Secret Codes Protect Ancient Torahs

An anonymous reader writes "A story on Wired News reports the problems Jewish synagogues have protecting their Torahs from theft. The Torah scrolls, containing the five books of Moses, are hand lettered over the course of a year, are often hundreds of years old, and can sell for $50,000 or more. But Judaic law "dictates that not one character can be added to the 304,805 letters of the Torah's text", which makes them untraceable and easily sold on the black market. Rabbinic authorities have recently approved two computer-based systems to make the scrolls traceable: one takes a digital fingerprint of a Torah, a second makes microperforations in the parchment that yield a unique identifier."

Comments

How will it look like?

[DegeneratePR]

Anyone have an idea how the Torahprints will look like?

Related

[pHatidic]

There is a tiny town in Israel, iirc called svadt, that has an artform called microcalligraphy which is not practiced anywhere else in the world. They are able to fit the entire Torah onto a single page, they they make the torah into a design.

This is the first example that was found by Googling for microcalligraphy. I wonder if this technique could also be used on those works of art, which are extremely rare and expensive but also quite beautiful.

Pardon my Ignorance

[Anonymous Coward]

But can't the identification be before the holy part so while on the same physical object are different things. The law is against the alteration of the law and not a name. The Christian Bible has the same warning, as does the Koran, and they both have ID in the beginnings that does not detract from the laws.

What is considered an addition to the text?

[magarity]

not one character can be added to the 304,805 letters of the Torah's text", which makes them untraceable and easily sold on the black market

Just a few quick questions:

Is putting some kind of ownership label on the inside cover really 'adding to the text'? I don't think anyone would mistake "From the Library of Hiram Goldstein" as part of the actual text. Can you buy a Torah at the bookstore? If so, does it have publisher's information? Further, 'character' is pretty specific to alphabetic writing. I wonder if a Chinese idiograph or Egyptian hieroglyph count as a 'character'?

Re:What is considered an addition to the text?

[Lehk228]

IIRC there is a great Jewish tradition of getting around dogma on technicality, such as a prohibition against counting people in attendance at the synogogue(sp?) and so it is "not 1, not 2, not 3"

Reference 1 Reference 2

Re:What is considered an addition to the text?

[coaxial]

Further, 'character' is pretty specific to alphabetic writing. I wonder if a Chinese idiograph or Egyptian hieroglyph count as a 'character'?

You're incorrect. "Character" is generic, "letter" is not. As seen in "Chinese characters". The term "glyph" is equally generic.

Chinese characters aren't strictly pictograms or even ideograms. Some characters combinations of other characters where some parts of the compound character are used hint at the proper pronouciation.

Also not all words, are represented by a single glyph. The word "da4", which means "big", can be combined with "xiao3", which means "small", to create "da4xiao3" which means "size". (The numbers after the syllables indicate the tone.) Some characters must be used in combination with others, because the individual character has no intrinsic meaning.

Further complicating matters is when Western words are transliterated into Chinese. (Japanese and Korean words sometimes have Chinese characters already associated with them. It appears to me that in the few cases I know the words also have a common ancestor, but I'm not a Asian linguist.) While the meanings of the individual characters or even the combination of characters carry little weight, care must still be used lest you transliterate "George Bush" to "Robot Monkey Carburetor", or even worse, "Butt Fucker". For instance, the fast food chain "Subway" is transliterated to something that sounds like "sa ba wei", and means "10,000 Tastes" or something like that, instead of "di4xia4tie3" which means "underground train".

Explaining why creating nonsense words that bear a striking resembelence to English words in order to prevent saying something stupid in a non-English langauge is left as an exercise to the reader. Please note, that the "Mexican Chevy Nova" story is a myth. It assumes Spanish speakers don't have enough command over their native langauge to distinguish between "nova" and "no va", unlike English speakers ability to distribuish between "notable" and "no table". Futhermore the myth hinges on the listener to have ignorance of the fact that the Mexican government sells gasoline under the brand name "Nova".

Thus concludes your linguistic lesson.

Torah Identification

[leed_25]

I suppose that you could add a chemical signature to the ink.

Just like diamonds

[dr_dank]

When I bought a diamond for an engagement ring, it came with a gemprint; a card showing the stones unique identifer when light is passed through it. No two diamonds are exactly the same, so light will not pass through two diamonds the same way. Very similar to what they're doing with the torah scrolls.

Inaccurate - at best...

[Anonymous Coward]

First of all Svadt isn't so tiny and second of all I highly doubt microcalligraphy is done only there - I have several prints that are made up of microcalligraphy and this has been done for quite a few years now - somehow I doubt the idea and skill only stayed there.

