Dr. Nehemia Gordon earned his PhD in Biblical Studies from Bar-Ilan University writing on scribal practices related to the name of God in medieval Hebrew Bible manuscripts under the supervision of Prof. Yosef Ofer.
Part 1 of this study considered how the rabbinic prohibition against erasing the Tetragrammaton l... more Part 1 of this study considered how the rabbinic prohibition against erasing the Tetragrammaton led to scribes performing diverse procedures to resolve scribal errors. In part 2 it will be shown that special procedures were performed in Torah scrolls, namely, skiving, excision, and removing sheets. Washing off the divine name was not found in the corpus examined. Despite the rabbinic prohibition, medieval Jewish scribes occasionally marked the Tetragrammaton with a strikethrough or erased it through abrasion. This may have been the handiwork of Karaite scribes who did not see themselves bound by the midrashic interpretation of Deut 12:4. The scribes who wrote the Aleppo Codex may have abraded erroneous instances of the Tetragrammaton in order to create a model codex. Scribes in the isolated Jewish community of Kaifeng, who erased erroneous instances of the Tetragrammaton, may not have been familiar with rabbinic strictures.
Early rabbinic interpretation of Deut 12:4 prohibited erasure of the Tetragrammaton, which requir... more Early rabbinic interpretation of Deut 12:4 prohibited erasure of the Tetragrammaton, which required Jewish scribes to employ creative methods to resolve extraneous instances of the divine name. This may be foreshadowed in the writing of divine appellations in Paleo-Hebrew in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Medieval Jewish scribes employed diverse methods to deal with errors involving the Tetragrammaton. In codices this involved marking God's name with dots, rectangles (also used in liturgical scrolls), lines, and supralinear circelli. Some scribes indicated the Tetragrammaton's erasure by leaving it unpointed and recording a correction (usually Adonai) in the margin, without any additional notation. A special procedure involved a nonstandard usage of the Qere notation. All of these methods were performed in accordance with rabbinic strictures. Part 2 of this study will consider exceptions to the rule and the special case of liturgical Torah scrolls.
Ms Erfurt 7 (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussicher Kulturbesitz, Ms. Or. fol. 1216) is a thirteent... more Ms Erfurt 7 (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussicher Kulturbesitz, Ms. Or. fol. 1216) is a thirteenth-century Torah scroll from the famous Erfurt collection kept at the Berlin State Library. Multiple corrections, reinking, and three replacement sheets testify to intense ritual use of the scroll. A previous study has already investigated the different nature of the inks used for the original and replacement sheets and identified a two-stage process of writing, in which the names of God were sometimes added in the second state. The present article broadens the previous study, investigating the relationship between the inks used for the different corrections, reinking, and names of God on both the original and replacement sheets, using a scanning micro-XRF spectrometer. Scientific material analysis confirms and supplements palaeographical observations, identifying the work of a scribe who filled God's name into blank spaces in replacement sheets and performed corrections on both the original sheets and the replacement sheets. It is suggested that this scribe was a master scribe working alongside an apprentice, a practice with parallels in the Dead Sea Scrolls and medieval Hebrew Bible codices.
The scribe of ‘Erfurt 7’, a thirteenth-century Torah scroll now kept in Berlin, initially left bl... more The scribe of ‘Erfurt 7’, a thirteenth-century Torah scroll now kept in Berlin, initially left blank spaces for the divine appellations Elohim (אלהים) and YHWH Elohim (יהוה אלהים) which were filled in during a second stage of writing. The appearance of the ink employed to write the appellations was significantly darker than that of the surrounding ink. X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) has shown that the light and dark brown inks had similar elemental compositions, but contained different ratios of iron to potassium, which could be explained by the use of different batches of ink. According to some medieval sources, the divine appellations were sometimes filled in during a second stage of writing in the presence of ten men from the Jewish community. In Erfurt 7, the two-stage procedure was only performed in the first 1.5 columns of the original sheets, suggesting it may have been part of a public ceremony inaugurating the writing of the divine names in the scroll. Erfurt 7 emerges from this study not only as a ritual object used for liturgy, but as a rallying point for the Jews of Erfurt to come together as a community to express their reverence for the written form of God’s name. The divine name YHWH (יהוה) was written in a smaller script than the surrounding text on three replacement sheets using the same two-stage procedure. The ink used on the replacement sheets contained zinc, which is characteristic of other Erfurt manuscripts as well. This suggests that Erfurt was the place where the scroll was used, cherished and eventually repaired.
