah was being written, the number of
Jewish inhabitants had started to decline slightly for by 1811
there were only 210 Jewish inhabitants, constituting a fifth
of the local population,3 so the writing was very much an
act of faith in the continuation of the local community.
perhaps Moses was making a statement, though in all
likelihood he was commemorating some family event, a
bereavement or special anniversary.

1. I’m not sure I should let these flights of fancy get into my narrative,
but as an explanation it is as good as any.
2. Translated and summarised from the German on
http://www.alemannia-judaica.de/thalmaessing_synagoge.htm
3. Ibid.

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As well as the synagogue, the local Jews had an elementary

school and a mikveh (ritual bath),1 and they gained a
cemetery in 1832. If the scribes were local to Thalmässing,
then they would have made regular use of that very mikveh
as part of their preparations for writing. For the scribe
writing God’s Holy Names there must be a higher spiritual
level, hence the custom of immersion in the mikveh prior
to writing God’s Names.

As mentioned earlier, we don’t know who the scribes were,

but we do know who the owners were. Indeed John
Alexander notes that ‘the Scroll’s possession always passes to
the eldest son of the family, or the eldest female member, if
there is no male’2 and thus through this family custom, it is
relatively simple to reconstruct the journey of the Torah
through the respective owners and where they lived.

Interestingly the halachah mentions the fact that such an

inheritance does not actually free someone from their
obligation to write or commission a Sefer Torah for
themselves. They are still technically bound by this mitsvah
as detailed in the Talmud in Sanhedrin 21b where a Tanna
states ‘one should not take credit (lit. adorn himself with) [a
Sefer Torah] belonging to his ancestors’ and Rabba further
explains that ‘even if one’s parents have left him a Sefer
Torah, it is still proper that he should write one for himself.’
Also, there is much discussion over whether if someone
who does write one and then donates it to a synagogue then

1. The waters in the mikveh are ‘living waters’, which must come
directly from natural sources, rain water or springs. The construction
of a mikveh is quite complex - suffice it to say, it's not just a very
small swimming pool!
2. p.113, A Measure of Time, John Alexander, self-published, 2000.

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has to write another one as he no longer owns a Torah.1

The Alexander family, however, escaped wrestling with that
second halachic problem, by ensuring that ‘by family
tradition it was to be placed into the keeping (on loan, not
as a gift) of the Synagogue whose services the eldest son
attended regularly’.2 By this simple mechanic they still
owned the Torah and it thus allows us to chart where the
Torah would have resided on the stages of its journey.

..
Thalmassing
The first home of the Alexander Torah would have been
the first synagogue in Thalmässing which was established in
1690 in the former bath-house of the town in the
Ringstrasse/Merleinsgasse. This particular building lasted
until 1857/58 but unfortunately no pictures survive. It was
then replaced with a new building constructed on the same
site as the old synagogue.3 Moses’s son, Alfred Alexander,
may well have been the second owner depending on when
his father passed away. Alfred, in turn, had two sons, Moses
(named after his grandfather) who was born on the 19th
April 1814 and Leopold born three years later on the 3rd
October 1817. As the elder son the Torah would have
passed to this second Moses. He married Sophie Neustein in

1. See pp.11-16 of The 613th Commandment, J. Simcha Cohen, Jason

Aronson, 1983.
2. p.113, A Measure of Time, op. cit. Though they didn’t quite escape
the other halachic issue of not relying on your ancestors Torah for
the mitsvah.
3. With the dissolution of the Jewish community Thalmässing in 1937,
this second synagogue was closed and eventually demolished in
1960.

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1840 and their first son Herman was born a year later on the
27th November 1841, still in Thalmässing, as was his sister
Fanny, born in 1843.

Right: The second

Synagogue building in
Thalmässing
before its demolition.

