Shulchan Arukh Yoreh De'ah · Siman 271

Shulchan Arukh Yoreh De'ah 271 — English translation

Translation: Sefaria Community Translation. Section numbers match the Hebrew text above.

1. 1The Skin that it is written upon, the lines, and the laws of the ink. There are seven sections: [We] do not copy a Torah scroll on the hide of a wild animal, an impure bird, or a fish even a pure [fish]. Rather [we] copy on the hide of a wild animal (it should read: domesticated animal)(the translator), and a pure bird, even the hide of corpses and sick animals of them [the permitted sources of hides]. The hides must be tanned by a Jew for the purposes of a Torah Scroll, that he [the tanner] will say at the beginning of the process, when he places them [the hides] into the lime, "I am tanning these hides for the purposes of a Torah Scroll". Rema: If the tanner is a Non-Jew, a Jew should help a little (Tur quoting Rabbeinu Barukh) in the beginning [of the tanning process] when [the hides] are placed in the lime, he [the Jew] says that he is doing [this] for the sake of the holiness of a Torah Scroll (Beith Yosef) [then] he [the Jew] marks those hides [that he helped make] so that the Non-Jew[ish tanner] does not mix them up. We do not suspect after the fact that the Non-Jew[ish tanner] mixed them [the hides] up and then forged the marks at the end. (Haghoth Maimoni chapter 1 of the laws of a Torah Scroll) See Orach Chayim 32.
2. 2They [the hides] must be tanned with tannin, lime, or something comparable [meaning] chemicals that shrink the hide and strengthen it.
3. 3We copy the Torah Scroll upon Gvil that is the hide that is not split. [We] copy it on the side with hair. If he copied the Torah Scroll on Klaf [split parchment] it is fit for use, this is when he copied on the inner side that is opposite the flesh. Rema: Our parchments are choicer than Gvil. Preferably [we] copy on the flesh side [of the parchment], and we no longer copy on Gvil (Rabbeinu Yehuda Mintz section 66). If he changed and copied on our parchments on the hair side it is unfit for use (Or Zarua Laws of Tefilin) however there are those who are lenient on this (טור וע"פ עב"י)
4. 4If he copied a little bit of it on Gvil [unsplit parchment] or a little bit of it on klaf [split parchment] it is unfit for use. If he made it half Gvil and half deer skin even though it is not the best way to fulfill the commandment it is fit for use. (See later section 290:1)
5. 5A Torah Scroll needs line. If he copied it without lines it is unfit for use. He should not line [the parchment] with lead or something like it because it colors [the parchment].
6. 6A Torah Scroll must be copied with black ink made of the smoke of oils mixed in gall-nut water. (preferably one should be careful to make the ink only with ingredients that come from trees)(Implied by Zohar Terumah 72a) If he copied with a solution of gall-nut and vitriol [this mixture creates a black ink] it is fit for use, but [this is] not [so] with the rest of the colors like red, green etc. If he wrote a single letter in the other colors or in gold it is unfit for use. Rema: Ergo it is forbidden to copy any of the 24 books [of the Hebrew bible] not in black ink (Rabbeinu Yeruham quoting ibn yarhi) There are those who say that we only require black ink for a Torah Scroll (Mordekhai ה"ק).
7. 7A Torah Scroll must be copied with the right hand (There are those who say that it can be copied with a reed pen and not a feather (Mordekhai Gitin chapter 1).

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