One of the oldest creative professions connected to Jerusalem and the Jewish people is the profession of Sofrut. Sofrut is an all encompassing craft. It’s the link between the Jewish people and G-d, the Master of the universe. There are many parts to this ancient profession, one of them being the writing of ritual texts such as the Torah scroll, Mezuzah or Tefillin.
Sofrut is not just an occupation, it is far more than that. Since it includes the writing of the word of G-d in the manner in which G-d dictates the Sofer to write, it is a very spiritual profession to be involved in. Of course, along with the laws as to how to write, there are also laws as to who can write.
Some years ago, my husband studied to become a Sofer STaM. His learning was quite an intriguing process and so he decided to put together a video to share the story of his last Sofer Teacher. As things turned out, sharing this story did not only attract attention of the members on our main website – Chessed VeÉmet, it also caught the attention of the Sofer teacher himself.
Professor Michoel Khanin took note of the computer skills and video editing that my husband used in order to share the story of the Last Soviet Sofer i.e. of Rabbi Khanin. So it was that he asked my husband to assist him to putting the final touches to 4 videos he had recorded sharing some information about the profession of Sofrut in Russian. My husband does not speak Russian but was able to assist his Sofer teacher and so a ripple effect was set in motion.
From there, Rabbi Khanin and my husband set to work to video and put together some 18 videos sharing a wealth of information about this special craft. After putting out 18 videos, the next step was a lot of work to bring four interviews of Rabbi Khanin into a format that the general public can enjoy.
After those first few videos in Russian, the next are all in Hebrew which poses a challenge to some of the potential readers / viewers. A little over a month ago, one of my husband’s students request that we add subtitles to the Hebrew videos to help him to follow them more effectively and to understand the wealth of information that is shared. After exploring the option of outsourcing for the transcribing and adding subtitles, for various reasons we began to complete this project all in-house.
It’s actually quite a major task. This video offers a little insight as to some of the details that are a part of completing this project. So far we have the first video with Hebrew subtitles. Of this first video, we have about 10 minutes of editing the English auto translation. While we complete editing the English version, simultaneously we are busily working on transcribing and adding subtitles for the second video. We have a further 16 videos to complete after this and the 4 videos of the set of interview of Rabbi Khanin.
As you can see from the videos shared and linked to in this post, creating videos has become an opportunity for us to both spread the wisdom of the Torah and to use our creative skills in this creative process. There is so much that one can achieve through producing videos. It’s really becoming an enjoyable form of art to be involved in.
Speaking of involvement, if you watch the video of the behind the scenes slip, you will notice that we are developing a membership club on this online store and site. We invite you to become a partner with us in combining our range of creative skills with spreading Torah and acts of loving kindness. Of course the project to add subtitles to the Hebrew videos by Rabbi Khanin is a very specific project and is contained. As opposed to our gift packages which are ongoing.
What are the videos about and what benefit do they have to others?
Rabbi Khanin has been a Sofer STaM for 40 years now and is an expert in all areas of Sofrut. That means that he brings a richness to the Shiurim, covering a wide range of topics and pulling information from all areas of Torah. It’s always good to learn from an expert, but let’s take a closer look at what these Shiurim / videos are about.
The Hebrew alphabet is not just another alphabet. It is through or with the letters that G-d created the world and everything that there is. When we learn about Hebrew we discover how important every aspect of every letter is. The combination of letters, letter formation, spacing, style all has a part to play in the unfolding of creation.
Unlike other alphabets, the letters of the Hebrew alphabet tell a story. Each letter has an important role to play. As we learn in the very first video, if one letter is missing or one letter is added destroys the world.
The fact that with 18 videos out already, the material is not yet complete, indicates just how vast this topic is. As a result, those who watch the videos can gain an appreciation for how much knowledge, skill and expertise is required for every aspect of Sofrut. We hope that adding subtitles to this video series or playlist will enable more viewers to understand the material being shared. Through this we hope that next time you have a need to purchase a Mezuzah, Tefillin, Megilah or even a Sefer Torah that you will understand and have insight into just how much learning is required before the Sofer was able to write the text that you are coming to purchase. Sofrut really is so much more than a beautiful script.
Some stats to help understand the process and time involvement.
For the videos
Preparing each video from the time that my husband began each video (meaning Rabbi Chaninn had already been involved in quite some preparation) entailed:
– listening to the outline and hearing the script for each video
– videoing the shiur
– photographing or receiving photographs to include in each video
– completing the video editing
– rendering each video and sending to Rabbi Khanin for his input
– 2-3 rounds of editing before a final rendering, putting it through handbrake and uploading to YouTube
All of this takes 20-30 hours per video
For the subtitles:
Since modern tech is not yet effective enough for Hebrew, the transcription has been done long hand. Subtitles are then added to the video making sure that the timing is accurate or as accurate as possible. The text, spelling, references etc. is then checked by Rabbi Shear. For the first video, rabbi Khanin then checked the subtitles and sent back all corrections as captures with the correction written on. Every capture needed to be reviewed and every correction made.
The initial transcribing takes approximately half an hour for every 1-3 video minutes. Then comes inserting the subtitles, a challenge in Hebrew. Editing, proof reading and correcting. For the first video at least 30 hours was spent making in the process to add subtitles in Hebrew. We are still busy working through the English translation and correcting the grammar and translation of the auto translation. Although I translated concurrently while transcribing I have used the auto translation as a base and am now working through this to polish what appears live when a viewer clicks on English subtitles.
I hope this gives some insight into just how much work is involved. At the time of writing this blog post we have the Hebrew subtitles for the first video complete. The English is corrected to about 10 minutes of a one and a half hour shiur. The second video I have completed transcribing until about 55 minutes with this video being a little over an hour.
Please join us by becoming a member and helping us to complete this task. For anyone interested, Rabbi Khanin would love to complete the full project which would mean 100 videos of which we have just 18 so far.
Of course, purchasing any of the products in this store also assists us to cover the costs. Subscribing to the YouTube Channel, sharing with your friends, commenting and remember to click the bell in order to be notified of further videos as they happen.