(19) Now therefore write this song for you, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel.

For each person to write a Torah scroll for oneself - we have been commanded for each person in Israel to own a Torah scroll...

Among the roots of this mitzvah, it is because it is well-known among people that they do everything according to that which they find prepared for themselves, and therefore God commanded us, each and every one of the Children of Israel, to have a Torah scroll prepared and available to him, so that he can read it always and will not have to go looking for it at his friend's house.

Rava says: With regard to the mitzva for every Jew to write himself a Torah scroll, even if a person’s ancestors left him a Torah scroll, it is a mitzva to write a scroll of one’s own, as it is stated: “Now, therefore, write for yourselves this song and teach it to the children of Israel” (Deuteronomy 31:19). Abaye raised an objection to him from a baraita concerning the king’s Torah scroll: And he writes himself a Torah scroll for his sake, so that he does not beautify himself with the Torah scroll of others. Read precisely, this indicates that a king, yes, he is included in the halakha not to have a scroll inherited from his ancestors suffice, but an ordinary person is not.

My master, my father, the Ro"sh, of blessed memory, wrote that this was written only for the earlier generations, who would write a Torah scroll and learn from it. But nowadays, when we write a Torah scroll and place it in the synagogue to read from it publicly, it is a positive mitzvah incumbent on all Jews who have the means to do so to write volumes of the Torah, and Mishnah, and Gemara, and their commentaries, and to read from them - him, and his sons. For the mitzvah of writing a Torah is in order to learn from it, as it says: (Deut. 31:19) "and teach it to the people of Israel, place it in their mouths."

(1) It is a positive commandment on every Jewish man to write a Torah scroll for himself as it says "Write for yourself this song", that is to say 'Write for yourself a Torah which has in it this song', because one does not write the Torah only in segments. Even if one's ancestors left him a Torah scroll, it is a mitzvah to write one for himself. If he wrote it by his own hand, it is as if he received it from Mount Sinai, and if he doesn't know how to write, others can write it for him. One who corrects a Torah scroll, even a single letter, it is as if he wrote all of it.

ולא יכל יוסף להתאפק לכל הנצבים AND JOSEPH COULD NOT REFRAIN HIMSELF BEFORE ALL THEM THAT STOOD — He could not bear that the Egyptians should stand by him witnessing how his brothers would be put to shame when he made himself known to them

And he saw the wagons (agalot) - Rabbi Levi in the name of Rabbi Yochanan ben Shaul: He (Joseph) said to them: If he (Jacob) believes you, that is good. If not, tell him: At the time when I separated from you, wasn't I studying the section of the Torah about the calf whose neck is broken (eglah arufah)? This is why it says: He (Jacob) saw the wagons (agalot) and his spirit was revived.

Regarding our Torah scrolls. Even though Rabbeinu Yaakov of blessed memory permits processed parchment, even without the use of gall, there still remains a doubt. For when our parchment is processed, it is not done with the intention of becoming a Torah scroll, and I asked whether one can recite the blessing on reading from such scrolls that weren't processed with the correct intention, or not. They responded: we hold this tradition, that while certainly anything processed with the wrong intention is invalid, if it is neutral it is valid. They explained to me the following: if the one processing the parchment did so with the intention of writing other books, and then changed their mind and wrote a Torah scroll, that would be invalid. However, if they were processed with any intention of the final book, but only to sell them as parchment to whoever would buy it, and somebody purchased it with the intention of writing a Torah scroll, this would be valid.

Exalted is the living God, and praised He exists, and His existence transcends time.

Prayer is from below to above. How so? From that very spring in our hearts, filled with natural holiness, behold we draw - actualizing its delicate feelings, aligned to elevate and exalt them, to purify and sanctify them in the holiness of transcendent purity which includes all sanctities and purities, all wisdoms and ways of knowing, all understandings and thoughts. Behold we are rising, and as much as our intellect grows, as much as our traits are clarified, as much as the manner of Divine cleaving is made stronger in life, in idea and will, in makeup and nature, in outcome and in aspect - so shine the lights that are revealed in us through our prayerful expressions. The further we descend into the depths of this lofty and august matter, into the chasm of the innerness of our soul and all its greatness and power, we can gauge with more exacting measure our elevation through the process of prayer. And when we rise, all the roots of our existence rise with us, all the branches of our neshama, all the lines of life which pour out from our essence and all the sources of life which are poured out upon us, until they bring us to our particular essentiality. Everything is blessed, everything rises, and everything is sanctified and uplifted, rejoicing the joy of the upright, exulting in holy elation. The nature of holiness itself rises up and is clarified, achieving a recognizable character, an active intellectual character which is no longer reactive - free and in command, ruling over all the expanses of life. This is the way of prayerIn Torah we are occupied with the integration of life from above to below; from the lofty heights of the Divine intellect, from the source stone of which the Torah was cut, we take the portions of life and draw them down in their mighty greatness which fills all that is, which is greater than any end or limitation, and we root them in the depth of our naturalness, and our holy nature at the foundation of its strength overflows with the blessing of heaven through the outpouring of light which comes to us.

1) [There is] a Positive Commandment on every Jewish man to copy a Torah Scroll for himself. Even if his ancestors bequeathed one to him, he is still commanded to copy [a scroll] of his own. He is not permitted to sell it [a Torah Scroll] even if he owns many Torah Scrolls. ([This stands] even if he does not have what to eat. [A Torah Scroll can be sold] only under the most dire circumstance)(Haghoth Maimoni Chapter 6). Even selling an old [Torah Scroll] in order to buy a new [Torah Scroll] is forbidden. However [if the scroll is sold in order to acquire funds] to study Torah or to marry a woman the sale is permitted if the seller has nothing else to sell. Note: For redeeming Jewish captives it is permitted to sell [a Torah Scroll]...