פִּינְחָס בֶּן-אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן-אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן, הֵשִׁיב אֶת-חֲמָתִי
מֵעַל בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, בְּקַנְאוֹ אֶת-קִנְאָתִי, בְּתוֹכָם;
וְלֹא-כִלִּיתִי אֶת-בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, בְּקִנְאָתִי לָכֵן, אֱמֹר: הִנְנִי נֹתֵן לוֹ אֶת-בְּרִיתִי, שָׁלוֹם
The vav in the word "Shalom" is famously written with an intentional crack, but that will not be the subject of this post. Instead we will talk about the practicalities of Pinchas and why he doesn't get much peace after all.
The maftir readings for all Jewish holidays occur in Parshat Pinchas. Most established congregations have at least two Torah scrolls, one for the regular reading and one for the special readings when a second scroll is required. Naturally this second scroll is constantly being rolled to Pinchas and then moved around within the parasha. This leads to the section where Pinchas occurs wearing out a lot faster than the rest of the scroll. This week over sukkot, I noticed several damaged letters and even some whole words rubbed out in or around the maftir reading. Apparently this is very common in scrolls only ever used for maftir. In fact, the original yeriot of that section were replaced years ago and this is the second round of fading.
I'm not sure what can be done to prevent it, but if it were up to me I would rotate the assignment of Torahs to readings every few years. Unfortunately there are no pictures for this post. I noticed the first faded letter on shabbat and I neglected to take pictures while doing the touch-ups.
Pinhas son of Elazar son of Aaron the Kohen turned My wrath away from Israel through My zealotry which he exercised among them and I did not destroy Israel. Therefore I hereby grant him My covenant of peace. (free translation)
The vav in the word "Shalom" is famously written with an intentional crack, but that will not be the subject of this post. Instead we will talk about the practicalities of Pinchas and why he doesn't get much peace after all.
The maftir readings for all Jewish holidays occur in Parshat Pinchas. Most established congregations have at least two Torah scrolls, one for the regular reading and one for the special readings when a second scroll is required. Naturally this second scroll is constantly being rolled to Pinchas and then moved around within the parasha. This leads to the section where Pinchas occurs wearing out a lot faster than the rest of the scroll. This week over sukkot, I noticed several damaged letters and even some whole words rubbed out in or around the maftir reading. Apparently this is very common in scrolls only ever used for maftir. In fact, the original yeriot of that section were replaced years ago and this is the second round of fading.
I'm not sure what can be done to prevent it, but if it were up to me I would rotate the assignment of Torahs to readings every few years. Unfortunately there are no pictures for this post. I noticed the first faded letter on shabbat and I neglected to take pictures while doing the touch-ups.
