Abstract:
A religious artifact including at least one scroll hand-written on kosher parchment in Hebrew, using flexible water-resistant kosher black ink. Such ink, when dry, does not dissolve in water and does not crack or peel off the surface, yet, when a mistake needs to be corrected, such ink can be scraped off the surface of the parchment without leaving a visible ink residue on the surface and without causing substantial damage to the parchment. The present invention provides for kosher scrolls which are less prone to and more resistant to becoming non-kosher, than scrolls of the prior art.

Description:
REFERENCES 
       [0000]    
       
         Mishnah Brurah (Hebrew-English edition), Feldheim Publishers, Jerusalem, Israel (1992). ISBN 0-87306-624-3 and 0-87306-623-5, Vol. 1(B), ch. 32, p. 84-85. 
         Talmudic Encyclopedia (in Hebrew), Jerusalem, Israel, (1995). ISBN 965-445-000-3, Vol. 7, p. 275-281, entry: “ink” (“dio” in Hebrew). 
       
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART 
       [0003]    This invention relates to hand-written religious scrolls and to religious artifacts including one or several such scrolls. More particularly, the invention relates to scrolls made of kosher parchment on which religious text copied from the Bible is hand-written with kosher black ink by a skilled scribe. 
         [0004]    The term “parchment” as used herein means a sheet of thin real-leather, specially processed to become a substrate for writing on it. It is known in the Hebrew language as “klaf”. The term “parchment” does not include parchment paper. The term “scroll” as used herein means a kosher parchment on which religious text was hand-written with kosher black ink by a skilled scribe. Many types of Jewish religious scrolls have been produced since ancient times and are still being produced today. These scrolls are predominantly known by their Hebrew names as: “Sefer Torah”, “Tefillin”, “Mezuzah”, and “Megillah”. 
         [0005]    The term “Hebrew text” as used herein is defined as a plurality of Hebrew letters forming at least one word copied from the Hebrew Bible or from ancient Jewish religious literature, as commonly found in Jewish religious scrolls. 
         [0006]    The term “kosher” as used herein is defined as: “In compliance with the tenets of the Jewish religious law.” Different Jewish groups may have different tenets which classify items as being kosher or non-kosher. The term “kosher” as used herein will apply to any item which complies with the religious tenets of at least one of the various Jewish groups. The term “kosher” can apply to a material, to the geometrical shape of a written Hebrew letter, to the status of an entire scroll, and to an artifact which includes a scroll. 
         [0007]    Once anything is or becomes non-kosher it is considered religiously prohibited and not usable. In certain instances a non-kosher status can be repaired. In other instances a non-kosher status cannot be repaired and the entire scroll must be discarded. For example: a non-kosher ingredient in a mixture of materials can render the entire mixture non-kosher. The inclusion of such a non-kosher ingredient is non-repairable. Another example: a substantial defect in the geometrical shape of a written Hebrew letter on a scroll can render the letter non-kosher, in which case, the entire scroll can become non-kosher. Geometrical-shape defects are sometimes repairable. Repairing a non-kosher scroll is difficult and time consuming. With certain defects it is impossible to repair a non-kosher scroll, and the entire scroll must be discarded, involving high financial and emotional loss. 
         [0008]    For a scroll to be kosher, both the parchment and the ink used for writing on it must be kosher. In addition, the geometrical shape of each written letter and the sequence of the words and letters in the text must also be kosher. An additional requirement for a scroll to be kosher is that none of the letters touch each other. The parchment is prior art and will not be discussed herein. For the ink to be kosher, it must meet all of the following religious requirements:
       a) the ingredients of the ink must be kosher;   b) the color of the ink must be black;   c) when the ink is applied to the parchment, it must remain predominantly on the surface of the parchment and not soak into the parchment;   d) the ink must adhere well to the surface of the parchment; and   e) after the ink dries on the parchment, it must be possible to scrape off the dry ink from the parchment using a knife blade without leaving a visible residue of the scraped-off ink on the parchment and without causing substantial damage to the parchment. Some superficial damage to the surface of the parchment is acceptable as long as, after scraping off the dry ink, it is possible to write new text on the parchment in the same location of the scraped-off ink. The need to scrape off the ink arises, for example, when, in the process of writing the text, a mistake is made. It then becomes necessary to scrape off part or all of a letter or a few letters. It must then be possible to write new letters in the same location on the parchment where the original scraped-off letters used to be.       
