
''Gevil'' or ''gewil'' () or () is a type of
parchment
Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared Tanning (leather), untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves and goats. It has been used as a writing medium in West Asia and Europe for more than two millennia. By AD 400 ...
made from full-grain animal
hide that has been prepared as a
writing material
A writing material, also called a writing medium, is a surface that can be written on with suitable instruments, or used for symbolic or representational drawings. Building materials on which writings or drawings are produced are not included. ...
in Jewish scribal documents, in particular a
Sefer Torah
file:SeferTorah.jpg, A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema
file:Köln-Tora-und-Innenansicht-Synagoge-Glockengasse-040.JPG, An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue
file:Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Inte ...
(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
The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
,
Geonim
''Geonim'' (; ; also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated Gaonim, singular Gaon) were the presidents of the two great Talmudic Academies in Babylonia, Babylonian Talmudic Academies of Sura Academy , Sura and Pumbedita Academy , Pumbedita, in t ...
and
Rishonim
''Rishonim'' (; ; sing. , ''Rishon'') were the leading rabbis and ''posek, poskim'' who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the ''Shulchan Aruch'' (, "Set Table", a common printed code of Jewis ...
.
: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
Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...
required rubbing down the raw hide with flour (presumably barley flour),
although
Simeon Kayyara Simeon Kayyara, also spelled ''Shimon Kiara'' (Hebrew: שמעון קיירא), was a Jewish-Babylonian halakhist of the first half of the 8th century. Although he lived during the Geonic period, he was never officially appointed as a Gaon, and the ...
, 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
Tannic acid is a specific form of tannin, a type of polyphenol. Its weak acidity (Acid dissociation constant, pKa around 6) is due to the numerous phenol groups in the structure. The chemical formula for commercial tannic acid is often given as ...
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
Tefillin (Modern Hebrew language, Israeli Hebrew: / ; Ashkenazim, Ashkenazic pronunciation: ; Modern Israeli Hebrew, Modern Hebrew pronunciation: ), or phylacteries, are a set of small black leather boxes with leather straps containing scrolls o ...
'' 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
file:SeferTorah.jpg, A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema
file:Köln-Tora-und-Innenansicht-Synagoge-Glockengasse-040.JPG, An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue
file:Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Inte ...
'' (Torah scroll) should be written on ''gevil'' parchment, as was done by
Moses
In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...
for the original
Torah scroll
A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema
An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue
file:Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Interior, Tora Cases.jpg">Torah cases at Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue, Mumbai, India ...
he transcribed. Further, a reading of the earliest extant manuscripts of the
Mishneh Torah
The ''Mishneh Torah'' (), also known as ''Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka'' (), is a code of Rabbinic Jewish religious law (''halakha'') authored by Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon/Rambam). The ''Mishneh Torah'' was compiled between 1170 and 1180 CE ( ...
indicate that ''gevil'' was
halakha
''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...
derived from
Moses
In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...
and thus required for Torah scrolls.
Maimonides
Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...
wrote that it is a
law given to Moses at Sinai that a Torah scroll must be written on either ''gevil'' or ''
klaf
Klaf or Qelaf () is the designation given a particular piece of skin. The Talmudic definition includes both the form of the skin and the way it is processed, in particular, that it must be tanned. Since the innovative ruling of ''Rabbeinu Tam'' ...
'' (in Maimonides' interpretation, contrary to that of the "
Shulchan Aruch
The ''Shulhan Arukh'' ( ),, often called "the Code of Jewish Law", is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Rabbinic Judaism. It was authored in the city of Safed in what is now Israel by Joseph Karo in 1563 and published in ...
": 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
A ''mezuzah'' ( "doorpost"; plural: ''mezuzot'') is a piece of parchment inscribed with specific Hebrew language, Hebrew verses from the Torah, which Jews affix in a small case to the doorposts of their homes. These verses are the Biblical pa ...
, 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
The Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, was a religious storage chest and relic held to be the most sacred object by the Israelites.
Religious tradition describes it as a wooden storage chest decorat ...
. 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
The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...
(written around 200 BCE), found in and around the caves of Qumran
Qumran (; ; ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, about south of the historic city of Jericho, and adjac ...
near the Dead Sea, are written on ''gevil''.
Properly, ''klaf'' should be used for ''tefillin'' and ''duchsustus'' for ''mezuzot
A ''mezuzah'' ( "doorpost"; plural: ''mezuzot'') is a piece of parchment inscribed with specific Hebrew language, Hebrew verses from the Torah, which Jews affix in a small case to the doorposts of their homes. These verses are the Biblical pa ...
''. 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
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Hides (skin)
Book design
Jewish law and rituals
Writing media
Leather in Judaism
Torah
Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish law