Masekhet Soferim (), the "Tractate of the Scribes", is a non-canonical Talmudic tractate dealing especially with the rules relating to the preparation of holy books, as well as with the laws of Torah reading. One of the minor tractates, it is generally thought to have originated in eighth-century Land of Israel. Being of late and uncertain date, it is now generally printed as Talmudic addenda.
Chapters
Soferim consists of 21 chapters, containing 225 paragraphs ("halakhot") in all. The chapters may be summarized as follows:
1: On parchment and other writing-material; language, and translation of the Jewish Scriptures; the Septuagint; persons who are qualified to prepare books; leaves and pages; open and closed paragraphs. 2: Spaces between letters, words, lines, pages, and books; space-lines; number of columns to the leaf, and lines to the column; width and height of the scrolls; rollers; sewing; mending; final letters. 3: Writing several books on a single scroll; verse-marks in the scroll of the Law; superscriptions; palimpsests; procedure in regard to incorrectly written scrolls; rolling and unrolling; manner of rolling and reading; respectful handling of the scroll of the Law; careful use of food as a gift of God. 4: The names of God and the interdiction against erasing them; Masoretic enumeration of such names; the sinfulness of profanely using any of them. 5: Sacrosanct writing of the names of God; scribal errors in such and in the lines of the sacred scroll; the Divine Name on vessels and utensils; preservation of scrolls and other writings which have become useless; use of loaned writings. 6: Points written in the Torah; textual variations in the ancient scrolls used in the Temple at Jerusalem; Masoretic textual and orthographical variants. 7: Masoretic combination of the Qere and Ketiv. 8: Textual variants in Psalms 18 and II Samuel 22, and in Isaiah 36-39 and II Kings 18-20 9: Capital letters in the Torah; written words for which others must be substituted in reading; passages which are neither read nor translated. 10: General laws of Torah reading; number of readers; number of persons requisite for public religious functions; kaddish and barekhu. 11: Order of Torah reading and of the translations to be read; errors in Torah reading 12: Method of reading the curses, the songs, and the Ten Commandments; the Torah reading on the Rosh Hodesh of Hanukkah; mode of writing the songs in Exodus 15, Judges 5, and Deuteronomy 32, as well as the order of reading Deuteronomy 32. 13: Method of writing the Hagiographa in general and the scroll of Esther in particular; blessings in connection with the Mafṭir and the reading of the Torah. 14: Blessing on reading the Hagiographa in general and the scroll of Esther in particular; liturgical observances prefatory to the reading; persons authorized to read and to officiate as ḥazzanim; individuals qualified to read the scroll of Esther; reading the other smaller scrolls; sanctity of the scroll of the Law; phylactery and mezuzot. 15: Sanctity of other religious writings; diversity of the rabbinical sciences; occupations to be taught to children. 16: Value of the study of the Torah; the aggadah; manifold interpretations; scholarship of the ancient teachers; sections of the Pentateuch; chapters of the Psalms; the Kedushah prayer. 17: General laws on the sections prescribed for the festivals; assistants at the sacrifice and their prayers; lessons and psalms for Rosh Hodesh. 18: Daily and festival psalms; order of prayer for the anniversary of the destruction of Jerusalem; observances for the Yom Kippur. 19: Further regulations regarding the psalms for festivals; formulas of prayer for the festivals; eulogy on announcing the new moon; benedictions for weddings and funerals. 20: Kiddush levana; lighting the Hanukkah candles; blessings and Torah reading for Hanukkah; the Kedushah prayer on holidays; "Hallel." 21: Nisan, the month of rejoicing; Purim and its observances; the blessings of the Torah and the Megillah at Purim; Haggadah of the Jewish Patriarchs.
Divisions
Soferim may be divided into three main divisions: chapters 1–5, 6–9, and 10–21, the last of which is subdivided into two sections, 10-15 and 16:2-21. The tractate derives its name from its first main division (chapters 1–5), which treats of writing scrolls of the Law, thus conforming to the ancient custom of naming a work according to its initial contents.