 
         [0014]    Requirements (c) and (e) above, are the most difficult to comply with. They preclude the use of commercial printing inks and artist&#39;s inks in the production of kosher scrolls. The only inks which are acceptable for use in the writing of kosher scrolls are inks which are made specifically for that purpose and not for any other purpose. 
         [0015]    A glossy appearance of the ink after it dries is generally considered preferable over a non-glossy appearance. However, this is a preference only. Lack of gloss does not render the ink or the scroll non-kosher. 
         [0016]    General guidelines for preparing kosher ink for kosher scrolls have been known since ancient times. Exact details of such ink production have been kept as trade secrets by scribes. A brief summary of the publicly-known prior art was published in Mishnah Brurah, Vol. 1 (B), ch. 32, p. 84-85. A comprehensive summary of the publicly-known prior art was published (in Hebrew) in the Talmudic Encyclopedia, Vol. 7, p. 275-281, under the entry “ink”. One type of such prior-art kosher ink was made in the past by mixing soot with oil, tree sap, water, honey, and gum. Another, more popular, type of such prior-art kosher ink is made by cooking gall-nuts in water, adding gum, sometimes adding tannic acid, and adding iron-sulfate or copper-sulfate (also known as “vitriol”, and referred to in the Hebrew literature as “kankantom” or “kankantum”). An Internet search of the terms “kankantom” or “kankantum” will reveal additional information in English on this prior-art kosher ink. A third type of prior-art kosher black ink involves the mixing of soot or ground-up charcoal powder with various secret binding materials. The identities of these binding materials have been kept as trade secrets by the scribes who produced these inks. 
         [0017]    Major shortcomings of prior-art scrolls are:
       a) The dry inks age and become brittle with time. It often happens that scrolls get folds and creases in them. Upon flexing or folding the written parchment, part of the dry ink may crack, break, or flake off, thus defacing the shape of a written letter or breaking up a letter into segments. The aged and brittle dry inks also lose their adhesion to the parchment, separate from the parchment, and peel off. When this happens, letters can become non-kosher and, consequently, the entire scroll can become non-kosher. Such a non-kosher scroll may not be used until the shape of the written letter is hand restored to kosher status by a skilled scribe with fresh kosher ink.   b) The dry inks are not water resistant. If water spills on the scroll, or if rain water leaks onto the scroll (a very common problem in “Mezuzah” scrolls which are installed on door-posts outdoors), or if moisture condenses on the scroll, the dry ink can partially dissolve, spread on the parchment, or stain the parchment. Such spreading of the ink can distort the shape of a written letter or cause two neighboring letters to touch each other. If the ink spreads and stains the parchment, the background of the parchment around a letter can darken and make it more difficult to discern the letter against its background. If the shape of a letter is substantially distorted or if two letters touch each other or if a letter is visually difficult to discern against its background, the entire scroll becomes non-kosher. In addition, in a rolled-up scroll, some of the ink may dissolve in the water and transfer to the rear surface of a neighboring layer of the parchment. Once this happens the entire scroll can become non-kosher. Water damage is particularly harmful since it is very difficult and usually impossible to repair. Water damage often causes an entire scroll to be discarded.   c) With certain ink formulations, the dry ink ages over time and fades off, turns into powder, or assumes a gray color. Touching or lightly rubbing the surface of the scroll with a dry cloth, as is sometimes done during certain prayer services, can remove some of the dry ink and cause fading of the black color due to powdering and removal of the dry ink. When the old dry ink turns into powder, it also spreads black powder over the surface of the scroll. Substantial fading of the originally black ink can render the scroll non-kosher. To repair it, a skilled scribe needs to clean the surface of the scroll and rewrite over the faded letters with fresh kosher black ink.   d) The most popular ink formulations of the prior art ink (those based on “kankantom”) sometimes turn slightly red or brown over time due to chemical changes in the pigment material. For a scroll to be kosher, all letters must be black. A red or brown color of the letters, if substantial, can render the entire scroll non-kosher. To repair it, a skilled scribe needs to rewrite over such letters with fresh kosher black ink.   e) Certain ink formulations remain tacky after drying. The terms “tacky” and “not tacky” as used herein to describe a property of a material, refer to the material after it has dried. Such residual tackiness may cause the ink on the front surface of the parchment to stick to the rear surface of the parchment when the parchment is rolled. This is particularly problematic if the parchment is written on both the front surface and the rear surface. Upon rolling of the parchment, the ink on the front surface may stick to the ink on the rear surface. When the parchment is unrolled, the tacky ink can get peeled off the parchment. If any part of the ink is peeled off the surface of the parchment, it can render the scroll non-kosher.       