Re:Amazing, two systems of justice...

[Anonymous Coward]

> What makes Jews so special?

Well... there's this I guess...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/science/03gene.h tml

Holes make a Torah unkosher

[Yonkeltron]

The very act of putting holes (however small) that are not used for binding pieces of parchment to the other ones, might render a Torah unfit for use! As an observant Jew, I'd be a little bit skeptical about reading from one...

Re:Holes make a Torah unkosher

[Glonoinha]

How about tweaking the spacing of the holes used in the binding process?
Maybe a little binary encoding by skipping some of the holes.

Re:Holes make a Torah unkosher

[Anonymous Coward]

How does any modification to the physical nature of the book/scroll, other than a change that actually alters the words therein, change the message?

I am not jewish but I think I can answer this one.

The Rabbis wanted to insure that the Torah remaind unaltered and true. Damage to the scroll could change the content. Obviously a large tear could remove words (content), but even a small hole could damage the content. For example a small hole could turn a U into a J.

Re:OSS?

[WindBourne]

That is about as real as somebody complaining about OSS being used In Syria, China, Cuba, and North Korea, while ignoring the fact that each of these countries are currently based on MS Windows XP. And to make matters interesting, these were sold by MS directly to the countries.

Re:However

[lawpoop]

" Every so often, they find a letter that's chipped off a bit (the ink is the worst culprit), and it has to be taken and repaired.

Can you enlighten me as to the type of ink this is that chips? Does it act more like a paint than a dye? What kind of material can a Torah be made of?

Re:Amazing, two systems of justice...

[Anonymous Coward]

As an Orthodox Jew I have to agree that the State of Israel does have two forms of justice and unfortunately while the media portrays (getting it wrong of course) Israel as a reflection Judaism - in reality it's the farthest thing from basic Jewish beliefs. A not so well known fact on this subject (unless you happen to know a little history, which unfortunately most people don't) - up until the founding of the State of Israel the nearly unanimous position of Orthodox Rabbinical community is that the whole concept of nationalism (Zionism) prior to the arrival of the Messiah was and is completely wrong. Unfortunately now, while a large proportion of Orthodox Jewry believe Zionism is wrong, they don't speak out - meanwhile Israel gets a free bite at the apple to kill as many Palestinians as desired and the US protects them politically, financially and militarily. Bottom line, the State of Israel should have never been created, it has nothing to do with Jewish beliefs that Jews have been following for the last 2000 years and innocent people - men, women and children, both Jews and Palestinians are being killed as a result - on top of all of this it makes all Jews look bad.

Re:However

[Adult film producer]

Do jews believe in Hell?

Sort of.. the jewish idea of hell is more-or-less compatible with the Christian(catholic predominantly) idea of purgatory. Hell for the Jew is a tormented but temporary place for their souls, but not permanent/everlasting punishment for their "crimes" against God. Some will have to endure greatest punishment in the jewish "purgatory" but they will always be released. Their souls are to be "recycled" or reincarnated yet again until they reach perfection (another matter for discussion)... the latter dogma I mentioned as you might notice is diametrically opposed to the conventional christian understanding of the human spirit & soul.. (ie. you're damned to hell for ever lasting time unless you repent and accept jesus..)

Chrisitanity and Judaism don't have much to do with each other, except for their common history and father figures. Their philosophy and belief set is as different as Buddhists are from Christians. Luckily Jews are not born into sin like Christians are... this gives them so much more latitude in their life :)

Re:Amazing, two systems of justice...

[gomoX]

Sure, they are teh 3vil!!
For fuck's sake. To a palestinian, you are a foreign bastard who took his territory and gave it to the Jewish people, the same Jewish people he's in war and kills your people since you can remember. Of course they're shouting death.

And you know what's wrong with them, besides war crimes and unbelievable suffering and pain? Lack of perspective. Peace can't be achieved because most can't see any further than this.

So do you, as far as I can tell. Please, this people are not lunatics, no one is. They have been raised by a different culture, but it's not a bad one. Fanatics are just as bad there as in the US, except they don't have the FBI to kick their asses whenever they feel like it. They live in a society mandated by inertial hate they got from previous generations.

To a palestinian, you are much more of a son of a bitch than he is to you. It's just that they gather on the streets to shout it instead of reelecting their badass president to "kick some ass" and having the senate give him unlimited military budget.

Think about it. Pretty much everything happens for a reason.

