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Women write a Torah!

Torah scrolls are sacred. Beautifully calligraphied, they contain the story of the ancient Israelites and our sacred account of the covenant with God.  Torah scrolls are written with great piety and ritual by a scribe.  At Kol Ami we had the honor and privilege of commissioning a Torah scroll several years ago and many in our Temple community were able to scribe a letter with the help of our sofer, Neil Yerman. For many of us it was a highlight of life!

So how wonderful and marvelous that a new Torah scroll was written by women!

This is a real glass ceiling breaker.  Usually scribes are men.  But in Seattle a community commissioned a scroll scribed by women.  Read the account here.

Rabbi Linda Motzkin is a Torah scribe.  Read an article about her here.

And a documentary called Soferet was made about female scribe, Aviel Barclay. Read an article about her here. And here is a link to her website.

As Judaism grows and changes so too the way we scribe our holiest books!  More power to the art of women!