page_title: Torah scroll (Yemenite)
section_title: Plene and defective scriptum
hierarchical_section_title: Torah scroll (Yemenite) / Plene and defective scriptum
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a 200 year old Yemenite Sefer Torah, on Gevil, that I photographed at my Beith Keneseth today. The Sofer was from the Sharabi family
context_page_description: Yemenite scrolls of the Law containing the Five Books of Moses represent one of three authoritative scribal traditions for the transmission of the Torah, the other two being the Ashkenazi and Sephardic traditions that slightly differ. While all three traditions purport to follow the Masoretic traditions of Aaron ben Asher, slight differences between the three major traditions have developed over the years. Biblical texts proofread by ben Asher survive in two extant codices, the latter said to have only been patterned after texts proofread by Ben Asher. The former work, although more precise, was partially lost following its removal from Aleppo in 1947.
  The Yemenite Torah scroll is unique in that it contains many of the oddly-formed letters, such as the "overlapping" pe and the "crooked" lamed, etc., mentioned in Sefer Tagae, as also by Menachem Meiri and by Maimonides, although not found in ben Asher's orthography. The old line arrangements employed by the early Yemenite scribes in their Torah scrolls are nearly the same as prescribed by ben Asher.
context_section_description: There are thirteen orthographic traditions in the first category which are peculiar to the Yemenite tradition and which differ from the traditions borne by other groups. The Yemenite arrangement has been published in many sources, the most notable of which being that of the last Chief Rabbi of Yemen, Rabbi Amram Qorah. By a comparative study, the Yemenite tradition in plene and defective scriptum is nearly in complete harmony with that of the Aleppo Codex which was proofread by the masorete, Ben-Asher.
  The prevailing view is that if there is found a Torah scroll that has not been written as prescribed in all of the above (as bequeathed by the ancients) then that same scroll is invalid (lowered in sanctity) and is considered as merely one of the codices (Heb. ḥūmashin).
caption: 200 year old gevil Yemenite Torah scroll housed at the Rambam Synagogue in Nahalat Ahim, Jerusalem.
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