Vayeilech 31:24 · unit 2

English: And if he wishes to cut the scroll, he may cut it. The Gemara is surprised at this: What is the tanna saying? Why is mention made here of cutting the scroll? The Gemara answers: This is what the tanna is saying: He arranges the text so that if he finishes a book at the bottom of one column, he begins the next book at the top of the next column without leaving any empty space, so that if he wishes to cut the scroll, he may cut it. If he does not begin the next book at the top of the next column, he will not be able to cut the scroll, because it is not fitting for a scroll to begin with an empty space. The Gemara raises a contradiction between this baraita and another baraita that teaches: Enough parchment should be left at the beginning of the scroll and at its end for winding. The Gemara clarifies: For winding around what? If it means for winding around the pole to which the beginning of the scroll is fastened, this is difficult in light of what is taught in the first baraita, that at the end of the scroll enough parchment should be left for winding around the entire circumference of the scroll. And if it means for winding around the entire circumference, this is difficult in light of what is taught in the first baraita that at the beginning of the scroll enough parchment should be left for winding around the pole. Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: The tanna teaches the halakha disjunctively, referring to two separate cases. He issues a general statement requiring that enough parchment be left for winding as needed: At the beginning of the pole, enough to wind around the pole, and at the end of the scroll, enough to wind around the circumference. Rav Ashi said: When that second baraita is taught, indicating that the same measure of parchment is left at both the beginning and the end of the scroll, it was referring to a Torah scroll, as it is taught in a baraita: All other scrolls are wound from the beginning to the end around a single pole, but a Torah scroll is wound from both ends to the middle around two poles, one of which he attaches at this end of the scroll and the other at the other end. Rabbi Eliezer, son of Rabbi Tzadok, said: This is how the scribes in Jerusalem made their scrolls, i.e., with poles at either end so that it could be rolled to the middle. § The Sages taught: A Torah scroll should not be made in such a manner that its length, i.e., its height, is greater than its circumference when it is rolled up; nor should its circumference be greater than its length. They asked Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi: What should the size of a Torah scroll be? Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said to them: If it was written on a hide that was treated with gallnuts [gevil ] it should be six handbreadths long.