Sofer

A sofer, sopher, sofer SeTaM, sofer ST"M (Hebrew: סופר סת״ם, "scribe"; plural soferim, סופרים), or soifer (Yiddish: סויפר) is a Jewish scribe who can transcribe Sifrei Kodesh (holy scrolls), tefillin (phylacteries), mezuzot (ST"M, סת״ם, is an abbreviation of these three terms) and other religious writings. Soferim are men who are trained and permitted to transcribe Jewish texts according to the laws of Judaism: collectively known as ST"M. By simple definition, soferim are copyists, but their religious role in Judaism is much more. Besides sifrei Torah, tefillin, and mezuzot, scribes are necessary to write the Five Megillot (scrolls of the Song of Songs, Book of Ruth, Book of Esther, Ecclesiastes, and Book of Lamentations), Nevi'im (the books of the prophets, used for reading the haftarah), and for gittin, divorce documents. Many scribes also function as calligraphers—writing functional documents such as ketubot (marriage contracts), or ornamental and artistic renditions of religious texts, which do not require any scribal qualifications, and to which the rules on lettering and parchment specifications do not apply. The major halakha pertaining to sofrut, the practice of scribal arts, is in the Talmud in the tractate "Maseket Sofrim". In the Torah's 613 commandments, the second to last is that every Jew should write a sefer Torah before they die. A sofer must be religiously observant, of good character, and knowledgeable about the laws concerning sofrut. It is a common misconception that one has to be a rabbi in order to become a sofer. People who want to become ritual scribes usually learn from another expert scribe by undergoing shimush (apprenticeship), since it would be impossible for someone to be a scribe without any actual practice.