Mishneh Torah, Tefillin, Mezuzah and the Torah Scroll 7

Sugya Map: The Mitzvah of Sefer Torah

• Core Issue: Does the verse "Write this song" (Deut. 31:19) obligate writing a complete Torah, or just the song Ha'azinu?
• Nafka Mina: Can one fulfill the mitzvah with a Chumash (partial scroll)? Can a scroll be written in pieces?
• Primary Sources: Sanhedrin 21b; Gittin 60a; Mishneh Torah, Tefillin, Mezuzah and the Torah Scroll 7:1; Sefer HaChinuch 613.

Text Snapshot

"It is a positive commandment for each and every Jewish man to write a Torah scroll for himself... i.e., write down the [entire] Torah which contains this song. [The basis] is that the Torah should not be written passage by passage." (MT 7:1)

Nuance: Rambam uses the plural "write for yourselves" (Deut. 31:19) to extract a communal and personal obligation, yet pivots to a singular requirement for a complete scroll, citing the prohibition of writing "passage by passage" (parshiot parshiot).

Readings

• Rambam (MT 7:1): The verse serves as a proof-text for the entire Torah. Writing only a section is invalid because the Torah was not given in fragments.
• Sha’agat Aryeh (Responsum 35): Challenges the exemption of women. If the mitzvah is to ensure Torah study, and women are obligated to study laws relevant to them, they should be obligated to own/write a scroll.
• Sefer HaChinuch: Defends the exemption, arguing that since women are exempt from Talmud Torah (the primary purpose of the scroll), they are exempt from the vessel of that study.

Friction

Kushya: If the purpose is study, why does Sanhedrin 21b state that even if one inherits a scroll, one must write a new one? If the goal is utility, the inherited scroll suffices. Terutz: As Sefer HaChinuch notes, the mitzvah is twofold: (1) proliferation of scrolls for the community, and (2) the unique psychological attachment one develops to a scroll they personally commissioned. The "newness" of the scroll prevents the complacency of using dusty heirlooms.

Intertext

• Shulchan Aruch (YD 270:2): Codifies the Rosh’s view that in our day, one fulfills the mitzvah by acquiring printed Chumashim and Talmudic texts, though writing a full scroll remains the hiddur (ideal).

Psak/Practice

While the mitzvah is technically to write a complete scroll, the meta-psak allows for fulfillment through purchasing or contributing to the writing of a communal Torah. The modern practice of "letter-writing" (where a scribe leaves an outline for donors) functions as the contemporary application of the Rambam’s insistence on personal participation.

Takeaway

The obligation to write a Torah is not merely about document preservation; it is about agency. To own a Torah you did not participate in creating is to be a passive recipient; to commission one is to claim the transmission of Sinai as your own.