The CJM Blog

Thoughts from scribe-in-residence Julie Seltzer on what she's writing, her process, and the experience of writing a Torah on public view. I hail from the east coast, and moved to the Bay Area for the amazing opportunity to write a sefer Torah 1 . Last weekend, I visited New York and Toronto for a friend’s wedding, and thought some aspects of my travel were relevant enough to share.It started before my flight, back when I was writing the end of Genesis. The Torah, chronicling the end of Joseph’s life, states: “And Joseph lived in Egypt…”At the daily Q & A sessions I lead with the public in the Museum, one of the most frequently asked questions is, “What do you think about when you’re writing?”

Thoughts from scribe-in-residence Julie Seltzer on what she's writing, her process, and the experience of writing a Torah on public view. I have a personal question for you that I didn’t want to ask in front of the group during the Q&A session. Would it be alright to email you? Ah, the familiar “personal question.” This is generally a polite way of saying, “Tell me about your menstrual cycle and how it affects Torah writing.” At least she didn’t ask it in front of everyone. And at least she prefaced it by acknowledging the personal aspect of it. Not everyone does. When her email arrived a few days later, it was not what I expected:

1) Portion dough 2) Knead dough 3) Sculpt dough 4) Brush with egg 5) Arrange on baking sheet 6) Sprinkle with poppy seeds 7) Place in oven and bake at 350 degrees until it is golden brown 8) Allow to cool on rack 9) Enjoy!