אין כותבין ספרים לא על עורות בהמה טמאה ולא על עורות חיה טמאה ולא נתפרין בגידן ולא נכרכין בשערן והלכה למשה מסיני שכותבין על עורות בהמה טהורה ועל עורות חיה טהורה ותופרן [בגידן] וכורכן בשערן. הלכה למשה מסיני שמסרגלין בקנה וכותבין בדיו על העור שהוא סמוך לו מן המקרא (ירמיהו ל״ו:י״ח) ואני כותב על הספר בדיו: It is not permitted to write [the sacred] books,1The scrolls of the Pentateuch used for the lections in public worship. tefillin and mezuzoth2These two nouns are added by GRA and M. For Hebrew and other terms, see the Glossary. on skins of ritually unclean cattle or on skins of ritually unclean wild animals. Nor may they3The parchment sheets of which the scrolls are made up. be sewn with their sinews, or [the parchment rolls of tefillin] be wound with their hair. It is an oral prescription delivered to Moses at Sinai that [all these] shall be written on the skins of ritually clean cattle or ritually clean wild animals, be sewn together with their sinews and [the tefillin rolls] wound with their hair. It is also an oral prescription delivered to Moses at Sinai that [the parchments] shall be ruled with a reed4To guide the hand of the scribe, the letters being written under the ruled lines. and the writing on the skin be done with ink. [This latter requirement] has support in Scripture, And I wrote them with ink in the book.5Jer. 36, 18.
שאל אחד את רבי יהושע הגרסי מפני מה כותבין על עורות נבלות וטרפות. אמר לו אמשול לך משל למה הדבר דומה לב׳ בני אדם שנתחייבו הריגה למלכות אחד הרגו מלך ואחד הרגו אספקלטור איזה מהן חשוב זה שהרגו מלך. אמר לו א"כ יהא מותר באכילה. אמר לו הרי הוא אומר (דברים י״ד:כ״א) לא תאכל כל נבלה הכתוב אסרה ואני מה אעשה לך (מכאן שכותבים על עורות נבלה ועל עורות טריפה ואין חוששין שמא עורות לבובין הן): R. Joshua the grits-dealer was asked: ‘Why is it permitted to write [sacred scrolls] on the skins of nebeloth and ṭerefoth?’ ‘I will give you an analogy,’ R. Joshua replied. ‘This is similar to the case of two men who were condemned to death by the State, one being executed by the king and the other by the executioner. Which of them is superior? He who was executed by the king.’6Nebeloth and ṭerefoth are the effect of an act of God. ‘If so,’ he retorted, ‘they should be permitted to be eaten!’ ‘It is stated,’ replied R. Joshua, ‘Ye shall not eat any nebelah.7Deut. 14, 21. E.V. of anything that dieth of itself. Scripture has forbidden it, so what can I do for you?’ (From here it is inferred that it is permitted to write on skins of nebelah and on skins of ṭerefah and there is no need to consider the possibility of their having been pierced at the animal’s heart.)8This sentence is enclosed in brackets in some eds. It was a heathen practice to remove the heart from a live animal to be offered as a sacrifice; this, in Rabbinic law, rendered the entire animal, including its skin, forbidden as an idolatrous offering (‘A.Z. 29b, Sonc. ed., p. 145).
לוקחין עורות מכל מקום לספרים לתפילין ומזוזות ואין חוששין שמא עורות לבובין הן: Skins9Before they were dressed; but dressed skins may be bought only from trust-worthy persons who can testify that the dressing had been done in accordance with the law. for the [sacred] books, tefillin and mezuzoth may be bought anywhere, and one need not consider the possibility that they might be skins which were pierced at the animal’s heart.
כותבין על הקלף במקום בשר ועל הגויל במקום שער ואינו רשאי לשנות. הלכה למשה מסיני שאם שינה בזה ובזה אין קורין בו: The writing on ḳelaf must be on the side of the flesh, and on gewil it must be on the side of the hair, no deviation from this being permitted. It is an oral prescription delivered to Moses at Sinai that if one changed one for the other, [the scroll] may not be used for the lection [in the statutory services].
אין כותבין לא על דיפתרא ולא על גבי נייר מחוק לא בשחור ולא בשיחור ולא בקומוס ולא בקנקנתום ולא במי טריא ואין נותנין קנקנתום בדיו: [The sacred texts]10Mentioned in Rule 1. may not be written on difthera or erased paper;11Others, ‘palimpsest’. GRA omits ‘erased’. nor with coal,12Or, ‘black pigment’. shoe-black, ink containing gum, vitriol or fruit-juice.13Others, ‘rain-water’, ‘wine-lees’. Vitriol may not be added to the ink.
