Torah Scroll

The black are the letters we see, while the white, the inverse space between the black, are the letters we don't see. Some souls, like the black letters of the Torah, have a clear purpose and focus. Others are more like the white letters...

Although it is not mentioned in the Talmud, the custom to fast after accidentally dropping a Torah scroll or tefillin has indeed been widespread for many hundreds of years. One of the earliest mentions of this practice is a responsa of Rabbi Israel of Bru...

Every year on the holiday of Simchat Torah, three different portions of the Torah are read during the morning service. a) V'zot Haberacha, the last portion of the Torah; b) the holiday maftir reading, discussing the day's Temple service; c) Bereishit, the...

Question: For my son's Bar Mitzvah he received a portion of an old Torah scroll as a gift. The scroll, made of sheep skin, seems to be authentic but I'm concerned that it is wrong to possess such a holy object for the mundane purpose of being a collectabl...

In the Code of Jewish Law Rama in Orach Chaim 134. it is written that a Torah scroll should be held in one's right arm (and rested on the right shoulder). This applies even if the one holding the Torah is left-handed. There are two verses that allude to t...

Question: My husband and I are in the final stages of purchasing a Torah scroll which we intend on giving as a gift to our rabbi. Could you please advise us how to reverently handle the Torah and the protocol/laws involved as we give this precious gift? A...

The Mishnah tells us that he burned a Torah scroll on 17 Tammuz. Who was he, and why was this so significant?

Why does a Torah scroll have two poles or rollers, while the Megillah (Book of Esther), which is also read from a scroll of parchment, only has one rollers (or none at all)?

I recently had occasion to pray in a Sephardic synagogue, and they kept the Torahs in some kind of ornamental cylindrical case with the scroll in the upright position. Then, when it came time to read the Torah, they simply set it on a flat table and crack...

Why is that? Is it just to make it super-hard to become a Jewish adult?