At some point
Moses Alexander,
a banker by trade
moved out to
Nuremberg, but it
is difficult to say exactly when. That said, his brother
Leopold, who was a hop dealer, licensed his firm on 2nd
August 1861 in Kohlengasse in Nuremberg. It is perhaps
not beyond the wit of man to suggest that perhaps both
brothers moved out from the small town of Thalmässing to
seek a better life in Nuremberg together. In which case the
Torah may well have
ended its stay in
Thalmässing housed in
this second synagogue
building.

Left: Excerpt from a

postcard from 1858 showing
the second Thalmässing
Synagogue and the two
separate entrances for men
and women.

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Nuremberg
Whilst in Nuremberg Moses set up his business Alexander
and Sohne (probably with his sons Otto and Isidor) in 2
Konigstrasse and lived at 6A.

Having been expelled from Nuremberg in March 1499 by

Maximilian I,1 the Jews had left the city, some settling in
the surrounding villages. Their houses and the synagogue
were confiscated, the Jewish cemetery was destroyed and
the tombstones used for building purposes. However by the
end of the 17th century Jews had started to enter
Nuremberg to purchase goods on payment of a tax - the
Leibzoll, but they were not allowed to remain there. In
1825 there were a mere 11 Jews in the city (unofficially),
and it wasn’t until 1850 that a Jew, one Josef Kohn was
accepted as an actual citizen by the town council. A
community began to form in 1857 with some 217 Jews
subject to the rabbi of Fuerth. In 1859 the Israelitischer
Religionsverein (Jewish Religious Association) was formed.
It was into this relatively new community that Moses and
Leopold Alexander would have arrived.

In 1864 a new Jewish cemetery was opened - the

community was putting down strong roots. However their
services were still being conducted in rented prayer halls, so
since there wasn’t a formal synagogue when Moses arrived
bearing his precious Torah, it would have been consigned

1. Maximilian I (22 March 1459 – 12 January 1519), was King of the

Romans (also known as King of the Germans) from 1486 and Holy
Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death.

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to a wardrobe, either in his home or possibly a portable ark

in whatever informal prayer space the community were
renting.

The exterior of the Grand Synagogue in Nuremberg next to the bridge

over the Pegnitz taken in 1891. Photo: Public Domain.

Eventually in 1867 the community, now numbering 300

families purchased land for the sum of 46,000 florins for the
construction of the synagogue and community buildings.
The first stone of the building was laid in September 1870, a

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regional rabbinate was established in the city in 1872 and

the synagogue was finally inaugurated on September
8th 1874.

Designed by architect Adolf Wolff, the synagogue was built

on Hans-Sachs-Platz directly overlooking the River
Pegnitz. Known as the Grand Synagogue, it had a seating
capacity of 935.1 As a respected banker in the community,
in all likelihood, Moses Alexander would have occupied
one of those seats and the Torah, in accordance with family
tradition of being on loan to the synagogue where its
custodian ‘davvened’ 2 would have rested in its newly
constructed ark.

Below is an article in German from the Allgemeinen

Zeitung des Judentums from 29th September 1874
recording the inauguration of the Grand Synagogue in
Nuremberg. Part of the article is then translated below that.

End of the excerpt. The tale of the history of the Torah and
its restoration and the special scribal practices throughout are
chronicled in subsequent chapters.

To buy a copy of The Torah in the Wardrobe (print and PDF)

visit www.kulmus.co.uk

1. Based on information from the Jewish Virtual Library and

germanysynagogues.com. See http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/
jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0015_0_14976.html and
http://germansynagogues.com/index.php/synagogues-and-
communities?pid=70&sid=993:nuremberg
2. Yiddish for praying.

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Acknowledgments
This volume would never have happened if it were not for
the special opportunity that I was given to repair the
Alexander Torah. For that I thank the family for putting
their trust in me to restore such a priceless family treasure
and for their patience over the years that the restoration
took. It is extremely rare for a sofer to get so involved with
the history and family of a Torah that he is fixing.

