CONTACT
Please contact Jamie Shear, scribe, artist, directly with any questions
or inquiries that you might have.
OUR BLOG
Text goes here
CONTACT
Please contact Jamie Shear, scribe, artist, directly with any questions
or inquiries that you might have.
OUR BLOG
Text goes here
CONTACT
Please contact Jamie Shear, scribe, artist, directly with any questions
or inquiries that you might have.
Writing with a Quill
"Now write for yourselves this song, and teach it to the children of Israel."
- Deuteronomy 31:19
Every Jew is commanded to write a Torah. In this workshop, everyone gets a taste of it.
Kids, teens and adults sit at a real scribe's table: parchment, turkey-feather, reed and bamboo quills, and scribal ink. I show how a sofer holds the quill and shapes each letter. Then they write their own Hebrew letters, one stroke at a time.
Each participant goes home with their name, written in Hebrew by the sofer.
Bring it to your school or community: jshear@ktavtam.com
Holding a feather quill for the first time.
Each letter is built stroke by stroke, the way a sofer writes.
The room goes quiet when the quills come out.
Practicing every letter, from Alef to Tav.
Large letters teach the shape before the fine work.
Every student at the table gets a quill, ink and parchment.
High school students learning the scribe's hand.
Synagogue evenings for grown-ups, quills in hand.
Writing her first Hebrew letters with a quill.
A Name to Take Home
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For every participant, I write their name in Hebrew on a card, in a scribe's hand. Everyone leaves holding their own name, written by a sofer.
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They also take home what they wrote themselves: their first Hebrew letters, a little shaky and completely theirs.
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The workshop works for a classroom, a whole grade, a Bar or Bat Mitzvah class, a family celebration or a synagogue evening for adults. I bring everything: parchment, quills, ink and the stories behind every letter.
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Jamie Shear
Each participant's name, written in Hebrew by the sofer.
A first try: her name in Hebrew, written with a quill.
Small strokes, big concentration.
Shaping each Hebrew letter, stroke by stroke.
Students write with the same kind of tools a sofer uses.
One-on-one with a resident at a seniors' community.
Feather, reed and bamboo quills, ink and parchment, ready to go.
Kids write their letters next to a Torah scroll.
A first big letter, written in scribal ink.
Bring It to Your Community
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I have brought this workshop to schools, synagogues and community centers in Jerusalem and all over Israel, Hong Kong, Montreal, Toronto, New Orleans, Charleston, Cherry Hill, Omaha and Boston.
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It can stand on its own, or be part of a one- or two-day Sofer-in-Residence alongside the Tefillin Experience and the Ink-Making Science Challenge.
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To plan a workshop, write to me at jshear@ktavtam.com.