Dr Michael Khanin was the last Sofer from the USSR. Below this text, you’ll find a video sharing his story from Russia to Israel – how a man who had come from a secular background suddenly found himself exposed to the Hebrew alphabet and became entranced by it!
From that moment on, though well qualified enough to be a professor at any university in Israel (having a PH.D. in sociology,) he chose to spend the rest of his life involved in the writing of STa”M. For more than 35 years, he has been involved in writing the sacred writings of the Torah – including Tefillin and Mezuzot – as well as teaching the specialised profession of Sofrut. He has taught more than 300 pupils during this time. He is an expert in his field. He is familiar with all the different types of writing, their laws and their secrets! He is qualified to check the various sacred writings as much as having the qualification to write them. It seems like the writing comes naturally to the professor, whose hand seems to flow more with the movement of the quill than it does in actually controlling it!
He has been my teacher for a number of years already. There never seems to be an end in learning how to write, how to write better, and to knowing the secrets behind the Hebrew alphabet! Now, he would like to teach others publicly the hidden meanings behind the Hebrew letters. He will explore the different types of writings. He will share rare manuscripts (available online for those who know what to look for). He will share the history of Sofrut and how this magical profession has evolved throughout the thousands of years since the Torah was given!
Was the original Torah written in the exact same writing as our Torah scrolls of today?! If so, was it written in the Beis Yosef script, the Vellish (Sephardi) script or were certain letters written in accordance with the opinion of the holy Kabbalist – the Arizal? Were the final letters of the Hebrew alphabet (letters that appear differently at the end of a word) a part of the original letters?! On what type of parchment were the Sifrei Torah of thousands of years ago written? Were those Sifrei Torah written with the same spacing and alignments as ours are written today? What about the Tefillin of thousands of years ago – and the Mezuzot?! Did they look exactly the same as those of today?! Was the text inside spelled the same way as our texts are spelled today. Did anything change?!
How are the various sacred writings written? What types of instruments are used? How are letters erased – and may they be so?!
These are just some of the questions that will be discussed in the lectures/Shiurim that Dr Khanin will be teaching in the latest video project where he will be sharing the secrets of the Hebrew letters.
Being that his first language is Russian, there are already a few Shiurim up in the Russian language (see below). Beyond this, his fluency in Hebrew allows him to deliver these Shiurim in Hebrew – but they are not unfortunately available for those who cannot understand the Hebrew language. The remainder of the Shiurim will be given in Hebrew only.
Be that as it may, the project has been started and there are already a few Shiurim available for those who wish to see the direction that Dr Khanin will be taking as he ventures off in sharing information – often rarely available to the public, as well as information from dozens (really hundreds!) of books and sources (as the viewer will see him continually shifting from one book to the others sharing the infinity of this profession!)
But producing these videos takes time, effort and the right equipment! There is much that goes into producing each video! This is a once in a lifetime project because it is offered by a man with such vast experience in the field of Sofrut that it is practically impossible to get these lectures any other way!
Eliyahu and Dr Khanin are producing these videos together! While Dr Khanin will provide the information value to the videos, Eliyahu must sit and video the presentation. In fact, this can take an entire day to do as preparations are made and discussed as to what to include and the direction to take in the video. Thereafter Eliyahu returns from the day of videoing to begin the process of editing the videos. This means preparing the video in a professional editing program and sharing the final version with Dr Khanin. He will then work through the video in order to choose select pictures and other videos to include within the video and will send back his feedback to Eliyahu to add these items. Eliyahu will get to work preparing the additions, stitching clips and pictures together, adding music etc. and preparing the video for its final show, and spending additional time diminishing the size of the video and uploading it with all its tags and keywords onto YouTube. Then there’s checking it again – a final time – to see if anything needs revising and editing before the video is actually made live!
In short, this process is rather lengthy, and those not familiar with the full editing process would be surprised to find out just how much work goes into the production of just one video.
Friends, I now turn to you and ask for your help! We would like to continue this project, but it will take up a considerable amount of both of our time to do! Does the topic excite you? Would you like to be a part of our project?! We would be more than happy to offer positive credit to you at the end of the video or any other relevant places (relative to your contribution and partnership in the project) – if you will take part!
If you’d still like to find out more or have any questions, please do not hesitate to be in touch! If you would like to be a steady supporter, you can do so by becoming a member of this site and letting us know that your membership contribution is towards the production of these videos. We are in need of serious partners – and so in order to qualify as being a steady strong supporter, we will need a sizable amount to help us. Again, be in touch with us for more information as to the actual costs involved. For once-off partnership amounts, you can do so via my Paypal link directly where you can specify the reason for your contribution.
Please join us in spreading more about the secrets of the Hebrew alphabet and let us make a success of this project together!
Below, you will find the video sharing the story about Dr Khanin. Below that, you will find some of the videos we have already prepared and are available for all to see! You will notice a number on the top right of the second video. This shows the current videos available, and you can easily flick from one to the other. We are now also in the process of transcribing all these videos to have Hebrew subtitles and English translations. To find out more, see our post discussing this project!