Special thanks to John Alexander for his support in this

project, his help with ensuring accuracy of the text, for
access to his excellent family history, A Measure of Time,
and permission to use photos of the family from the book
and others he supplied to me directly. Thanks to Frank
Harding for bringing the Torah back and forth and acting as
liaison through the process. Thanks also to both Thomas
Harding and Antony Godfrey for their excellent books and
source material.

Thanks to my wife Avielah Barclay, Soferet for her

continuous support (particularly in shlepping the boards
home from B&Q) and for her photos of the siyyum event.
Thanks to my father Rabbi Maurice Michaels for his
proof-reading skills and comments.

Thanks, as always to my scribal teacher Vivian Soloman z”l

without whom I would never have had the skills to take on
such an enterprise.

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Thanks to everyone at Belsize Square Synagogue who

participated in the siyyum and made it such a unique
occasion and made me feel part of the family.

Thanks also to Moses Alexander and the scribes of the

Alexander Torah, to the author of Sefer Tagin and
obviously to the Holy One, Blessed be He.

And finally, thanks to the builders of my wardrobe.

YYY

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Bibliography
History of the Torah:
A Measure of Time, John Alexander, Self-Published, 2000.
Hanns and Rudolph - German Jew and the Hunt for the
Kommandant of Aushwitz , Thomas Harding, Penguin
Random House, 2013.
Three Rabbis in a Vicarage, Antony Godfrey, Larsen Grove
Press, 2005.

Biblical and Rabbinical sources:

Books of the Tanach (Torah, N’vi’im (Prophets), K’tuvim
(Writings) as quoted.
Tractates of the Babylonian Talmud, Soncino Heb/Eng
edition, various dates.
Likut Sifrey STa”M I, (incorporating Keset Hasofer, Lishkat
Hasofer, Alpha Beta, Shoneh Halachot, Kol Sofrim,
Mishnat Sofrim, Tikkun T’fillin-Baruch She’amar, Da’at
K’doshim (L’vush, Mikdash Me’at), Collected by R. T.
Kohuna.
Machzor Vitry of R. Simchah written in 1208.
Mikra’ot G’dolot, Pardes, 1951.
Mishnat Avraham, Avraham b. Zvi Yaffo, 1830.
Mishnah - Pirkey Avot.
Mishnat Hasofer al Hilchot STa”M, Yaakov Meir Stern,
B’nei Brak, 1987.
Rambam Mishneh Torah: Hilchot T’fillin, Hilchot
M’zuzah, Hilchot Sefer Torah, Mosznaim, Jerusalem, 1990.
Sefer HaTagin (Liber Coronularum) and Badde ha-Aron
(with introduction by Senior Sachs and Latin introduction
by J. J. L. Bargés, edited by B. Goldberg), Paris, 1860.
Torah Sh’lemah Vol. 29, M. Kasher, American Bible

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Encyclopedia Society Inc., Jerusalem 1978.

English sources:
Ba’al Haturim Chumash-Bamidbar, R. Avie Gold, R.
Eliyahu Touger, Mesorah Publications Ltd., 1999/2000.
Leitner, D, Understanding the Alef-Beis, Feldheim,
Jerusalem, 2007.
Masechtot K’tanot - Sofrim, Sefer Torah, Avot d’Rabbi
Natan, Ed. A. Cohen, Soncino Press Hebrew-English
edition, 1984.
The 613th Commandment, J. Simcha Cohen, Jason
Araonson, 1983.
The Wisdom of the Hebrew Alphabet, Munk M, Mesorah
Publications, 1995.
Tov, E, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd Ed.,
Fortress Press, 2012.

YYY

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About the Author

As well as being a marketing communications professional,

Marc Michaels is also a practicing Jewish scribe (Sofer
STa”M). This involves writing, and restoration work on,
sacred texts written on parchment with a feather quill. Marc
studied under the late Vivian Solomon z’l for five years and
has an M.A. in Jewish studies from the Leo Baeck
Rabbinical College.

His scribal website is at www.sofer.co.uk.

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