I. A Gentile Writing A Letter in a Scroll?
On October 7, 2024, Senator Lindsey Graham visited the Western Wall and filled in a letter in a new Torah scroll written in memory of the victims of the terror attacks a year earlier. Senator Graham is many things, including staunchly pro-Israel, but he is not Jewish. How can someone who is not Jewish participate in the religious activity of writing a Torah scroll?
The Gemara (Gittin 45b) learns from the two verses about tefillin, “U-kshartam… U-chsavtam…, And you shall bind… and you shall write” (Deut. 6:8-9), that only someone who is obligated to wear tefillin may write tefillin or a mezuzah. Since a Torah scroll has most of the same laws as tefillin and mezuzah, a child, a woman and a gentile may not write letters in a Torah scroll. If so, how could the rabbis allow Senator Graham to fill in a letter? This story reminded me of a question that arose a year earlier in advance of the Sukkos holiday.
It is best to have at least two Torah scrolls for Yom Tov so you do not have to roll the scroll for the different readings. The synagogue near the family I was visiting for Yom Tov had a borrowed Torah scroll, belonging to one of the members. That member went away for Yom Tov with his family and took his Torah scroll with them. He arranged for the synagogue to use someone else’s recently written Torah scroll. On the day before Yom Tov, the rabbi was rolling the scrolls and noticed that this new, borrowed scroll was not finished. The words at the end were only outlined. Presumably the scribe left those letters as outlines so that during the Hachnasas Sefer Torah celebration the owner can honor various people to fill in the letters.
The question arose: Is this Torah scroll kosher for use by the community? If the scroll is not finished because the final letters are not filled in, can it be used for ritual purposes? The rabbi and I discussed it without reaching a conclusion. In the end, we did not need an answer because a synagogue member arranged for a nearby school to lend the synagogue a Torah scroll. However, the question is interesting.
II. What Is a Letter?
Rav Yosef Shaul Nathanson (19th c., Ukraine) was asked about a Torah scroll in which a boy who recently celebrated his bar mitzvah wrote a letter. On a biblical level, we consider a boy to be an adult once he has two lower hairs. On a rabbinic level, reaching the age of thirteen and one day suffices. Is this Torah scroll invalid on a biblical level because this boy is an adult only on a rabbinic level? Rav Nathanson answers that writing a part of a letter in a kosher way is sufficient. Rav Moshe Isserles (Rema, 16th c., Poland) says that if a witness begins signing his name to a divorce without the proper intent for the couple and then remembers and completes his name properly, the signature is valid. This is because even a partial writing in a proper way redeems the full writing (Shulchan Aruch, Even Ha-Ezer 131:9). Rema similarly rules that you may not write a divorce document with an iron quill because the iron might dig into the parchment, engraving the letter into it. Since engraved writing is not considered writing, this would invalidate the divorce. However, Rema says that a letter is only considered engraved if the whole letter is engraved (ibid., 125:4). Rav Nathanson concludes that since the scribe wrote part of the letter, a child can fill it out and the letter is still considered valid (Responsa Sho’el U-Meishiv, third recension, vol. 1, no. 390).
Rav Avraham Yitzchak Glick (19th c., Hungary) was asked about someone non-religious, who does not observe Shabbos, filling in a letter in a Torah scroll. He permitted this because until there is testimony in court that this person violates Shabbos, we do not consider him outside the fold. While there is concern that he must have the proper intentions when filling in the letter, since a scribe stands next to him during that time, his presence and instruction suffices. Rav Glick explicitly rejects the suggestion that an outline is a kosher letter. The Gemara (Shabbos 103b) says that the writing in a Torah scroll has to be complete. “U-chsavtam— And you shall write” (Deut. 6:9)—the writing has to be a kesiva tamah, a complete writing. A letter outline does not constitute complete writing. If so, filling in the letter is the actual writing and must be done by someone qualified to be a scribe. That excludes children, women, gentiles and Jews who do not observe Shabbos (Responsa Yad Yitzchak, vol. 3, no. 267).
III. An Outline Is a Letter
However, Rav Malkiel Tannenbaum (20th c., Poland) disagrees. He says that since there is no minimum width for a letter, an outline is considered a complete letter. His only concern is that when someone who is invalid to write a Torah scroll fills in the letter, he will almost certainly write over the initial outline. What remains is a letter written by this person, not the outline written by the scribe (Divrei Malkiel, vol. 4, no. 90).
Rav Betzalel Stern (20th c., Hungary) argues that when someone fills in a letter outline, even if he writes on top of the outline, it does not matter. Let us consider the ink that the second person uses to cover the outline like a white space, as if there is no ink at all. Normally, if ink of a letter is removed and we see a white space, then that white space might be a problem if the remaining letter is illegible. However, if we remove this “non-kosher” ink, the letter is legible. Therefore, the additional ink on top of the outline poses no problem (Responsa Be-Tzel Ha-Chochmah, vol. 4, no. 50). Rav Stern does add that it is preferable to be strict and to follow Rav Tannenbaum’s ruling.
We can now return to the questions with which we began. According to Rav Glick, the Torah in the synagogue with a few unfilled letters at the end is invalid. However, according to Rav Nathanson, Rav Tannenbaum and Rav Stern, the Torah is kosher even though it still has outlined letters because an outline is a kosher letter. There was no need to obtain another Torah scroll from the nearby school.
Additionally, according to Rav Nathanson and Rav Stern, a child, woman, non-observant Jew or gentile may fill in a letter in a Torah scroll. Rav Stern might not be comfortable with inviting one of those types of people to fill in a letter but Rav Nathanson would allow it. Additionally, I found that Rav Chaim David HaLevi (20th c., Israel) briefly justifies the practice of inviting non-observant Jews to fill in a letter of a Torah scroll because the outline itself is kosher (Responsa Mayim Chaim, vol. 2, no. 57). He adds that normally anyone who writes a letter in a Torah scroll immerses in a mikvah before writing. People who fill in a letter at a celebration of the completion of a Torah scroll do not. Presumably, this is because the outline suffices for the letter. If you would invite a non-observant Jew to fill in a letter, you may also invite a gentile to do likewise.
Rabbi Gil Student is the editor of TorahMusings.com. His latest book is Articles of Faith: Traditional Jewish Belief in the Internet Era.
