Scrolls, Books, Hooks and Ands – Jewish Journal

In ancient times the holy Torah was a manuscript that Jews would write upon a parchment scroll.Once printing was invented they divided all its verses and its chapters in an annotated book,but always their interpretation of the words made their imagination play a greater rolethan the printed or handwritten text on which they hung their own ideas like an imaginary hook,

and fill up to the brim,like vavei amudim,ideas that link like hookshiddushim in their books,to ands in columns ofthe Torah where a vavstarts each page with an and.A maskil will understand,thanks to his eruditionthe process of addition.Like vavei amudimit generates hiddushim,thereby enabling Torahto glow, and grow its aurajust like the Torahs vavim,lead-letters of its qelaphim,no less important thanits leading words which fanthe texts and make them coolfor those who use this tool.

The practice of starting every Torah column with a vavwas frowned on by great Rabbi Meir, known as Maharam,and on top of Torah columns showing as little loveas what all great rabbis showed to halakhic decisions that are dumb.

Theres more: another function that each vav not just a hookthat links all Torah columns in the parchment scroll, by signifying addition implies that, like the columns of the tabernacle, all the verses of the bookare templates of reversal of the tense into a non-linear edition.

The second verse of this poem was inspired by David Z. Mosters article inthetorah.com, Scribing the Tabernacle: A Visual Midrash Embedded in the Torah Scroll :

https://www.thetorah.com/article/scribing-the-tabernacle-a-visual-midrash-embedded-in-the-torah-scroll

Moster writes about the custom of beginning each amud, column, of a Torah scroll with a vav, the sixth letter of the alphabet, which means hook, and points out that the practice follows a paradigm that was applied to the building of the tabernacle. The columns of the Torah scroll are called (ammudim), the same term as the columns of the Tabernacle, and the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, a (vav), denotes each hook that was attached to the columns of the Tabernacle to become one of the vavei hamishkan, the hooks of the tabernacle, adding that the scribal practice of the vavei haammudim is not mentioned by theTalmud or Maimonides and was attacked by Rabbi Meir ben Yekutiel HaKohen (d. 1298) and his famous teacher, Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg (d. 1293).

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Scrolls, Books, Hooks and Ands - Jewish Journal