Shavuot 5785
Not far from Rabbi Menachem Siderson’s grasp is a highly-protected metal case that includes essential items of his trade: four feather quills (from a turkey or a duck), packets of cloth adhesive protective tape, a bottle of Nahari ink, a surgical scalpel and rolls of gidim.
Gidim, at first glance, resembles a roll of sewing thread, but this thread is special. It comes from the veins of kosher animals and has to be certified before use in a Torah scroll.
The ink is unique, too.
“It’s designed to be long lasting,” says Siderson. “It has a special shine to it and it doesn’t fade.
“I’ve opened up a Torah that is a hundred years old and the ink is still relatively in good condition.”
All of these are tools of the trade of a sofer, one who writes a Torah scroll, and who completes its last few words.
Siderson, alongside his duties as rabbi at Aish, specializes in writing tefilin and mezzuzahs. His sofer expertise as a magia, or “checker,” allows him to finish the process of writing a Torah, before binding the approximately 43 panels of parchment to the two wooden rollers.
“Especially with mezzuzahs, I’ll check for errors and recommend any repairs,” says Siderson. “Sometimes I’ll find extra letters, extra words or something missing.
“Then I repair them.”
Siderson’s current project is the completion of the newly acquired Torah scroll by Hillel Academy, which was unveiled earlier this month on May 21.
The scroll was written in Israel, where all the panels of parchment were sewn together with gidim. Then, the scroll was shipped to the US.
Three days before the Torah was presented at Hillel Academy, Siderson added essential letters of the last portion of the scroll, essentially completing the certification of the Torah.
“The aligning of the parchments can be the most stressful part for me,” says Siderson, “measuring sure that it is nice and even throughout the whole Torah.”
As for the surgical scalpel, it is used is in case Siderson notices any imperfection in the 304,835 letters in the 248 columns in the new Torah, which arrived in Denver already pre-reviewed by computer.
The computer program is very advanced, way before AI was even a thing,” says Siderson. “It’s been around for probably like 30 years.
“It is designed to notice if there’s a single letter that’s missing or a word that’s missing, or even if there is extra spacing.”
Especially invested in Siderson’s handiwork is Hillel Academy executive director Mordechai Hoffman, who joined Siderson on May 17 to observe the tedious work in completing the process.
“This is really a great opportunity for the school,” says Hoffman. “We’ve had a lot of learning programs around it.”
Hillel Academy’s previous Torah is approximately 40 years old. Hoffman’s hunt for a new one came in the wake of the passing of Joyce Moskowitz, who died in May, 2024. Moskowitz herself graduated from Hillel, as did her children. Now her grandchildren attend and one has graduated.
“She was very, very connected to the school for many years,” says Hoffman. “The family wanted to do something that would be a lasting memory of Joyce.”
By last September, Hoffman was in the market for a new scroll. He was especially interested in purchasing a Torah that was a few inches smaller than Hillel Academy’s existing Torah, to accommodate younger students. To accomplish this, Hoffman had to work with a socher, a “Torah agent” in New York, who works with scribes in Israel.
Yes, Torah agents are a thing.
“Like when you buy a house,” says Siderson. “It’s really smart to get an agent to help you.”
Binding the scroll to the wooden rollers is no small task. Four holes are drilled on each roller. Siderson uses the gidim to secure the parchment to the rollers, creating small incisions on the scroll to complete the attachment.
Even after that part of the process, Siderson says it is common to find a part of the scroll that demands the scribe reaches for one of his quills.
“If one letter is deformed in a significant way, the Torah scroll is not kosher, and it needs to be fixed.”
Thank goodness for computer scanners, too.
© IJN 2025