Pavlos D. Vasileiadis and Nehemia Gordon, “Transmission of the Tetragrammaton in Judeo-Greek and ... more Pavlos D. Vasileiadis and Nehemia Gordon, “Transmission of the Tetragrammaton in Judeo-Greek and Christian Sources,” Flavia Buzzetta (ed.), Accademia Cahier, Nr. 12 (June 2021), pp. 85–126.
Standard qere (lit., “it is read”) notes recorded in the margin of medieval Hebrew Bible manuscri... more Standard qere (lit., “it is read”) notes recorded in the margin of medieval Hebrew Bible manuscripts instruct the reader how to read and interpret words in the body of the text, the ketiv (lit., “it is written”). Although some qere notes may appear to correct errors in the ketiv, as a rule the ketiv was meant to be preserved unchanged, with the qere perpetuated in the margin. This study will explore a hitherto overlooked, nonstandard usage of the qere notation that served to notify the reader of an error in the text and was intended to replace the ketiv the next time the manuscript was copied. This phenomenon of “text-correcting qere” can be identified when the qere is seemingly superfluous or improbable. Other indicators of text-correcting qere occur when the ketiv has been marked for erasure with a strikethrough or has been left unpointed, when it has been previously corrected, or when it is ambiguous or illegible due to successive corrections. A related phenomenon involves recording the word ketiv itself in the margin along with a correction to indicate “it should be written [X].” A parallel in talmudic manuscripts raises the possibility of understanding this as “I found it written [X] in another manuscript.” The former would be an actual correction (“text-correcting ketiv”), whereas the latter would record a textual variant that was meant to be perpetuated as a marginal note (“variant-noting ketiv”).
This study explores scribal practices related to the writing, erasure, and correction of the Tetr... more This study explores scribal practices related to the writing, erasure, and correction of the Tetragrammaton (יהוה) in medieval Hebrew Bible manuscripts (codices and Torah scrolls). Theoretical statements in halakhic literature are compared to actual examples from the five geo-cultural regions in which medieval Hebrew Bible manuscripts were written. The results are presented in an introduction (chapter 1), six main chapters (2–7), and a chapter of summation (chapter 8). Chapters 2, 3, and 4 deal with the writing, erasure, and correction of the Tetragrammaton, respectively. Chapter 5 expands on chapter 2 with an interdisciplinary approach, involving Microscopic Reflectography and XRF (X-ray fluorescence analysis), to explore scribal procedures used to write the Tetragrammaton. Chapter 6 expands on the phenomenon of text-correcting qere, which I discovered during the course of the research on chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 7 explores the gap between the rulings of halakhic authorities and the reality of scribal praxis reflected in medieval Hebrew Bible manuscripts, especially Torah scrolls.
This edition presents for the first time all the non-biblical Qumran texts classified according t... more This edition presents for the first time all the non-biblical Qumran texts classified according to their genres, together with English translations. Of these texts, some twenty were not previously published. The Hebrew-Aramaic texts in this edition are mainly based on the FARMS database of Brigham Young University, which, in its turn, reflects the text editions of the ancient scrolls (mainly DJD) with great precision, including modern diacritical signs. The Reader consists of six individual parts. The purpose of the classification is to enhance the research facilities of the individual texts within their respective genres, especially in courses at Universities and Colleges.
