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Rabbi Linda Motzkin, of Temple Sinai of Saratoga Springs, New York, and author of the "Aleph Isn't Tough" series of Hebrew for Adults books, is also scribing a Torah for her congregation (it may be done by now, I don't know). What is fascinating about her project is that, as most establishments that supply scribes with ink and parchment are Orthodox owned, she had difficulty obtaining writing materials. So, Rabbi Motzkin learned the art of kosher parchment making! This also enabled her to involve the wider community in the project, as deer hides were donated by local non-Jewish hunters (deer is a kosher animal; for the parchment to be kosher, the animal must be kosher but does not have to be kosher slaughtered; the preparation of the hides, however, must follow Halachah). She also makes her own quills, and has experimented with making her own ink. Her teacher relied on her status as a Rabbi to justify her being able to scribe a kosher Torah, as Halachah allows (if I am not mistaken - I'm no expert) a kosher Torah to be scribed by a leader of the community who has been entrusted to do so.

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