About This Text
Author: Shlomo Ganzfried
Composed: Brezovica, Slovenia, 1835 CE
Keset HaSofer (“The Inkstand of the Scribe״) is a legal handbook for scribes and the first work written by Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried (the author of the Kitzur Shulchan Arukh). It includes the laws of writing Torah scrolls, mezuzot, tefillin, and Megilat Esther. In the work’s introduction, Rabbi Ganzfried explains that he wrote the book at nights while working as a wine merchant during the days. He writes that he was motivated to compile the book after noticing widespread ignorance on the laws of scribal writing, in part due to the lack of a centralized work exclusively addressing them. Keset HaSofer is still considered an essential guide for scribes.