Ancient Hebrew Bibliology Blau, Lajos, Strassburg, 1902 -A short presentation for the modern reader-
This profound research work of Rabbi Blau dives deeply into the external (physical) and internal (cultural) history of bibliological antiquity, with respect to the ‘true ink drops of tradition’; he clearly interconnects the whole classical bibliography and the ‘technical evolution’ of Hebrew scripture. Archaic Hebrew poetry uses the word: to carve ( חָּ ַקק, גִּ ֵּלֵּף, ִּב ֵּתר; חָּ ַרט, חָּ ַתְך, )פָּ ַרסfor writing, which can imply stone, clay, metal plates and all types of leather. Blau points clearly out that the dominant Hebrew tradition is the use of animal skins in roll form, the Torah scroll being a total unit of origin and production by skilled professional scribers. Every ‘book’ was usually a separate scroll, also the prophets and writings of the Tanakh, in size of a human elbow for appropriate handling. According to Jerome of Stridon ( Doctor Ecclesiae Universalis), the Hebrew Torah was very difficult to read in the night at
lamplight and under sunshine, because of the very small font (letters). After the Maccabean revolts, according to Rabbi Blau, it was the national-religious movement of the pious, later on called Pharisees, who multiplied the Hebrew scriptures via elementary schooling and bible teaching. In all bibliographical cases, the use of gold as ink was prohibited by Hebrew scriptural tradition, i.e., also not to highlight the name of the creator. The study of Blau Lajos confirms consequently the perfect tradition of one archetype of biblical scriptures. Economic estimations of comparable wages in antiquity do suggest that the income of professional scribers equaled the earnings of hard physical laborers, e.g., in vineyards, which seems to be a fair payment for such holy work. Stephen I. Ternyik