אין כותבין לא עברית ולא ארמית ולא מדית ולא יונית. כתב בכל לשון בכל כתבים לא יקרא בו עד שתהא כתובה אשורית: [The sacred texts] may not be written in [obsolete] Hebrew characters,14The script must be ‘Assyrian’ (the modern Hebrew square characters) and the language ‘the holy tongue’. or in the Aramaic, Median or Greek languages.15According to Meg. 9a (Sonc. ed., p. 48) it is permitted to write the Torah in Greek although this is not allowed in the case of tefillin and mezuzoth. If they were written in any other language or in any other characters they may not be used for the lection [in the statutory services], since they must be written in the Assyrian [script].
מעשה בה׳ זקנים שכתבו לתלמי המלך את התורה יונית והיה היום קשה לישראל כיום שנעשה העגל שלא היתה התורה יכולה להתרגם כל צרכה: It once happened that five elders wrote the Torah for King Ptolemy16Presumed to be Ptolemy Philadelphus who reigned over Egypt 285-247 B.C.E. He arranged for the Greek Version, the Septuagint, to be made, as narrated in the next paragraph. [The Tractate gives two accounts of the translation, the present one being the later which reflects the harmful effects which the Septuagint had in arresting the development of exegesis among the Hellenistic Jews (cf. Weiss, Dor, I, p. 90).] in Greek, and that day was as ominous for Israel as the day on which the golden calf was made, since the Torah could not be accurately translated.
שוב מעשה בתלמי המלך שכנס ע"ב זקנים והושיבם בשבעים ושנים בתים ולא גלה להם על מה כנסם נכנס לכל אחד ואחד מהם אמר להם כתבו לי תורת משה רבכם. נתן המקום עצה בלב כל אחד ואחד והסכימה דעתן לדעת אחת וכתבו לו תורה בפני עצמה: וי"ג דבר שינו בה. ואלו הן אלהים ברא בראשית (בראשית א׳:כ״ו) ויאמר אלהים אעשה אדם בצלם ובדמות (שם) ויכל בששי וישבות בשביעי (שם ב) זכר ונקבה בראו (שם ה) הבה ארדה ואבלה שם (שם יא) ותשחק בקרוביה לאמר (שם יח) כי באפם הרגו איש וברצונם עקרו אבוס (שם מט) ויקח משה את אישתו ואת בניו וירכיבם על נושאי אדם (שמות ד׳:כ׳) ומושב בני ישראל אשר ישבו בארץ מצרים ובארץ כנען שלשים שנה וארבע מאות שנה (שם יב) ואל זאטוטי בני ישראל לא שלח ידו (שם כד) לא חמד אחד מהם נשאתי (במדבר ט״ז:ט״ו) את צעירת הרגלים (ויקרא י״א:כ״ב דברים י״ד:כ״ד) אשר חלק ה׳ אלהיך אתם להאיר לכל העמים תחת כל השמים (דברים ד׳:י״ט) אשר לא צויתי לעבדם (שם יז): It also happened that King Ptolemy assembled seventy-two elders and placed them in seventy-two [separate] rooms without telling them the reason for which he had assembled them. He then went to each one of them and said to him,17lit. ‘to them’. ‘Write for me [a translation of] the Torah of Moses your master’. The Omnipresent inspired them18lit. ‘put counsel in the heart of each one of them’. and the mind of all of them was identical, so that each on his own19So GRA. wrote the [same translation of the] Torah, introducing [the same] thirteen alterations20Deviations from the traditional text. In the extant Versions of the Septuagint only some of these are found. as follows: ‘God created in the beginning’.21Instead of In the beginning God created (Gen. 1, 1) the Heb. of which might be misinterpreted to mean that a power named ‘Bereshith’ (in the beginning) created God. ‘And God said I shall make a man in image and likeness.’22The Heb. text reads: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness (Gen. 1, 26). The plural us and our might erroneously suggest a plurality of deities. ‘And He finished on the sixth [day] and rested on the seventh [day].’23For the Heb.: And He finished on the seventh day (Gen. 2, 2) which could be understood to imply that God did some work on the seventh day. ‘Male and female He created him.’24Instead of created them (ibid. V, 2) from which it might be inferred that man and woman were, from the first, two separate beings, contrary to ibid. II, 21. ‘Come let Me go down and there confound their language.’25Instead of let us go down (ibid. XI, 7). ‘And Sarah laughed among her relatives,26i.e. she laughed in the presence of people and therefore incurred censure (ibid. XVIII, 12). The Heb. means ‘within herself’ as Abraham had done when he laughed … in his heart (ibid. XVII, 17) and had not been rebuked. saying.’ ‘For in their anger they slew oxen27So GRA, H and M. V incorrectly ‘a man’. and in their self-will they digged up a stall.’28Changing men (ibid. XLIX, 6) to ‘oxen’ and oxen to ‘stall’ in order to remove the stigma of murder from Jacob’s sons. ‘And Moses took his wife and his children and set them upon a carrier29So M. V and H read ‘carriers of men’. of men.’30i.e. an animal conformable with the dignity of Moses, instead of ass (Ex. 4, 20). ‘Now the time that the children of Israel dwelt in Egypt and in the land of Canaan and in other lands31So M. V omits ‘and in other lands’. [The reading of the Septuagint is ‘in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt’.] was four hundred and thirty years.’32Instead of the Heb. which omits ‘in the land of Canaan and in other lands’ (Ex. 12, 40), and implies that all the 430 years were spent in Egypt when, in fact, they could not have dwelt there more than 210 years (cf. Rashi to Meg. 9a). ‘And he sent the elect of the children of Israel.’33So GRA and Meg. 9a but omitted in V. ‘Elect’ is substituted for young men (ibid. XXIV, 5), the former being regarded as more suitable persons for the service. ‘And upon the elect of the children of Israel He laid not His hand.’34Here also ‘elect’ was substituted for the Heb. for nobles (ibid. 11). The alteration was not essential, but ‘elect’ which was mentioned earlier was preferred. It should be noted that in the total of thirteen alterations, this and the preceding are counted as one. ‘I have not taken one desirable thing35A ‘desirable thing’ [which occurs in the Septuagint] for the Heb. ass (Num. 16, 15) to avoid the suggestion that Moses did not take an ass but more precious objects. from them.’ ‘The [beast] with small legs.’36Instead of the Heb. for the hare (Lev. 11, 6) which is arnebeth, so as not to give offence to Ptolemy the name of whose queen was Arnebeth. ‘Which the Lord thy God hath allotted to give light unto all the peoples under the whole heaven.’37The insertion ‘to give light’ (Deut. 4, 19) removes the possible misunderstanding that the heavenly bodies enumerated in the verse were intended by God to be objects of worship. ‘Which I commanded should not be served.’38Deut. 17, 3 reads which I have commanded not. This might be taken to mean that God did not desire their existence and their creation was consequently due to a power beyond His control. It should be noted that the last two alterations are regarded as one in the enumeration because both deal with heavenly bodies as objects of worship.
אין כותבין בזהב. מעשה בתורתו של אלכסנדרוס שהיו כל אזכרותיה כתובות בזהב ובא מעשה לפני חכמים ואמרו תגנז: [The sacred scrolls] may not be written in gold. It is related that in an Alexandrian39So M. V and H read ‘a scroll of the Torah of Alexander’ [i.e. Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 B.C.E.) according to Krauss, Lehnwörter, II, p. 55]. scroll of the Torah all the divine names were written in gold, and when the matter came before the Sages they decided that it should be stored away.40lit. ‘it shall be hidden’; not to be used for the lection.
כל התורה כולה עברית היא אלא שיש דברים תרגום של עברית אל יכתוב תרגום ודברים של תרגום אל יהפכם כגון יגר שהדותא גלעד (בראשית לא) ויש אומרים לא דברו אלא על [יגר] שהדותא ועל גלעד שהן שתי לשונות של עברית ותרגום. עברית שכתבו תרגום ותרגום שכתבו עברית אל יקרא בו. ואיזהו תרגום כגון יגר שהדותא גלעד וחביריו. האזינו השמים שעשאה שירה שירה שעשאה האזינו רצוף שעשאה מסורג מסורג שעשאה רצוף או שעשה את המסורג שלא כהלכתו אל יקרא בו: All the Torah is in Hebrew but it contains some Aramaic words.41lit. ‘translation’ (Targum). What is in Hebrew may not be written in Aramaic and the Aramaic words may not be altered; for example, Jegar-sahadutha and Galeed.42Gen. 31, 47, ‘the heap of witness’ in Aramaic and Hebrew. Others hold that the rule applies only to Jegar-sahadutha and Galeed because they are two specifically Aramaic and Hebrew expressions respectively.43In the case of the other parts, however, although one language should not be changed for another, the scroll is not disqualified if a change was made (cf. N.Y. ad loc.). If Hebrew words were written in Aramaic or Aramaic words in Hebrew, the scroll may not be used for the lection. The Aramaic [and Hebrew] words referred to are Jegar-sahadutha, Galeed and the like.