Re:However

[MostlyHarmless]

To muddy things up, though: Judaism is not very big on literal readings of the Bible: partly because there really isn't such a thing, and partly because of a strong oral tradition (i.e. the Talmud) that interprets things, sets out laws, etc. So it is true that certain bible verses discount the possibility of an afterlife; however, one probably could find verses suggesting the opposite if one wanted to. And all that doesn't have very much to do with what Judaism itself thinks about it.

In regards to *that* -- commentaries speak all the time about "this world" and "the world to come", but there isn't a single, universally-accepted theology about what that's supposed to mean. The grandparent was essentially correct in that there is a traditional Jewish view of a sort of purgatory; however, there are a half-dozen other ideas as well. Compared to Christianity, Judaism simply doesn't focus on the afterlife as much.

sinner

[Doc Ruby]

You're so sure of your insane lies portraying Jews as atheists that you post as Anonymous Coward. It's obvious that it is you who does not believe in god, or at least not in a righteous one. You speak in god's name, but don't even have the courage to use a flimsy Slashdot user ID. Anyone else reading your racist lies should immediately be able to tell what you are. And that the "future purpose" to which you allude, the popular racist fantasy of the gory sacrifice of Jews in an apocalypse, is the hallmark of the rest of you deranged Christian Taliban buying up such godporn as the sick "Left Behind" series. Which goes right along with your giveaway line slandering Catholics. Every generation has its excuse for people hating Jews, rather than themselves, for "betraying god". Yours are not new, but they're still disgusting. When you admit the truth, that you're covering up your fear of burning in hell by finding a surrogate in the Jews, you'll have at least a chance at salvation. Without that, you're just a sick fool lying about things you can't understand.

Re:Basic Cryptography

[superpulpsicle]

Every race have endured beatings. You make it seem like Jews got the worst. At least their suffering was documented.

Try the Aztecs, they were wiped out to the point where no one is left to tell the story from their side.

Re:However

[dfn_deux]

I would generally tend to disagree with the premise of your argument based on a few simple reasons...

1. "Race" is not any sort of scientifically recognized term for subdividing within a species. So arguing that one thing is a "race" and another is not is ultimately a fruitless endevour...

That's because most human variation falls within, not between populations. About 85% of all genetic variation can, on average, be found within any local population, be they Swedes, Kikuyu, or Hmong. About 94% can be found within any continental population, consistent with what the Rosenberg Science study found. In fact, there are no characteristics, no traits, not even one gene that turns up in all members of one so-called race yet is absent from others.

2. Nearly all of my Jewish acquaintences draw a distinction between those people who are "ethnic jews" and "religious jews". Which seems to account for a strong self identification as being a distinct "ethnic group" not necessarily defined by a religous dogma or other codified belief structure...

By slightly over 3 to 1, Israeli Jews choose the ethnic Jew (43%) over the religious practitioner (13%). However, another 32% of Israeli Jews find both equally Jewish. Therefore, even in Israel, a country with strict adherence to Jewish law, nearly half of Israeli Jews would consider someone without a Jewish mother as Jewish. The question of "who is a Jew" has been the center of debate recently, with the Orthodox establishment only recognizing someone as Jewish who was born to a Jewish mother (or converted by a Orthodox Rabbi)

Normally I wouldn't even stick my foot in the door at commenting on a thread such as this which is guranteed to draw more flames than most, but I'd be hard pressed to believe that anyone can really come up with any evidence contrary to either of those two points. I mean heck, even the Israeli "right of return" is based largely on blood lines (Jewish mothers have Jewish children, regardless of their religion...) and not faith...

Photo Solution

[SeanDuggan]

Actually, if you RTFAed, one of the techniques listed does essentially that, albeit also analyzing the photo to determine handwriting style. The problem faced, apparently, is convincing the jury to consider this as true evidence that the two scrolls are the same. Handwriting analysis has been in courts (and public consciousness) long enough that people generally accept that you can show that a particular set of whorls and jots is characteristic of a particular author. Digital photographs... the precision involved in these scrolls means that the text is practically identical between scrolls, at least until you start getting on a very high level of magnification. Theoretically, the background could be analyzed, but I don't know how certain it is that the animal skin would remain looking the same over a few months or years of exposure to the ambient environment.

I wonder whether they could do a DNA analysis of the animal skin... I would imagine that for any given scroll, it's probably composed of a number of different individual animals and the mix is probably not the same for any given scroll. The catches would be a) DNA testing is not horribly cheap still, and b) DNA testing AFAIK, is still a mildly destructive process with dead materials.