 
         [0023]    These and other shortcomings of prior-art scrolls have caused thousands of scrolls to become non-kosher. It would be highly desirable to overcome and cure the shortcomings of the prior art, and to provide for scrolls in which the ink is more durable and stable, thus reducing or eliminating the problem of kosher scrolls becoming non-kosher. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0024]    The present invention provides for scrolls which are more durable and more resistant to becoming non-kosher, than prior-art scrolls. A scroll of the present invention is more resistant to becoming non-kosher because of the superior properties of the ink with which the text is written on the surface of the parchment. Visually, artifacts and scrolls of the present invention look the same as prior-art artifacts and scrolls. Therefore, drawings depicting the present invention are not necessary nor useful. 
         [0025]    The first objective of the present invention is to provide for a kosher scroll in which the ink, after drying, is water resistant. The term “water resistant” as used herein means that the ink, after drying, does not dissolve or spread on the surface of the parchment when the scroll is soaked in water, or when the surface of the scroll is wiped with a wet cloth. 
         [0026]    The second objective of the present invention is to provide for a kosher scroll in which the ink, after drying, is flexible. The term “flexible” as used herein means that flexing and folding of the scroll back and forth across written letters does not crack, break, or flake off the dry ink, even after the scroll has been stored for many years in a desert-like dry environment. In addition, lightly scrubbing the written surface of the scroll with a dry cloth does not produce ink powder and does not remove any of the dry ink. 
         [0027]    The third objective of the present invention is to provide for a kosher scroll in which the ink, after drying, adheres well to the surface of the parchment and does not easily separate or peel off from the parchment, even after the scroll has been stored for many years in a desert-like dry environment. 
         [0028]    The fourth objective of the present invention is to provide for a kosher scroll in which the ink, after drying, is not tacky, does not fade, does not turn into powder, and does not change color over time. 
         [0029]    The present invention provides for a scroll in which Hebrew religious text is written on kosher parchment using kosher black ink wherein the ink, after drying, is flexible water-resistant and non-tacky. The enabling technology and the use of flexible water-resistant non-tacky kosher ink for hand-writing Hebrew religious text on kosher parchment to produce a kosher scroll, have never been published despite thousands of years of writing such scrolls. The Jewish religious literature discusses the question of whether certain writings can be completely washed-off in water for a beneficial purpose. This is different from and not relevant to the question of whether writings can be damaged and rendered non-kosher by water. Similarly, the desire to have scrolls which remain kosher for thousands of years has been mentioned in the ancient Jewish religious literature, however, the technology to enable the production of such scrolls was not available prior to the present invention. 
         [0030]    The ink in the scroll of the present invention is flexible and is strongly bonded to the surface of the parchment. Folding and flexing a scroll of the present invention across written letters does not crack or break or flake off the dry ink and does not cause deterioration which might render the scroll non-kosher. Many experiments have been conducted in which scrolls of the present invention have been folded back and forth across written letters. No deterioration which might render the scroll non-kosher was observed. Another benefit of the flexible ink in the present invention is that it does not turn into powder, thus avoiding the powdering defect which can occur in some inks of the prior art. 
