A sheet of paper about four feet by two feet hangs on the wall behind the desk. It displays 188 characters, the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and their numerous variations. “I always have to write everything down and visualize it,” says Annett Martini, who has a doctorate in Jewish studies and is a researcher at Freie Universität Berlin. She came across the different spellings of the letters in Torah scrolls and scribes’ manuals from the 9th to the 15th centuries.

The Hebrew letters are decorated with so-called crowns, i.e., additional strokes, small arcs, or flags. “The crowns stand for their own narratives that go beyond the actual text. They were not just put there for appearances,” explains Martini.

According to belief, the Torah with the crowns was revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai. What exactly the additional characters on the letters stand for is a question of interpretation. For example, mystics interpreted some of the coronet shapes as ears that could hear back to the time of creation, showing how God created the world.

During the next four years the handwritten notes are to be digitized and then made freely accessible online to researchers and other interested individuals. In addition to the digital encyclopedia, plans are underway to create a virtual Torah scroll. The project is part of a new research project called “ToRoll: Materialized Holiness: Torah Scrolls as a Codicological, Theological, and Sociological Phenomenon of Jewish Written Culture in the Diaspora,” which deals with Jewish scriptural traditions in the production of Torah scrolls.

One Torah scroll includes the text of the five books of Moses. It is considered the most important text of Judaism, partly because it is central to a Jewish service as a ritual object. Why should it matter how such a scroll was made? Martini explains, “Because the production of Torah scrolls is part of the cultural heritage of Judaism and therefore immensely important for Jews.”

Creating a Digital Encyclopedia and a Virtual Torah Scroll

The research findings could also reveal something about the historical relationship between Jews and their non-Jewish neighbors. “Many regulations must be observed when making a Torah scroll. For example, parchment and ink are required to be kosher. This means, among other things, that both materials have to be produced by members of Judaism according to old recipes, if possible,” Martini explains.

In Europe this became a challenge from around the 12th century onward, when Jews living in predominantly Christian societies were increasingly pushed out of trades. During this time ink was often used that had not been made by Jews. Or it was necessary to buy writing materials such as parchment from Christian production. Studying sources from this period provides a deeper understanding of the Jewish-Christian relationship and can contribute to questioning outdated views of clear denominational boundaries and religious communities that kept to themselves.

The researchers are not only examining scribal literature from antiquity and the Middle Ages, but are also dealing with modern views on the production of a kosher Torah scroll. For this aspect they are focusing on the scribes, and increasingly women scribes. Martini points out that in the past several decades Jewish women began devoting themselves to writing a Torah scroll. Until recently this sacred duty was reserved exclusively for men.

How do Jewish congregations view this development? According to Martini, “It depends. Orthodox communities do not recognize Torah scrolls written by women as kosher. That is, they would not use them in the worship service. Acceptance is significantly higher in liberal communities.”

Martini and her colleagues are using qualitative interviews to gain information about the position of scribes within a community and what characterizes them. She spoke to a number of scribes during a study trip through Israel. In Martini’s words, “Shaped by medieval sources, I had a rather romantic image of a scribe that is not applicable today. One scribe told me that he first became aware of the possibility of learning the profession of Sofer-STaM – a professional scribe of holy texts– through an employment agency. After nine months of training, it is possible to obtain work in this field. He was relieved that he no longer had to distinguish between a profane part of life, in which he had to earn a living, and religious life. On the other hand, another scribe told me that he now only devotes himself to calligraphy because he felt that his creativity was restricted by the numerous rules that exist for a Torah scroll.”

Martini’s conversations with women scribes were also surprising and impressive. Despite criticism from some Orthodox communities and the difficulty in finding teachers who would also teach women how to write, many women are determined to devote themselves fully to writing the Holy Scrolls.

“Part of the cultural heritage of Judaism and therefore immensely important for Jews.”

Martini and her colleagues have a lot to do before 2026 when the funding for the project will end. She said, “We are interested in researching the complete history of the origins of medieval Torah scrolls in particular. When and under what conditions were they written? How many people were involved in the process? What materials were used? Can we trace their history in the predominantly Christian libraries?”

Researchers in the field of Jewish studies, who deal primarily with the history and literature of Judaism, would reach their professional limits if they tried to answer these questions on their own. For that reason, in addition to the Institute of Jewish Studies and the Institute of Art History at Freie Universität Berlin, the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung, BAM) and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are also involved in the research project.

According to Martini, disciplines within the fields of history and cultural studies can benefit from technical and scientific approaches. She says, “Using computer-aided methods, we can analyze and link very large amounts of text. For example, in the virtual Torah scroll we are planning, it will be possible to compare paleographic traditions as well as other aspects. The digital edition of texts from different times and regions enables us to demonstrate how the wealth of knowledge for the production of Torah scrolls developed and how it was passed on.” It is easier to present information on the background of Jewish religious writings – such as the letter shapes and crowns within the Jewish scriptural interpretation — by making everything visually accessible.

The project is being funded with 2.4 million euros from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of a funding line aiming to give a boost to subjects with relatively few professorships. In Germany Jewish studies falls into this category. Martini points out that this is a huge opportunity for the subject of Jewish studies to open up to other disciplines and the public alike.

To facilitate public outreach, two other institutions are involved in the project: the Mainz Academy of Science and Literature and the Berlin State Library – Prussian Cultural Heritage. Together with the Berlin State Library, for example, the researchers are planning to show an exhibition at the end that deals with holy scriptures. They will display religious texts not only from Judaism, but also from Christianity and Islam as well as from East Asia. In short, from different religions, regions, and epochs. Perhaps the large sheet of paper with the 188 letter variants will have a place of honor in the exhibition.

---

This article originally appeared in German on November 26, 2022, in the Tagesspiegel newspaper supplement published by Freie Universität Berlin.