Part 1. Texts Concerned with Religious Law Part 2. Exegetical Texts Part 3. Parabiblical Texts Pa... more Part 1. Texts Concerned with Religious Law Part 2. Exegetical Texts Part 3. Parabiblical Texts Part 4. Calendrial and Sapiental Texts Part 5. Poetic and Liturgical Texts Part 6. Additional Genres and Unclassified Texts
This study will present a new approach to distinguishing writing inks that have the same elementa... more This study will present a new approach to distinguishing writing inks that have the same elemental compositions and visual appearances. The approach is based on displaying the intensity of elemental distributions as heat maps that represent data recorded with a scanning μX-ray fluorescence spectrometer. The heat maps present the data so as to facilitate digitally identifying and distinguishing between inks used to produce, correct, and reink two medieval Torah scrolls. As ritual objects, Torah scrolls had to be written in accordance with exacting standards that evolved over time. This requirement led to successive stages of modifications, sometimes over centuries. Both vitriolic and non-vitriolic inks used to modify Torah scrolls can be visually identical to each other. Furthermore, different non-vitriolic inks usually have an identical elemental composition. The solid material analysis evidence and its presentation as heat maps made it possible to discriminate between original and altered portions of text that in some cases would have been impossible. Our interdisciplinary work brought together conservation, material science, paleography, and philology to enable the identification of complex stratigraphy in multiple stages of production, correction, and reinking.
Ms Erfurt 7 (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussicher Kulturbesitz, Ms. Or. fol. 1216) is a thirteent... more Ms Erfurt 7 (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussicher Kulturbesitz, Ms. Or. fol. 1216) is a thirteenth-century Torah scroll from the famous Erfurt collection kept at the Berlin State Library. Multiple corrections, reinking, and three replacement sheets testify to intense ritual use of the scroll. A previous study has already investigated the different nature of the inks used for the original and replacement sheets and identified a two-stage process of writing, in which the names of God were sometimes added in the second state. The present article broadens the previous study, investigating the relationship between the inks used for the different corrections, reinking, and names of God on both the original and replacement sheets, using a scanning micro-XRF spectrometer. Scientific material analysis confirms and supplements palaeographical observations, identifying the work of a scribe who filled God's name into blank spaces in replacement sheets and performed corrections on both the o...
Part 1 of this study considered how the rabbinic prohibition against erasing the Tetragrammaton l... more Part 1 of this study considered how the rabbinic prohibition against erasing the Tetragrammaton led to scribes performing diverse procedures to resolve scribal errors. In part 2 it will be shown that special procedures were performed in Torah scrolls, namely, skiving, excision, and removing sheets. Washing off the divine name was not found in the corpus examined. Despite the rabbinic prohibition, medieval Jewish scribes occasionally marked the Tetragrammaton with a strikethrough or erased it through abrasion. This may have been the handiwork of Karaite scribes who did not see themselves bound by the midrashic interpretation of Deut 12:4. The scribes who wrote the Aleppo Codex may have abraded erroneous instances of the Tetragrammaton in order to create a model codex. Scribes in the isolated Jewish community of Kaifeng, who erased erroneous instances of the Tetragrammaton, may not have been familiar with rabbinic strictures.
Early rabbinic interpretation of Deut 12:4 prohibited erasure of the Tetragrammaton, which requir... more Early rabbinic interpretation of Deut 12:4 prohibited erasure of the Tetragrammaton, which required Jewish scribes to employ creative methods to resolve extraneous instances of the divine name. This may be foreshadowed in the writing of divine appellations in Paleo-Hebrew in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Medieval Jewish scribes employed diverse methods to deal with errors involving the Tetragrammaton. In codices this involved marking God's name with dots, rectangles (also used in liturgical scrolls), lines, and supralinear circelli. Some scribes indicated the Tetragrammaton's erasure by leaving it unpointed and recording a correction (usually Adonai) in the margin, without any additional notation. A special procedure involved a nonstandard usage of the Qere notation. All of these methods were performed in accordance with rabbinic strictures. Part 2 of this study will consider exceptions to the rule and the special case of liturgical Torah scrolls.
