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Blessings in Vain? Blowing The Whistle On Today’s Torah Scrolls
Widespread Use of Problematic Scrolls Causes Historical Debate: Only “Gewil Hide” Can Solve The Problem
Jerusalem, Israel - For the first time in over eight hundred years, “Gewil” (which looks and feels like the leather of a baseball glove) is making a comeback in observant Jewish communities in Israel, Europe and the United States. Gewil is the raw, un-split cow hide used as scroll material, after it is processed in accordance with Jewish Law. While this process is currently preserved by a handful of Jewish scribes in Israel, it fell out of use in the middle ages due to a number of historical factors. However, a new revival of Gewil is helping to unite Jews across a broad philosophical spectrum by solving a number of age-old, legal issues about our current Torah Scroll.

Resolving Doubts About The Acceptability Of Today’s Scrolls…

The famous law codifier Rambam said that it is "the law transmitted to Moses on Mount Sinai that a Torah Scroll must be written on Gewil." This is also supported in a section of the Talmud called Gitten (54b), where we find mention that Torah scrolls were written on Gewil. The prescription literally refers to the processing of animal skin with salt, flour, and other specific ingredients called afatsim. According to popular speculation, one of the objectives of this process is to tighten or strengthen the pores to allow for better writing. The finished material, when prepared in this manner, is referred to as Gewil (pronounced Gevil by many in the Middle East).

Unfortunately, most of today’s scrolls are not prepared in this required manner. The Tosafists were probably the first ones to deviate from the required process. The first Tosafists were the famous sons-in-law and grandsons of Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki) who lived in the middle ages. The processing method used by the Tosafists, known as “Ibud ha sid,” refers to soaking the animal skin in lime, a different substance than what is mentioned in the Talmud. While this may be okay for the pre-process, to help remove the hair, it has actually taken over the entire process. There is much speculation about why this change took place. The Tosafists, who were aware of the Talmudic requirements, chose to revise their process by using a lime-focused soaking process. They may have thought that a longer duration of time in numerous soakings of lime was a sufficient justification to skip other required ingredients in the process. Perhaps they believed the lime was accomplishing the legal requirements in a different way. While lime may be needed to remove hair during the pre-process, the Talmud documents that specific ingredients are required for the process. Regardless of why and when the change occurred, the required process was changed in Europe. In addition, there may have been a deviation regarding the legal non-role of Gentiles in this process.

In these days of  “being very careful about legal issues,” many Rabbis are covering all their bases by having at least one “Gewil” scroll in their possession.

Today, there is a quiet debate in the rabbinic world—which is literally for the sake of Heaven. Only Gewil helps to settle an age old argument between the “Tosafists” and the Talmud. In the middle ages, the full Gewil hide was split to create two separate pieces. Each of these pieces had a different term and use. The debate STILL revolves around which piece is used for writing a sefer Torah or tefillin (phylacteries) and which is used for a mezuzah. In ancient Yemenite texts, the Rambam's determination is that the thin outer layer of skin is known as “dukhsustus” while the thick inner layer (closest to the flesh) is called “Qlaf”. This is also confirmed in a Geonic work called "Halakhoth Gaduloth" (743-ce). The Tosafists defined these terms in the exact opposite way, by reversing the meaning of the two terms. This makes for a serious legal problem regarding the acceptability of sefer Torah scrolls in today’s times, as someone is clearly writing on the incorrect piece. Although most religious scholars can not contest the evidence over which side was originally used for Qlaf, as mentioned in our ancient sources. Only writing upon full, un-split material (ie: Gewil) solves this legal issue. Interestingly enough, Yemenite Jews traditionally wrote their Torah scrolls on Gewil.

Today, most scribes use one type of parchment for all three types of writing materials (i.e.: Gewil, Qlaf and duchsustos). The parchment is not split in two. Rather, a thin layer is removed from the upper layer, and the majority, if not the entire, lower layer is rubbed off. This produces a very light, paper-like parchment. While this may look nice and weigh less, it has very little to do with the requirements listed in Talmud Bavli.

The use of Gewil totally removes all doubts about these legal issues, without putting anyone on the defensive side. Incredibly, Gewil shows no marks or folds after being crumpled and is difficult to scratch or mark. This may partly explain why scrolls, such as those found in the ruins of the Judean desert, were able to survive such harsh conditions over time. For more information about original Gewil scrolls, visit the Gewil Institute’s website www.globaljms.co.il or contact them at Gewil@globaljms.co.il. Even the nephew of the Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel is now writing on Gewil.

Eric Eisen
gawil@globaljms.co.il

USA Phone: USA 561-208-8298

ISRAEL: 02-997-2586