Iconic books are texts revered as objects of power rather than just as words of instruction, information, or insight. In religious and secular rituals around the globe, people carry, show, wave, touch and kiss books and other texts, as well as read them. This blog chronicles such events and activities. (For more about iconic books, see the links to the Iconic Books Project at left.)

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Copying Scriptures (2)

Members of a synagogue may participate in the completion of a new Torah scroll, most of which is hand-copied by a professional scribe. TwinCities.com reports on the feelings produced in a Minnesota congregation by this tradition. The Dallas Morning News describes how the congregation's participation helps underwrite the considerable expense of having a new scroll copied.

1 comment:

Iyov said...

Actually, it is quite standard for a commissioned Torah to be "cowritten" in the final few hundred characters by members of the congregation -- it is seen as being equivalent to fulfilling the 613th commandment: to write one's own Torah scroll. Similarly, the "purchase" of words is quite standard too. They are interesting, absolutely, but not innovations.