Torah Scribe, Jaffa

In Jewish tradition, it is a hard-earned place of honor to be eligible to transcribe the words of the Torah. Only a scribe, or sofer (סופר), is permitted to officially write ceremonial religious texts, such as Torah scrolls, tefillin, and mezuzot. At its center, a sofer acts as a copyist, carefully transcribing each character of the Torah while saying each character aloud before it is written. These texts, typically written on parchment, have literally thousands of laws for their proper transcription, with each ritual object requiring a different set of specifications so as to ensure no part of the Torah is forgotten. The physical appearance of the written Torah scroll has scarcely changed in millennia because of these detailed regulations. Thus, the only variable factor is the decoration of its various accoutrement.