The calligraphers of the Middle Ages and even later ones were trained soferim their script style was that of the sofer, but they were commissioned for their skills in decorating Bible codices, prayer books, * haggahot (books read at the home Seder on the eve of Passover), and * ketubbot (marriage documents), with illuminations, enlarged and decorated letters, and micrography, minute Hebrew script written in geometrical, vegetal and figurative shapes. The art was more important than the purpose, and certain kinds of books and shorter texts became popular subjects for calligraphic expression before and after the Renaissance. Calligraphy, from the Greek kalli (beautiful) graphos (writing), is artistic writing for its own sake. HistoryĮven before the days of printing, there were Hebrew scribes who specialized in calligraphy. Once Hebrew books were printed, by the late 15 th century, the demand for hand-written codices decreased, and although there was always a need for ritual writings, there was not enough work in any one community to support the same number of scribes who had been occupied with writing in the Middle Ages. Standards of script were high, with aesthetics taken for granted. Many of them signed their names in the colophons of the books they wrote, but ritual writings were never signed. In the Middle Ages, scribes wrote Bible codices as well as scrolls, for study and private use. Since ancient times, the Torah scribe was a man of piety, one who donned tefillin himself (thus women were excluded from the profession) and prepared himself spiritually for the sacred task before him. ![]() The Hebrew scribe, the sofer, has been called sofer setam at least since the late 19 th century, setam being an acronym of sefarim – books (of the Torah), tefillin (scriptural passages encased in small black leather boxes worn by men during morning prayer) and mezuzot (similar passages affixed to doorposts). ![]() Origins - History - Educations - In the USA, Israel & England OriginsĪ distinction must be made between the art of the Jewish *scribe and that of the calligrapher, both in purpose and style of writing and in the education of the writer. One can seek its sources in Hebrew scribal traditions, or one can see it as part of the international revival of calligraphy as an art form, a movement that has grown steadily since the 1960s. The origins of modern Hebrew calligraphy can be found in two ways. Hebrew: Table of Contents| The Aleph-Bet| Revival of Hebrew
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