Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Joseph I. Lauer" <josephlauer AT hotmail.com>]

   This is a follow up to Yitzhak Sapir's note that "It takes two men to
unroll [the Torah/Pentateuch scroll]" and "It takes one healthy man to raise
it."
   This is true with regard to the large and heavy Torah scrolls most often
seen and used in synagogues.
   However, I have seen (and held) a number of much smaller Torah scrolls
(including one owned by my son's father-in-law) that could easily fit in one
or two hands.  The script used in such scrolls is, of course, very small.
It is thus easy to imagine such single scrolls being used long ago for both
study of the Torah and in religious services.
   As Jim West essentially pointed out, though, it is much easier to use a
codex/book for study than a scroll as one can merely flip the pages of the
book to get to a desired page, while a scroll requires rolling, perhaps from
one end to another, to get to a desired column.
   Joseph I. Lauer
   Brooklyn, New York