If ha’azinu hashshamayim44Give ear ye heavens, the opening words of Deut. 32, 1-43, which is arranged in the scroll as follows:
_________________
_________________
_________________ was arranged like the Song of Moses45Ex. 15, 1-18 written as:
_________________
_________________
_________________
_________________
_________________
or, according to others:
_________________
_________________
_________________
_________________
_________________ or if the Song of Moses was arranged like ha’azinu; if continuous lines were written in broken ones or vice versa; [35b] or if the breaking up was not done according to the rule, the scroll may not be used for the lection.
גמר כל הדף ושייר בה פחות מסרגו ועושה אותו דף קטן בפני עצמו ואינו נמנע: If one finished [writing nearly] all the Torah and less than a column46So GRA and H. V reads: ‘If one finished all the column and left over less, one extends the wording so as to make’, etc. A reading in M is ‘if one finished all the book and left less than a column, one extends the writing so as to make’, etc. remained of the text, one need not hesitate to make of this a small column on its own.47The extension of a short passage over a full column is done either by enlarging the characters or, according to others, by making each successive line shorter than the one preceding it.
יריעה של ששה חולקין אותה לשנים ושל המשה אין חולקין אותה שמא יעשה אחד שנים ואחד שלשה. ואינו רשאי לכתוב אלא א"כ יודע לקרות: A [parchment] sheet [of the Torah scroll] containing six columns may be divided into two sheets;48Each containing three columns. but one of five columns may not be divided, in order that it should not49So GRA and N. Y. H and M read: ‘perhaps one might’. be separated into one of two50Not less than three columns may be contained in each sheet. and one of three columns. No one is allowed to write [a scroll of the Torah] unless one is able to read.51M inserts: ‘one is not allowed to write unless [the parchment] was ruled; and if an unruled sheet was written on, it is disqualified’.
ס"ת שכתבו צדוקי או מסור או גר או עבד או שוטה או קטן אל יקרא בו זה הכלל כל הכותבו מוציא את הרבים ידי חובתן: A scroll of the Torah that was written by a Sadducee,52An adherent of a sect which was opposed to the teachings and traditions of the Pharisees. M adds min, a Jewish heretic or Jewish-Christian. an informer,53Against his fellow-Jews to the ruling Roman authorities. M adds משומד, an apostate. a proselyte,54This refers to a ‘proselyte settler’ (ger toshab), one who does not observe the commandments but, on account of domicile in the land of Israel, has renounced idolatry. a slave, a woman,55So GRA and M; not in V and H. a madman or a minor may not be used for the lection.56For the unsuitability of the persons enumerated, cf. Giṭ. 45b (Sonc. ed., p. 199). This is the rule: Whosoever cannot act in religious matters on behalf of the public is not permitted to write a scroll of the Torah.57So GRA. V reads: ‘everyone who writes it [must be a person who] may act on behalf of the public [in discharging a religious obligation]’.
פתוחה שעשאה סתומה סתומה שעשאה פתוחה הרי זה יגנז. איזהו פתוחה כל שלא התחיל בראש השיטה. ואיזהו סתומה כל שהניח באמצע השיטה. וכמה יניח בראש השיטה ותהא נקראת פתוחה כדי לכתוב שם של שלש אותיות. וכמה יניח באמצע השיטה ותהא נקראת סתומה כדי לכתוב שם של שלש אותיות. גמר כל הפרשה בסוף הדף ישייר שיטה אחת למעלה ואם שייר מלמטה כדי לכתוב שם של שלש אותיות מתחיל מלמעלה : If an open section was written as closed or vice versa, the scroll must be stored away. What is an open section? One which does not begin at the beginning of a line. And what is a closed section? [One which is separated from what precedes by a vacant] space in the middle of the line. And how much space must be left at the beginning of a line so that a section may be called ‘open’? A space in which a name of three letters may be written.58The view of Maimonides which has been adopted is that space must be left for three words, each of three letters (cf. Y.D. 275, §2). And how much space must be left in the middle of a line so that a section may be called ‘closed’? A space in which a name of three letters may be written. If an entire section was completed at the end of a column, one vacant line must be left at the top [of the next column]; but if a vacant space in which a name of three letters may be written was left at the foot [of the column], one begins [the next column] from the top.