Meet the Sofer —

Neil Yerman is a sofer — a person who writes and restores Torah scrolls.  In Eng­lish, the Hebrew word sofer is translated as “scribe.”  To become a sofer, a Jewish per­son must master the art of Hebrew calli­graphy, document restoration, and the many rules and traditions governing the writing and restoring of a Torah.  In addi­tion, a sofer must lead a religious life.

Meet the Artist —

Sofer Yerman is also an artist who spe­cial­izes in creating one-of-a-kind illustrated documents for life cycle events, creating ketubot for weddings, scrolls for bar and bat mitzvah, and illustrated family trees.

Wise Journey — 150 and 175 year anniversaries
The writing of two new Sifrei Torah with congregational participation, facilitated by Sofer Neil Yerman

Isaac Mayer Wise Temple, Cincinnati, Ohio

You may skip ahead to 3:47 to view Neil Yerman and congregational partipation.

Plum Street Temple, Cincinnati, Ohio

Celebrates: The Torah Writing Project

Temple Avodah, Oceanside, Long Island, New York

Watch Sofer Neil Yerman work with one of our very young children and a small group of our teens in explaining the purpose of enhancing our Torah with crowns, the meaning of the seven letters that can be adorned and then watch as two of our kids actually draw the crowns in the Torah we use every week.

Click arrow to begin video.

After a very thorough vetting process under the new rules of the Memorial Scrolls Trust, I am now an authorized scribe and am permitted to work on Czech Republic Memorial Scrolls. My name has been added to the MST Web site at https://www.memorialscrollstrust.org/index.php/czech-scrolls-museum/authorised-scribes. There are new guidelines for congregations that wish to have work done on the Memorial Scrolls they are holding in trust. For information, call me at 914-552-7211, write to me at neil@neilyerman.com or contact the Trust through their Web site: www.memorialscrollstrust.org/index.php/contacts.

• Temple Emanu-El Celebrates Rosh Hashanah with New Torah — San Jose Mercury News, September 15, 2012
  
  
  
• Three Scribes: Friends in Art: Neil Yerman, Karen Gorst, and Mohamed Zakariya — Jewish, Chistian, and Muslim calligraphers collaborated, dialogued togeher, and created a unique work of art at the JCC of Schenectady, New York, on Sunday, September 18, 2011. Open PDF flyer.
  
  
• Religion News: Members of Congregation Beth Yam help repair 100-year-old Torah — The Island Packet / The Beauford Gazette, May 28, 2011
  
  
• Torah Whisperer: Reflections at Simchat Torah — The Jewish Daily Forward, October 8, 2010
  
  
• Congregation Writes Torah, With Help From a Scribe — featured story in the New York Times
  
  
• Simchat Torah: Lessons in the Circle — Jewish News of Greater Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ
  
  

• Beth Friend of NPR reports from St. Paul, Minnesota, where an entire congregation is participating in the usually solitary act of restoring a Torah. 
  (Click arrow below to begin.)
  
  

Members of the Congregation
Help Restore Torah

Left: Sofer Neil H. Yerman and Jacob add a letter to a Torah that was being restored after it was damaged in the Holocaust.

Video by Andy Noah Ratto (Click arrow to begin.)

Links to Related Sites