Ms Erfurt 7 (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussicher Kulturbesitz, Ms. Or. fol. 1216) is a thirteent... more Ms Erfurt 7 (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussicher Kulturbesitz, Ms. Or. fol. 1216) is a thirteenth-century Torah scroll from the famous Erfurt collection kept at the Berlin State Library. Multiple corrections, reinking, and three replacement sheets testify to intense ritual use of the scroll. A previous study has already investigated the different nature of the inks used for the original and replacement sheets and identified a two-stage process of writing, in which the names of God were sometimes added in the second state. The present article broadens the previous study, investigating the relationship between the inks used for the different corrections, reinking, and names of God on both the original and replacement sheets, using a scanning micro-XRF spectrometer. Scientific material analysis confirms and supplements palaeographical observations, identifying the work of a scribe who filled God's name into blank spaces in replacement sheets and performed corrections on both the original sheets and the replacement sheets. It is suggested that this scribe was a master scribe working alongside an apprentice, a practice with parallels in the Dead Sea Scrolls and medieval Hebrew Bible codices.
The scribe of ‘Erfurt 7’, a thirteenth-century Torah scroll now kept in Berlin, initially left bl... more The scribe of ‘Erfurt 7’, a thirteenth-century Torah scroll now kept in Berlin, initially left blank spaces for the divine appellations Elohim (אלהים) and YHWH Elohim (יהוה אלהים) which were filled in during a second stage of writing. The appearance of the ink employed to write the appellations was significantly darker than that of the surrounding ink. X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) has shown that the light and dark brown inks had similar elemental compositions, but contained different ratios of iron to potassium, which could be explained by the use of different batches of ink. According to some medieval sources, the divine appellations were sometimes filled in during a second stage of writing in the presence of ten men from the Jewish community. In Erfurt 7, the two-stage procedure was only performed in the first 1.5 columns of the original sheets, suggesting it may have been part of a public ceremony inaugurating the writing of the divine names in the scroll. Erfurt 7 emerges from this study not only as a ritual object used for liturgy, but as a rallying point for the Jews of Erfurt to come together as a community to express their reverence for the written form of God’s name. The divine name YHWH (יהוה) was written in a smaller script than the surrounding text on three replacement sheets using the same two-stage procedure. The ink used on the replacement sheets contained zinc, which is characteristic of other Erfurt manuscripts as well. This suggests that Erfurt was the place where the scroll was used, cherished and eventually repaired.
Pavlos D. Vasileiadis and Nehemia Gordon, “Transmission of the Tetragrammaton in Judeo-Greek and ... more Pavlos D. Vasileiadis and Nehemia Gordon, “Transmission of the Tetragrammaton in Judeo-Greek and Christian Sources,” Flavia Buzzetta (ed.), Accademia Cahier, Nr. 12 (June 2021), pp. 85–126.
Standard qere (lit., “it is read”) notes recorded in the margin of medieval Hebrew Bible manuscri... more Standard qere (lit., “it is read”) notes recorded in the margin of medieval Hebrew Bible manuscripts instruct the reader how to read and interpret words in the body of the text, the ketiv (lit., “it is written”). Although some qere notes may appear to correct errors in the ketiv, as a rule the ketiv was meant to be preserved unchanged, with the qere perpetuated in the margin. This study will explore a hitherto overlooked, nonstandard usage of the qere notation that served to notify the reader of an error in the text and was intended to replace the ketiv the next time the manuscript was copied. This phenomenon of “text-correcting qere” can be identified when the qere is seemingly superfluous or improbable. Other indicators of text-correcting qere occur when the ketiv has been marked for erasure with a strikethrough or has been left unpointed, when it has been previously corrected, or when it is ambiguous or illegible due to successive corrections. A related phenomenon involves recording the word ketiv itself in the margin along with a correction to indicate “it should be written [X].” A parallel in talmudic manuscripts raises the possibility of understanding this as “I found it written [X] in another manuscript.” The former would be an actual correction (“text-correcting ketiv”), whereas the latter would record a textual variant that was meant to be perpetuated as a marginal note (“variant-noting ketiv”).
