Sofer
non-priestly class in Judaism devoted to the study and exposition of the Law; known in the time of Jesus also by the name of lawyers, and addressed as Rabbis
A sofer, sopher, sofer SeTaM, sofer ST"M (Hebrew: סופר סת״ם, "scribe"; plural soferim, סופרים), or soifer (Yiddish: סויפר) is a Jewish scribe who can transcribe Sifrei Kodesh (holy scrolls), tefillin (phylacteries), mezuzot (ST"M, סת״ם, is an abbreviation of these three terms) and other religious writings.
Description
Soferim are men who are trained and permitted to transcribe Jewish texts according to the laws of Judaism:
Sefer torah, a complete copy of Torah read by Jewish men during prayer.
Tefillin, scrolls of Torah verses worn by Jewish adults during prayer.
Mezuzot, scrolls of Torah verses placed on the doors of Jewish households.
collectively known as ST"M.
By simple definition, soferim are copyists, but their religious role in Judaism is much more. Besides sifrei Torah, tefillin, and mezuzot, scribes are necessary to write the Five Megillot (scrolls of the Song of Songs, Book of Ruth, Book of Esther, Ecclesiastes, and Book of Lamentations), Nevi'im (the books of the prophets, used for reading the haftarah), and for gittin, divorce documents. Many scribes also function as calligraphers—writing functional documents such as ketubot (marriage contracts), or ornamental and artistic renditions of religious texts, which do not require any scribal qualifications, and to which the rules on lettering and parchment specifications do not apply.
The major halakha pertaining to sofrut, the practice of scribal arts, is in the Talmud in the tractate "Maseket Sofrim". In the Torah's 613 commandments, the second to last is that every Jew should write a sefer Torah before they die.
Qualifications and education
A sofer must be religiously observant, of good character, and knowledgeable about the laws concerning sofrut.
“Sofer” enters the record as non-priestly class in Judaism devoted to the study and exposition of the Law; known in the time of Jesus also by the name of lawyers, and addressed as Rabbis. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Sofer, non-priestly and class can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Sofer” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Sofer, non-priestly and class provides the most credible route into that argument.
Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q508743. The Library of Congress control number is sh85118968. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Sofer” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.