As you will have read over the course of my diaries, my first major work of sofrut was a megillah.  This is the biblical book of Esther which tells of how she and her uncle Mordechai (a good name that!) saved the Jews from the hands of the wicked Haman who cast purim (lots) to decide on which date he would annihilate us.  Needless to say, he did not succeed and for his trouble was hanged on the selfsame gallows that he had built for Mordechai.  If you haven’t read the story, do so, as it is a marvellous piece of writing as well as a holy book, as good as any modern tale.

It is a mitsvah (commandment) that one should hear the megillah on Purim read from a kasher scroll.  All are bound by this commandment. The megillah is also a work that can be written by a woman (more on this in the future).  It consists of 10 chapters and is unique in that it does not once contain the name of God and is therefore an ideal work for scribes who are starting to learn their craft. There are various traditions for writing the megillah.  The most popular is that of starting each column with the word ha-melech (the king), an allusion to God, the King whose deeds are hidden in the megillah through what appears to be chance occurrences.  Others say that one should start each column with the letter vav (similar to the vavey ha-amudim tradition in a Torah) and either way is fine as  long as one does not stretch the letters overmuch to accommodate this. Line lengths vary, with 11, 22 and 28 being common.  Eleven lines makes a very long small megillah but is preferred by many as it means the ten sons of Haman which are writ in one amud (column) alone (left) do not have to be enlarged. However, there are some halachic issues with this format becasue of top and bottom margins sizes.