This study explores scribal practices related to the writing, erasure, and correction of the Tetr... more This study explores scribal practices related to the writing, erasure, and correction of the Tetragrammaton (יהוה) in medieval Hebrew Bible manuscripts (codices and Torah scrolls). Theoretical statements in halakhic literature are compared to actual examples from the five geo-cultural regions in which medieval Hebrew Bible manuscripts were written. The results are presented in an introduction (chapter 1), six main chapters (2–7), and a chapter of summation (chapter 8). Chapters 2, 3, and 4 deal with the writing, erasure, and correction of the Tetragrammaton, respectively. Chapter 5 expands on chapter 2 with an interdisciplinary approach, involving Microscopic Reflectography and XRF (X-ray fluorescence analysis), to explore scribal procedures used to write the Tetragrammaton. Chapter 6 expands on the phenomenon of text-correcting qere, which I discovered during the course of the research on chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 7 explores the gap between the rulings of halakhic authorities and the reality of scribal praxis reflected in medieval Hebrew Bible manuscripts, especially Torah scrolls.
This edition presents for the first time all the non-biblical Qumran texts classified according t... more This edition presents for the first time all the non-biblical Qumran texts classified according to their genres, together with English translations. Of these texts, some twenty were not previously published. The Hebrew-Aramaic texts in this edition are mainly based on the FARMS database of Brigham Young University, which, in its turn, reflects the text editions of the ancient scrolls (mainly DJD) with great precision, including modern diacritical signs. The Reader consists of six individual parts. The purpose of the classification is to enhance the research facilities of the individual texts within their respective genres, especially in courses at Universities and Colleges.
Part 1. Texts Concerned with Religious Law Part 2. Exegetical Texts Part 3. Parabiblical Texts Pa... more Part 1. Texts Concerned with Religious Law Part 2. Exegetical Texts Part 3. Parabiblical Texts Part 4. Calendrial and Sapiental Texts Part 5. Poetic and Liturgical Texts Part 6. Additional Genres and Unclassified Texts
This study will present a new approach to distinguishing writing inks that have the same elementa... more This study will present a new approach to distinguishing writing inks that have the same elemental compositions and visual appearances. The approach is based on displaying the intensity of elemental distributions as heat maps that represent data recorded with a scanning μX-ray fluorescence spectrometer. The heat maps present the data so as to facilitate digitally identifying and distinguishing between inks used to produce, correct, and reink two medieval Torah scrolls. As ritual objects, Torah scrolls had to be written in accordance with exacting standards that evolved over time. This requirement led to successive stages of modifications, sometimes over centuries. Both vitriolic and non-vitriolic inks used to modify Torah scrolls can be visually identical to each other. Furthermore, different non-vitriolic inks usually have an identical elemental composition. The solid material analysis evidence and its presentation as heat maps made it possible to discriminate between original and altered portions of text that in some cases would have been impossible. Our interdisciplinary work brought together conservation, material science, paleography, and philology to enable the identification of complex stratigraphy in multiple stages of production, correction, and reinking.
Ms Erfurt 7 (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussicher Kulturbesitz, Ms. Or. fol. 1216) is a thirteent... more Ms Erfurt 7 (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussicher Kulturbesitz, Ms. Or. fol. 1216) is a thirteenth-century Torah scroll from the famous Erfurt collection kept at the Berlin State Library. Multiple corrections, reinking, and three replacement sheets testify to intense ritual use of the scroll. A previous study has already investigated the different nature of the inks used for the original and replacement sheets and identified a two-stage process of writing, in which the names of God were sometimes added in the second state. The present article broadens the previous study, investigating the relationship between the inks used for the different corrections, reinking, and names of God on both the original and replacement sheets, using a scanning micro-XRF spectrometer. Scientific material analysis confirms and supplements palaeographical observations, identifying the work of a scribe who filled God's name into blank spaces in replacement sheets and performed corrections on both the o...