         [0031]    The ink in the scroll of the present invention is not tacky. Experiments have been conducted in which the written surface of a scroll of the present invention has been in contact with another written surface of another scroll. None of the ink stuck to or transferred to the other surface. 
         [0032]    The binding material in the ink acts as an adhesive to bind the pigment particles to each other and to bind the ink to the surface of the parchment substrate. Examples of preferred binding materials in the present invention include acrylic polymers, ethylene vinyl acetate, vinyl polymer, polyurethane, epoxy adhesive, acrylic-polyurethane copolymers, natural or synthetic rubber, and other film-forming liquid adhesives, paints, and coating materials. All kosher binding materials and all mixtures of two or more binding materials which are not tacky after drying and which render the ink flexible or water-resistant or both flexible and water-resistant, are included within the scope of the present invention. With certain binding materials, the ink also has the property of being alcohol resistant. 
         [0033]    The preferred pigment material used in the ink for the present invention is “carbon black”. Carbon black is also known by other names such as: lamp black, pigment black 7, pigment black 6, furnace black, channel black, acetylene black, soot, and thermal black. Other kosher pigment materials, such as black copper sulfide, black iron oxide, charcoal powder, and black organic dyes may also be used to give the ink the desired black color. The pigment materials can be used and added to the ink in their dry powder form and also in their wet form of the powder pre-dispersed in water with the aid of surfactants and resins. Carbon black is known to be extremely durable and stable for very long periods of time. Its chemical stability precludes any possibility of fading or changing color over time. The popular form of carbon black—collected soot—is known since ancient times as a very stable black pigment material used in various inks and paints. The inclusion of any of these black pigment materials in the ink is included within the scope of the present invention. 
         [0034]    Certain scrolls of the prior art can be repaired after the old dry ink is damaged. The use of flexible water-resistant ink to repair such damaged scrolls improves the quality of the repaired scrolls. New scrolls may also be written with more than one type of ink. All scrolls in which part of the text is written with ink which is not flexible nor water resistant, while another part of the text is written with ink which is flexible and/or water resistant, are included within the scope of the present invention. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0035]    The scroll in the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes two components. The first component is a kosher parchment. The second component is non-tacky flexible and water-resistant kosher black ink. The preferred scroll of the present invention is produced by first hand writing Hebrew religious text with the preferred liquid ink on a surface of the parchment. Then, the liquid ink is allowed to dry. After the liquid ink dries, it turns into dry ink shaped in the form of Hebrew religious text written on the surface of the parchment. The preferred scroll of the present invention is the parchment together with the dry ink wherein the dry ink is non-tacky flexible and water-resistant. 
         [0036]    All scrolls in which at least part of the text is written on kosher parchment with kosher black ink wherein the ink, when dry, is non-tacky flexible and/or water-resistant, are included within the scope of the present invention. 
         [0037]    The appearance of the dry ink can be glossy or matte or anything in between. All degrees of gloss or lack of gloss are included within the scope of the present invention. 
         [0038]    The following examples of preferred kosher liquid black inks for use in the production of the preferred embodiment of the present invention are presented herein with the sole purpose of better understanding the present invention. These are examples only. These examples are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention or the scope of the claims. 
         [0039]    The preferred liquid black ink includes a well dispersed mixture of a black pigment material, a binding material, and a liquid carrier. The preferred black pigment material is carbon black. The preferred binding material is a water-based emulsion of a non-tacky acrylic polymeric material with a glass transition temperature of zero degrees Celsius or less, for example: Joncryl® LMV7030 (manufactured by BASF Corporation, a division of BASF SE of Ludwigshafen, Germany). The preferred liquid carrier is water. The preferred percentage of carbon-black in the liquid ink is about 1%-10%. The preferred percentage of binding material in the liquid ink is about 5%-20%. 
