Sofer makes an investment in holiness

By Paul Haist

article created on:

When he was very young and living in his native Panama, others praised Alberto I. Attia's penmanship.

"People said I had nice handwriting; I should become a sofer," he said.

It ran in the family. One of his grandfathers back in Aleppo, Syria, had been a sofer, a scribe of the sacred Torah, the parchment scrolls that are used in worship services.

It ran in the family, but these were modern times and there are many things to do.

Attia, who immigrated to the United States 32 years ago, became an urban planner who over several years worked developing new communities.

"The market took a turn," he said. "I was a consultant. It was hard to make a living."

He decided it was time to make a change. That was about 14 years ago.

Attia enrolled in the two-year sofer program offered by the Midrash Sephardi yeshiva in Jerusalem's Old City.

"I found myself walking in his footsteps and learning," said Attia, referring to his Syrian grandfather of blessed memory.

He completed the program and, for the past 12 years, Attia, who makes his home in San Diego, Calif., has practiced his craft throughout the United States, Mexico and Jamaica.

This month, he came to Portland to perform a general survey of Congregation Shaarie Torah's 22 sefer Torahs. He spent the week of June 4 here performing small repairs and collecting data for a report on the complete collection, including plans for more major repairs or recommendations for the disposition of others in the collection.

Attia is a soft-spoken man who nonetheless communicates considerable passion for his calling, which requires a sacred centering of oneself before a sefer Torah is ever unrolled or an ink quill or reed taken in hand.

"It requires complete kavanah," he said, using the Hebrew term for the sacred intention or mindset that is required for prayer.

"If a sofer is distracted, halachah (Jewish law) requires him not to work," said Attia. "Before we begin writing, we have to say that we are writing for the holiness of the sefer Torah."

To help himself achieve the centering of his soul before he begins to work, Attia usually visits the mikveh, the ritual bath for spiritual purification.

He works within a tradition that has remained essentially unchanged from the time of Moses.

"We use modern technology," he said, referring to the laptop computer on the long table where a Torah scroll was unrolled at Shaarie Torah. But he notes that the actual process of creating or restoring a sefer Torah is the same today as it was millennia ago.

It is a tradition that Attia is proud to share with the countless individuals who have preceded him through many centuries, sofers who, like him, have toiled in solitude.

"When I work, I have to work without interruption," he said.

Although alone for hours, he takes comfort from his work.

"It is very relaxing and fulfilling," he said, even though the work requires absolute precision and ultimate attention to detail.

"We work from approved standards, not from memory," he said. "Because one letter missing or one extra letter and it is not kosher."

As standard practice, sofers rely not only on an approved model or standard to insure that every sefer Torah is identical with every other sefer Torah in terms of text and spacing, but also on aural and oral reinforcement during each step they take.

"We read out loud each word and as we are writing we utter that word," said Attia.

"When it comes to writing G-d's name, we say we are writing it for the sake of the holiest name of G-d. That is what invests the sefer Torah with the holiness it has," he said.

It is also what distinguishes a sefer Torah from a printed Torah.

"A printed Torah is not the same quality as a sefer Torah," said Attia. "It lacks the investment of holiness."