Sanctity In The Margins
‘Its Length Shall Equal Its Circumference…’
(Bava Basra 14a)
Some synagogues have very old sifrei Torah, which in those days were written on thick parchment and, consequently, are very heavy to lift, especially for hagbah, the raising of the open sefer Torah, at the conclusion of the reading, to show the congregants. A sofer once suggested what seemed to him a simple solution: cut their top and bottom margins to lighten them. The Maharam Padua (Responsa 84) strongly objected: “The sofer’s suggestion that it honors a sefer Torah to make it lighter is ridiculous.”
The Entire Sefer Is Holy
The reasoning is that the margins also bear the sanctity of the sefer Torah, and if discarded, lose their standing; halacha (Shulchan Aruch 290:1) decrees that objects must not be demoted from a higher to lower sanctity. Even a mezuzah must not be written on the parchment of a disqualified sefer Torah and we must surely not just cut its parchment to be buried in genizah.
One In Seventy Chance
Maharam Padua proves his ruling from our sugya, which requires a sefer Torah to be written as elegantly as possible. A sofer should make sure, for example, that its length equals its circumference when rolled up. Now, how is he to do so? Rashi (s.v. lo orco) explains by simply drawing a string around its circumference and, comparing it to its length, measure the scroll. The Gemara adds that Rav Huna wrote 70 sifrei Torah but succeeded in achieving these desired proportions only once.
Marginal Deliberation
Maharam Padua asserts that if cutting margins were allowed, Rav Huna could easily have accomplished his aim, and we must therefore conclude that the act is forbidden. Still, Rabbi Shlomo Kluger attempted to reject this reasoning with a clever proof which, to understand, requires reviewing a brief halacha concerning sifrei Torah: A sofer must leave margins above and below on each column in the parchment of a sefer Torah, measuring three fingerbreadths above the text and four below (Menachos 30a; Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 273:1).
Rabbi Kluger maintains that a scroll’s length should be measured only to that extent and that any extra margin over three fingerbreadths above or four below is excluded from its holiness. If Rav Huna were allowed to cut the margins, the method would not have helped and there is thus no proof from our sugya.
A Cherem In Place
A more revolutionary opinion appears in Masas Binyamin (Responsum 100), claiming that extra margins beyond the required space have no sanctity, as they are superfluous. Almost all poskim rule, like the Maharam Padua, that the margins have sanctity and may not be cut off. The Maharam Rothenberg (Responsum 4:1022) goes even further, when he writes that a cherem (excommunication) was imposed on anyone doing so, even where the intention was to use the cut off margins to write another sefer Torah.
