It is permissible to join the Torah and the Prophets in one scroll, according to R. Judah; but the Sages say: The Torah and the Prophets must be written in separate scrolls.¹

footnotes: ¹ According to GRA (in Sof. III, 1) who adopted the reading of B.B. 13b (Sonc. ed., p. 66): ‘it is permissible to fasten the Torah, the Prophets and the Hagiographa together (in one scroll)’.

Between a book of the Prophets and another one should not leave the same [empty space] as between two books of the Torah; but in each case the space must be that which has been prescribed for it.² Furthermore [a book of the Prophets]³ must begin at the top.⁴

footnotes: ² i.e. four lines between books of the Torah and three between the books of the Prophets. ³ If the preceding book ended at the foot of a column. ⁴ Of the next column, the reason being that, if the books of the Prophets were separated one from the other, the beginning of each book would commence at the top of a column. This does not apply to Torah scrolls, which may never be cut up into separate books.

A Torah scroll⁵ may not be made into [separate] books of the Pentateuch, because it is forbidden to reduce a major sanctity⁶ to a minor sanctity.⁷ From scrolls containing sections of the Pentateuch, however, it is permitted to make up a Torah scroll. When may this be done? When the measurements⁸ and the number of the lines⁹ are alike. It is not permissible to join together two sections of the Pentateuch or one and a half of them to form a single scroll.¹⁰ But if it was intended¹¹ that additional scrolls be attached to them,¹² it is permissible.

footnotes: ⁵ Which contains all the five books of Moses. ⁶ The Torah scroll in its entirety. ⁷ A section of the Pentateuch. ⁸ Of all the scrolls that are to be joined together. ⁹ In each column. ¹⁰ Since it might be mistaken for a proper Torah scroll. ¹¹ When these were written. ¹² To complete a full Torah scroll.

If a Torah scroll has spaces or stops [to mark] the beginning of verses, it may not be used for the lections.¹³ [Similarly] if a letter has been engraved or joined to another, the scroll may not be used for the lections.

footnotes: ¹³ Because all proper Torah scrolls must conform to the original without any deviations.

A scroll [some of whose letters] are faded may not be used for the public lections.¹⁴ R. Simeon b. Eleazar says: If the outline [of the effaced letters] is distinguishable, it is permitted [to rewrite them].

footnotes: ¹⁴ So H and GRA in Sof. III, 8. V reads ‘one shall not rewrite [the letters] in it’.

A scroll of the Torah in which a whole line¹⁵ is faded may not be used. If the greater part of a line is faded and the smaller part intact, the use of the scroll is permitted.

footnotes: ¹⁵ This is the reading in Sof. III, 9. V reads here ‘one letter’.

Not more than four¹⁶ columns of the Torah scroll may be unrolled [at one time during the reading of the lection] but there is no objection to the reading of ten [columns] in one [lection].

footnotes: ¹⁶ And not less than three (cf. Sof. III, 10).

A scribe may not put upon the written part [of a Torah scroll] a reed-pen with ink on it;¹⁷ nor may he take hold of the sheets of parchment and thereby unroll [the scroll]; nor may he¹⁸ grasp the parchments to extract the written sheets;¹⁹ nor may he remove a scroll from its [case] by shaking it out. All these [restrictions], however, are relaxed in the case of official revisers of Scriptural scrolls.

footnotes: ¹⁷ So according to Sof. III, 11. The text in V is meaningless. ¹⁸ This is the reading in Sof. III, 11. V reads ‘but he should’. ¹⁹ Which are rolled up; lit. ‘and bring forth the writing without’.

It is not permissible to place a Torah scroll on a chair and to lean on it with one’s elbows while reading; so according to R. Nehemiah. It is not permissible to place it over a chair [with its sheets] hanging down while it is read in the manner of ordinary documents, because [sacred] books must not be treated with disrespect.

A Torah scroll may not be placed on a bed and [certainly]²⁰ not at its foot or under it; nor may one sit²¹ on a bed while a [Torah] scroll rests on it. It is related that R. Eliezer²² once sat [unknowingly] on a bed on which a [Torah] scroll lay, and [when he realized it] he jumped up as if a snake had bitten him. [Such respect is shown for the Torah] because Scripture declares, Ye shall keep My sabbaths, and reverence My sanctuary²³—it is not the Sabbaths that one reverences but Him Who commanded [to observe them], for Scripture declares, This is my God, and I will glorify Him²⁴ [which means,]²⁵ (I will glorify Him) homiletically with na’eh (beautiful) and understanding it as ‘I will serve Him in a beautiful manner’. I will perform the commandment in a beautiful way to His glory.²⁶ Such is the interpretation of R. Ishmael. R. ‘Aḳiba expounds it: I will expatiate on His excellencies.²⁷, lit. ‘beauties’, excellent attributes. Abba Saul explains it: I will be like Him,²⁸ as the equivalent of ’ani wahu (I and He). i.e. as He is gracious and merciful so be thou gracious and merciful.

footnotes: ²⁰ Cf. N.Y. on Sof. III, 13. The insertion of ‘certainly’ avoids an anticlimax. ²¹ lit. ‘that one may sit’. ²² In Sof. III, 13, ‘R. Eleazar’. ²³ Lev. 19, 30. ²⁴ Ex. 15, 2. ²⁵ Connecting we’anwehu ²⁶ lit. ‘before Him’. ²⁷ Heb. na’oth ²⁸ He explains we’anwehu

Foodstuffs may not be treated with disrespect. One may not sit on a basket containing dates or dried figs;²⁹ but he may sit on a basket that contains pulse and also on a cake of pressed figs, because it is customary to do so in such cases.³⁰

footnotes: ²⁹ Because they might be crushed and spoilt. ³⁰ Pulse and dried figs are not spoilt by sitting on them.

Foodstuffs may not be used as a covering. R. Meir says: Any fruit which has a husk may be [used as a covering]. R. Judah says: Any fruit which has a stem or a stalk³¹ may be [used as a covering].³² Foodstuffs may not be eaten with the aid of foodstuffs³³ unless they are consumed simultaneously.³⁴

footnotes: ³¹ Whereby it can be lifted if it should happen to fall into the contents of the vessel it covered. ³² Since it would not be necessary to throw it away after use. ³³ Using them, e.g., in place of a spoon. ³⁴ And would not be thrown away.