         [0040]    Improvements to the preferred liquid ink include the addition of processing aids and additives such as waxes, flow agents, oils, surfactants, solvents, coalescents, evaporation retarders, humectants, crosslinking accelerators, ammonia, glycols, glycerin, anti-wetting materials, and anti-foam materials, as commonly known to those skilled in the art of manufacturing ink and paint. Further improvements to the preferred liquid ink include the addition of other liquid materials to the liquid carrier, for example: acetone, alcohol, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, NMP, dimethyl sulfoxide, and other organic liquids. The use of any combination of such additives and liquid materials in the preferred liquid ink is included within the scope of the present invention. 
         [0041]    Acrylic polymers for use in the preferred liquid ink also include styrene acrylic polymers, modified styrene acrylic polymers, and ammonia salts of modified styrene acrylic polymers. Certain acrylic polymers are self-cross-linking, while others are not self-cross-linking. The use of all non-tacky film-forming binding materials which belong to the general family of acrylic polymers is included within the scope of the present invention. 
         [0042]    Another example of a preferred binding material to be included in the preferred liquid ink is a water-based adhesive or coating material. For example: ethylene vinyl acetate; vinyl acetate; vinyl polymer; polyurethane adhesive; aliphatic and aromatic versions of polyester-urethane, polyether-urethane, and polycarbonate-urethane; epoxy; rubber; and other adhesives and coating materials as known to those skilled in the art of manufacturing adhesives and coating materials. The use of all non-tacky adhesives and coating materials as ingredients in the preferred kosher black ink is included within the scope of the present invention. 
         [0043]    Another example of a preferred binding material to be included in the preferred liquid ink is a mixture of two or more of the binding materials as described in the previous examples. 
         [0044]    A variant of the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes the painting of a primer on the parchment before writing on it with the liquid ink. Some scribes use a primer while others don&#39;t. The use of a primer on a surface of the parchment prior to writing on it with a preferred liquid ink is included within the scope of the present invention. 
         [0045]    Another variant of the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes pre-treating the parchment with a water repellent or an anti-wetting material before writing on it with the liquid ink. Such pre-treatment reduces the penetration of the liquid ink into the parchment and reduces spreading of the liquid ink sideways on the surface of the parchment. One popular example of such a water repellent is olive oil dissolved in an organic solvent. Another example of such a water repellent is “Camp Dry Silicone Water Repellent” made by KIWI®. Some scribes use a water repellent while others don&#39;t. The use of a water repellent to pre-treat the parchment prior to writing on it with a preferred liquid ink is included within the scope of the present invention. 
         [0046]    Every parchment has two sides, front and rear. Each such side is referred to herein as a surface of the parchment. Certain scrolls are written on one surface of the parchment. Certain other scrolls are written on both surfaces of the parchment. All such scrolls, written on one surface or on both surfaces of the parchment, are included within the scope of the present invention. 
         [0047]    The durability of the dry ink in the scroll of the present invention can be improved by heating or baking the scroll for approximately one hour at a temperature of up to approximately 150 degrees C. All such scrolls which have been heated to improve the properties of the dry ink are included within the scope of the present invention. 
         [0048]    Certain ink formulations require heat in order to melt the ink and to bond the ink to the parchment. All such scrolls in which the ink has been heated in order to melt the ink and to bond the ink to the parchment are included within the scope of the present invention. 
         [0049]    Certain religious artifacts comprise a single scroll, for example: a scroll known by its Hebrew name “Mezuzah”. Certain other religious artifacts include one or more scrolls within a housing, for example: artifacts known by their Hebrew names “Tfillin” or “Tefillin” and by their English names “Phylactery” and “Phylacteries”. Yet, another form of a religious artifact includes several scrolls which are stitched or bonded together to form one long scroll, for example: artifacts known by their Hebrew names “Sefer Torah” and “Megillah”. All such artifacts which include at least one scroll of the present invention, are included within the scope of the present invention. 
         [0050]    The preferred embodiments disclosed herein are only examples. Other embodiments are possible. All embodiments, when included within the scope of the claims, are included within the scope of the present invention.