SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

10 Chapter 2: Scribes
sometimes by the mebaqqer (e.g. 1QS V 23, VI 22; 4QS d [4Q258] 3 ii 3; CD XIII 12), who also
wrote down in his private notebook (CD IX 18) the sins committed. 4QRebukes Reported by the
Overseer (4Q477) probably contains such personal remarks regarding certain individuals in the
Qumran community. In the Qumran texts, the sofer is mentioned a few times, such as in 11QPs a
XXVII 2 noted above. Further, in the Aramaic Enoch fragments, Enoch is named rps açrp, ‘a
distinguished scribe’ (4QEnGiants b ar [4Q530] 2 ii + 8 14), and in the Ethiopic and Greek
fragments of Enoch he is likewise named a ‘scribe’ (1 Enoch 12:4; 15:1). Finally, the fragmentary
4QNarrative B (4Q461) 2 includes the a word soferim without any context. Writing was also an
essential part of the warfare depicted in the War Scroll which records in detail the inscriptions
inscribed on the standards and engraved on the trumpets and shields to be used in the future war.
Writing is mentioned also in 4QJub a (4Q216) IV 6 (Jub 1:27) and 4QMMT e (4Q394) 14–17 ii 2.
On the other hand, Scham, Jewish Scribes, 259–60 considers the lack of references in the Qumran
texts to the copying of scrolls to be intentional since, in her opinion, ‘the members of the
community did not assign any special importance to the actual writing and copying of scrolls’ (p.
260).
Information on scribes and scribal activity in rabbinic sources
Scattered information regarding the writing of Scripture, tefillin, mezuzot, marriage and divorce
documents, as well as about scribes and soferim, is found in various places in rabbinic literature.
These writing instructions pertaining to very specific details are also combined in a few small
compilations dealing with various topics, such as b. Menah≥. 29b–32b, b. Meg. passim, b. Shabb.
103a–105a, and b. B. Bat. 13b–14b. The best organized group of such instructions is probably
found in y. Meg. 1.71b–72a and in the later compilation Massekhet Soferim (see Higger, Mskt
Swprym). Although this tractate is post-Talmudic (ninth century), it is based on Massekhet Sefer
Torah (see Higger, Minor Treatises) as well as on several early sources, and thus preserves
traditions which go back to the Talmudic period. The rabbinic instructions pertain to such matters
as writing materials, the preparation of leather, scribes, measurements of sheets, columns, lines,
and margins, correction of errors, the writing of divine names, and the storage and reading of
scrolls. 18 The data contained in these sources is very valuable as background information for the
corpora from the Judean Desert, as long as it is remembered that the rabbinic descriptions and
prescriptions refer mainly to the writing of religious texts, at a later period, and in circles which
partially overlapped with the circles that produced the texts found in the Judean Desert. Thus,
probably only the proto-Masoretic texts from various sites in the Judean Desert (except for
Qumran) and some tefillin and mezuzot (ch. 7c) derived from the same circles as those described in
the Talmudic literature.
Scribes are known from rabbinic sources by various appellations, especially with reference to
the writing of Scripture and religious documents:
• rpws, sofer. This term, the most frequently used appellation, refers to a person who was basically independent,
but who sometimes worked exclusively for a certain Rabbi (e.g. Joh≥anan the sofer [secretary, more or less] of
Rabban Gamliel mentioned in y. Sanh. 1.18d and b. Sanh. 11b). This term also referred to a scribe working on city
affairs (atm rpws, the scribe of the city [b. B. Bat. 21a]).
• btwk (copyist), with the connotation ‘calligrapher.’
• rlbl, a loan-word from Greek (libellavrio" or liblavrio" [P.Yad. 15, 17, 18 and 20–22]), itself a loan-word from
Latin (librarius), e.g. m. Pe