CHARLIE: When you're Jewish like me you try to live life by God's Commandments in the Torah the first Five Books of Moses. Every synagogue has its own Torah scrolls. Each one is hand-written in Hebrew just like the original. There are 304805 letters in a Torah scroll and each page has 42 lines. We believe Moses wrote down God's words in the original Torah scroll. All the other sins have been hand-scribed in the same way. A spelling mistake or a badly shaped letter can ruin the whole thing. Marc Michaels whose Hebrew name is Mordechai Pinchas is a Sofer. That means he's specially trained to write and repair Torah scrolls. I'm fixing a Torah that's been damaged. They had an accident and ripped the old one so I'm replacing it. And I'm having to write it in the style of the original scribe. His writing is very different to mine. Very different to mine! I want to put little fancy twiddles on it and I can't. I'll stop myself.
CHARLIE: Marc first started studying 20 years ago as the apprentice of another scribe. I was his apprentice. It's kind of like being a Jedi but with a quill. You have to study. All the books over there in the corner there you have to study those you have to know when you're making the right decisions about how you write what's correct and what isn't correct. Cos that's what makes it kosher. It's the best thing. It's really exciting cos you don't get this opportunity. Very few people are scribes you know because of all the training it's very hard to do.
CHARLIE: It takes Marc up to two years to scribe an entire Torah from scratch. Everything has to be kosher which means it meets Jewish rules. The reason the Torah is hand-written is that actually it's to do with the fact that the Commandment says… 'Ukh'tav'tam' 'And you will write them.' You will not paint them print them do any - it says 'you will write them.' The main law is to actually find a child who is neither too clever or too daft um… and ask them to read the letter. So if the child reads the letter correctly then it's kosher. So it doesn't matter what the Rabbi says and it doesn't matter what the scribe says - it's what the child says they're the most important.
Video summary
Find out about The Torah as 11-year-old Charlie meets an expert scribe.
Charlie introduces the work of Marc Michaels, a scribe, who writes Torah scrolls by hand, showing how these holy words are respected and preserved through his work. This is a powerful expression of what ‘sacred words’ mean in the Jewish faith.
The words of God to Moses are copied by hand. Charlie explains that Jewish people try to live by the Commandment of the Torah, the agreement God made with them. This includes the famous Ten Commandments. From BBC Series My Life, My Religion: Judaism.
Teacher Notes
Some of the teaching of the Torah can be presented to children as examples of ancient wise advice: Do not lie. Honour your parents. Don’t be greedy. Love God with all your heart and love your neighbour as much as you love yourself.
The Torah also contains stories – of Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses. Starting with this clip, plan lessons that explore these teachings and stories in depth and detail, making sure they are presented as Jewish texts, not just as the ‘Christian Old Testament’.
This topic is relevant to KS2 Religious Education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and National 2 Religious Studies in Scotland.
What is a Bat Mitzvah? video
Jewish girl Me-Me introduces us to the Bat Mitzvah ceremony as she prepares to become a ‘Daughter of the Law’, learning to pray and to read the Torah in public.
Hannukkah, the festival of lights. video
Find out about Hanukkah through the eyes of 11 year old Solly. Solly shows us how his family celebrates and gives us a short history of the origin of the tradition.
Life as a young Jewish boy. video
11-year-old Charlie introduces himself, and lists the things the matter to him most in the world - food, sport, family, being Jewish – and shoes!
Visiting Jerusalem. video
14-year-old Jewish girl Dalia is taking a school trip to Jerusalem, and uses her video camera to record her experiences.
Celebrating Passover. video
10-year-old Solly uses his own video camera to share the experience of his family preparing for the Jewish festival of Passover.
Celebrating Rosh Hashanah. video
11-year-old Charlie from Manchester explains the festival of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year that he celebrates every autumn.
Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest. video
10-year-old Charlie tells us what his family do on Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, and how it differs from the rest of the week.
What is Judaism? video
11-year-old Charlie from Manchester introduces the history, traditions and beliefs of the Jewish religion. We see him go to pray with his dad at their Orthodox synagogue.