Standard qere (lit., “it is read”) notes recorded in the margin of medieval Hebrew Bible manuscri... more Standard qere (lit., “it is read”) notes recorded in the margin of medieval Hebrew Bible manuscripts instruct the reader how to read and interpret words in the body of the text, the ketiv (lit., “it is written”). Although some qere notes may appear to correct errors in the ketiv, as a rule the ketiv was meant to be preserved unchanged, with the qere perpetuated in the margin. This study will explore a hitherto overlooked, nonstandard usage of the qere notation that served to notify the reader of an error in the text and was intended to replace the ketiv the next time the manuscript was copied. This phenomenon of “text-correcting qere” can be identified when the qere is seemingly superfluous or improbable. Other indicators of text-correcting qere occur when the ketiv has been marked for erasure with a strikethrough or has been left unpointed, when it has been previously corrected, or when it is ambiguous or illegible due to successive corrections. A related phenomenon involves record...
This study will present a new approach to distinguishing writing inks that have the same elementa... more This study will present a new approach to distinguishing writing inks that have the same elemental compositions and visual appearances. The approach is based on displaying the intensity of elemental distributions as heat maps that represent data recorded with a scanning μX-ray fluorescence spectrometer. The heat maps present the data so as to facilitate digitally identifying and distinguishing between inks used to produce, correct, and reink two medieval Torah scrolls. As ritual objects, Torah scrolls had to be written in accordance with exacting standards that evolved over time. This requirement led to successive stages of modifications, sometimes over centuries. Both vitriolic and non-vitriolic inks used to modify Torah scrolls can be visually identical to each other. Furthermore, different non-vitriolic inks usually have an identical elemental composition. The solid material analysis evidence and its presentation as heat maps made it possible to discriminate between original and altered portions of text that in some cases would have been impossible. Our interdisciplinary work brought together conservation, material science, paleography, and philology to enable the identification of complex stratigraphy in multiple stages of production, correction, and reinking.
This study will present a new approach to distinguishing writing inks that have the same elementa... more This study will present a new approach to distinguishing writing inks that have the same elemental compositions and visual appearances. The approach is based on displaying the intensity of elemental distributions as heat maps that represent data recorded with a scanning μX-ray fluorescence spectrometer. The heat maps present the data so as to facilitate digitally identifying and distinguishing between inks used to produce, correct, and reink two medieval Torah scrolls. As ritual objects, Torah scrolls had to be written in accordance with exacting standards that evolved over time. This requirement led to successive stages of modifications, sometimes over centuries. Both vitriolic and non-vitriolic inks used to modify Torah scrolls can be visually identical to each other. Furthermore, different non-vitriolic inks usually have an identical elemental composition. The solid material analysis evidence and its presentation as heat maps made it possible to discriminate between original and altered portions of text that in some cases would have been impossible. Our interdisciplinary work brought together conservation, material science, paleography, and philology to enable the identification of complex stratigraphy in multiple stages of production, correction, and reinking.
Ms Erfurt 7 (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussicher Kulturbesitz, Ms. Or. fol. 1216) is a thirteent... more Ms Erfurt 7 (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussicher Kulturbesitz, Ms. Or. fol. 1216) is a thirteenth-century Torah scroll from the famous Erfurt collection kept at the Berlin State Library. Multiple corrections, reinking, and three replacement sheets testify to intense ritual use of the scroll. A previous study has already investigated the different nature of the inks used for the original and replacement sheets and identified a two-stage process of writing, in which the names of God were sometimes added in the second state. The present article broadens the previous study, investigating the relationship between the inks used for the different corrections, reinking, and names of God on both the original and replacement sheets, using a scanning micro-XRF spectrometer. Scientific material analysis confirms and supplements palaeographical observations, identifying the work of a scribe who filled God's name into blank spaces in replacement sheets and performed corrections on both the o...
This study explores scribal practices related to the writing, erasure, and correction of the Tetr... more This study explores scribal practices related to the writing, erasure, and correction of the Tetragrammaton (יהוה) in medieval Hebrew Bible manuscripts (codices and Torah scrolls). Theoretical statements in halakhic literature are compared to actual examples from the five geo-cultural regions in which medieval Hebrew Bible manuscripts were written. The results are presented in an introduction (chapter 1), six main chapters (2–7), and a chapter of summation (chapter 8). Chapters 2, 3, and 4 deal with the writing, erasure, and correction of the Tetragrammaton, respectively. Chapter 5 expands on chapter 2 with an interdisciplinary approach, involving Microscopic Reflectography and XRF (X-ray fluorescence analysis), to explore scribal procedures used to write the Tetragrammaton. Chapter 6 expands on the phenomenon of text-correcting qere, which I discovered during the course of the research on chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 7 explores the gap between the rulings of halakhic authorities and the reality of scribal praxis reflected in medieval Hebrew Bible manuscripts, especially Torah scrolls.
This is the letter I sent to the SBL council in response to their morally reprehensible statement... more This is the letter I sent to the SBL council in response to their morally reprehensible statement about "the Ongoing Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza." I personally think academia should remain free of political discourse but if they are going to introduce political discourse it needs to be ethical and moral. Instead they take a stance that incites violence against Jews and condemns Israel for fulfilling its moral duty to defend its citizens against a genocidal terrorist organization that continues to target Israeli civilians with rockets.
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Peer-reviewed scholarly papers & Journal articles by Nehemia Gordon
could be explained by the use of different batches of ink. According to some medieval sources, the divine appellations were sometimes filled in during a second stage of writing in the presence of ten men from the Jewish community. In Erfurt 7, the two-stage procedure was only performed in the first 1.5 columns of the original sheets, suggesting it may have been part of a public ceremony inaugurating the writing of the divine names in the scroll. Erfurt 7 emerges from this study not only as a ritual object used for liturgy, but as a rallying point for the Jews of Erfurt to come together as a community to express their reverence for the written form of God’s name. The divine name YHWH (יהוה) was written in a smaller script than the surrounding text on three replacement sheets using the same two-stage procedure. The ink used on the replacement sheets contained zinc, which is characteristic of other Erfurt manuscripts as well. This suggests that Erfurt was the place where the scroll was used, cherished and eventually repaired.
Papers by Nehemia Gordon
could be explained by the use of different batches of ink. According to some medieval sources, the divine appellations were sometimes filled in during a second stage of writing in the presence of ten men from the Jewish community. In Erfurt 7, the two-stage procedure was only performed in the first 1.5 columns of the original sheets, suggesting it may have been part of a public ceremony inaugurating the writing of the divine names in the scroll. Erfurt 7 emerges from this study not only as a ritual object used for liturgy, but as a rallying point for the Jews of Erfurt to come together as a community to express their reverence for the written form of God’s name. The divine name YHWH (יהוה) was written in a smaller script than the surrounding text on three replacement sheets using the same two-stage procedure. The ink used on the replacement sheets contained zinc, which is characteristic of other Erfurt manuscripts as well. This suggests that Erfurt was the place where the scroll was used, cherished and eventually repaired.
Chapters 2, 3, and 4 deal with the writing, erasure, and correction of the Tetragrammaton, respectively. Chapter 5 expands on chapter 2 with an interdisciplinary approach, involving Microscopic Reflectography and XRF (X-ray fluorescence analysis), to explore scribal procedures used to write the Tetragrammaton. Chapter 6 expands on the phenomenon of text-correcting qere, which I discovered during the course of the research on chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 7 explores the gap between the rulings of halakhic authorities and the reality of scribal praxis reflected in medieval Hebrew Bible manuscripts, especially Torah scrolls.