The main thing about Torah ink is that it has to be black and it has to stay black. If it changes colour within fifty years, it wasn’t kosher to begin with. Generally, Torah ink (דיו, in Hebrew, like dye) is what’s called an iron gall ink. Iron gall inks have been used in a […]
Exodus 28:36, a verse from this week’s parsha; ועשית ציץ זהב טהור… “Make a tzitz of pure gold…” Go look it up. In some sifrei Torah, the final tzaddi of the word ציץ is writ large, including in the sefer I’m presently writing: Here’s another one, from a different sefer (presently in Berlin; my last […]
February 23, 2012 – 20:54
This week’s parasha describes the worship-tent that God commands the Israelites to construct in the wilderness. Around the tent, they are to construct a courtyard, of panels held between columns. Perhaps you’ve seen a Torah scroll being unrolled around a sanctuary at Simchat Torah. You’ve seen how it’s long enough to go around the whole […]
February 16, 2012 – 10:32
For my job-hunting boyfriend. Find a six-inch square shadow box. Good luck with that; I made this one. Make sure it’s deep enough to hold a shot glass. Drill holes in the back to take the wires which will hold the contents and a hanging loop of some sort. Paint it fire-alarm red and varnish […]
February 14, 2012 – 20:55
The boyfriend works on glioblastoma. Which is a cancer that happens to astrocytes, so he says. giantmicrobes.com has neurons, but not astrocytes, so I made a plush astrocyte. With a wire skeleton so that all its tentacles are posable, because who wants a non-posable astrocyte, really? It’s purple because all the pictures of glioblastoma are […]
February 13, 2012 – 21:33
Everyone has a challah cover that says “Shabbat v’Yom Tov,” don’t they? It’s a compulsory wedding gift, I believe. But not many people have one like this. Bwahahaa, geekery. I might post a pattern at some point, if anyone wants it.
Today’s parchment: a bit smooth and slippy, so I want to treat it with gum sanderac before writing. It’s a resin that you grind finely and rub into the parchment. Grinding gum sandarac in a cereal bowl with a spoon is annoying, because so much of the gum sandarac sticks to the surface of the […]
This morning I’m writing chapter 14 of Exodus: And Moses stretched out his hand, and a strong wind blew all night, and dried up the sea. And the children of Israel came into the sea on dry land, and [this bit is recited with the special tune for the Song of the Sea] the waters […]
I see, updating the progress meter, that we’re at 25%. A quarter of the way there. Still a long ways to go, but I feel like we’ve got a nice big chunk done now.
This week’s parsha contains the phrase “The Torah of God shall be in your mouth.” Rabbinic tradition expands this concept: if we are to put the Torah in our mouths, it obviously cannot be made of things that we may not eat. So all animal products used on Torahs are made from the kosher species. […]
