gevil

''Gevil'' or ''gewil'' () or () is a type of parchment made from full-grain animal hide that has been prepared as a writing material in Jewish scribal documents, in particular a Sefer Torah (Torah scroll).

Etymology

Related to גויל, ''gewil'', a rolling (i.e. unhewn) stone, "to roll." (Jastrow)

Definition and production

''Gevil'' is a form skin for '' safrut'' ( halakhic writing) that is made of tanned, whole hide. The precise requirements for processing ''gevil'' are laid down by the Talmud, Geonim and Rishonim.
:Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Ami said in the name of Ulla: There are three ntannedhide tages before it is tanned into gevil ''matza'', ''ḥifa'', and ''diftera''.
According to Jewish law, the preparation of ''gevil'' follows a procedure of salting, flouring and tanning with ''afatzim'' (lit. "tannin"), which latter is derived from gallnuts, or similar substances having tannic acid.

Maimonides required rubbing down the raw hide with flour (presumably barley flour), although Simeon Kayyara, in his '' Halachot Gedolot'', required flour being placed inside a tub of water, into which the raw hide was inserted and left for a few days. The action of the flour-based liquor served to soften the hide.

These requirements were reconfirmed as a Law given to Moses at Sinai by Maimonides, in his Mishneh Torah. Gallnuts are rich in tannic acid and are the product of a tree's reaction to an invasive parasitic wasp's egg. The pure black tint of the ink used in writing Torah scrolls results from the reaction between the tannic acid and iron sulfate (a powder used to make the ink).

The three types of tanned skin

There are three forms of tanned skin known to Jewish law. The other two forms (''klaf'' and '' dukhsustus'') result from splitting the hide into two layers. The rabbinic scholars are divided upon which is the inner and which is the outer of the two halves. Maimonides is of the opinion that was the inner layer and that was the outer layer
The Shulchan Aruch rules in the reverse that was the outer layer and that was the inner layer. The opinion of the Shulchan Aruch is the accepted ruling in all Jewish communities.
Recently a small group has advocated for the return to using the full hide known as ''gevil'' for '' Sifrei Torah'' as it avoids this issue, but unfortunately this solution does not work for ''tefillin'' which must be written on klaf and are not kosher if written on ''gevil''.

Maimonides' rules for use

According to most views of Jewish law, a ''Sefer Torah'' (Torah scroll) should be written on ''gevil'' parchment, as was done by Moses for the original Torah scroll he transcribed. Further, a reading of the earliest extant manuscripts of the Mishneh Torah indicate that ''gevil'' was halakha derived from Moses and thus required for Torah scrolls.

Maimonides wrote that it is a law given to Moses at Sinai that a Torah scroll must be written on either ''gevil'' or ''klaf'' (in Maimonides' interpretation, contrary to that of the "Shulchan Aruch": the half-skin from the hair side) in order to be valid, and that it is preferable that they be written on ''gevil''. To this end, hides procured from sheep or goats and calves were mostly used. The hide of a fully-grown cow, being so thick that it requires being shaved down to half its thickness on its fleshy side before it can be used (in order to remove the epidermis from the hide to make it thinner), was less common.

Maimonides made further prescriptions for the use of each of the three types of processed skin.Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides)
"Tefillin, Mezuzah and Sefer Torah"
- Chapter One, translated by Eliyahu Touger, on Chabad.org. Accessed 9 March 2024. Torah scrolls must be written on ''g'vil'' only on the side on which the hair had grown, and never on ''duchsustos'' (understood as the half-skin from the flesh side). Phylacteries, if written on ''k'laf'', must be written on the flesh side. A mezuzah, when written on ''duchsustos'', must be written on the hair side. It is unacceptable to write on ''k'laf'' on the hair side or on the split skin (either ''g'vil'' or ''duchsustos'') on the flesh side.

Today's practice

According to the Talmud, Moses used ''gevil'' for the Torah scroll he placed into the Ark of the Covenant. Elsewhere in the Talmud, there is testimony that Torah scrolls were written on ''gevil''.Gittin 54b

Today, a handful of Jewish scribes and artisans continue to make scroll material in this way. However, the majority of Torah scrolls are written on ''klaf'', in their belief that the Talmud recommends (as opposed to requires) ''gevil'' and relates to the optimal beautification of the scrolls rather than an essential halachic requirement. Given the uncertainty about which layer of the hide is in fact the ''klaf'', there is a growing movement for insisting on a return to ''gevil'' in Torah scrolls in order to avoid all doubts.

Most of the Dead Sea Scrolls (written around 200 BCE), found in and around the caves of Qumran near the Dead Sea, are written on ''gevil''.

Properly, ''klaf'' should be used for ''tefillin'' and ''duchsustus'' for ''mezuzot''. However, this rule is only a preference, not an obligation and klaf is used for mezuzot today but there is a minority which seeks to return to the law.

See also

* Ktav Stam

References

External links

The Gevil Institute: Machon Gevil
The only online organization dedicated to the preservation of gevil.
* https://web.archive.org/web/20080410134250/http://www.ccdesigninc.com/MishmeresStam/Leaflet.pdf

{{Sofer

Hides (skin)
Book design
Jewish law and rituals
Writing media
Leather in Judaism
Torah
Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish law