Scribe writes Torah atop emblematic Masada fortress (Israel)
In the tiny synagogue of Masada, a ruined desert fortress steeped in myth, symbolism and controversy, a Torah scribe sits motionless but for the slow, deliberate strokes of his right hand.
A master in the art of writing Hebrew Bible scrolls, Shai Abramovich seems oblivious to the outside world as he traces the characters onto cow-leather parchment, his bespectacled face just centimetres (inches) from his desk.
He insists his composure belies the excitement he feels working at Masada, an archaeological site seen by many as an emblem of Israel's fighting spirit two millennia after 960 Jews are believed to have committed suicide on the isolated, wind-swept plateau rather than surrender to the Romans.
Read entire article at AFP
A master in the art of writing Hebrew Bible scrolls, Shai Abramovich seems oblivious to the outside world as he traces the characters onto cow-leather parchment, his bespectacled face just centimetres (inches) from his desk.
He insists his composure belies the excitement he feels working at Masada, an archaeological site seen by many as an emblem of Israel's fighting spirit two millennia after 960 Jews are believed to have committed suicide on the isolated, wind-swept plateau rather than surrender to the Romans.