Editing Writing a Torah Scroll (section)

== Fulfilling the Commandment in Our Times ==
The Rambam rules that it is a positive commandment for every Jew to write a Torah scroll for himself, and even if his fathers left him a Torah scroll, it is a mitzvah to write one of his own. If he writes it with his own hand, it is as if he received it from Mount Sinai. If he doesn't know how to write, others can write it for him. Anyone who corrects a Torah scroll, even a single letter, it is as if he wrote the entire scroll.

In contrast to the Rambam, the Rosh (Rabbeinu Asher) wrote that this obligation primarily applied in earlier generations, when people would write a Torah scroll and study from it. But in our times, when we write a Torah scroll and place it in synagogues to read from it publicly, "it is a positive commandment for every person in Israel who can afford it to write Chumashim (the Five Books of Moses), Mishnah, Gemara, and their commentaries to study them, he and his sons." This is because the commandment to write the Torah is for the purpose of studying it, as it is written, "Teach it to the Children of Israel, place it in their mouths." According to the Gemara and its interpretation, one will understand the explanation of the commandments and laws properly. Therefore, these are the books that a person is commanded to write. The Beit Yosef also ruled in the Shulchan Aruch that "nowadays it is a commandment to write Chumashim, Mishnah, Gemara, and their commentaries."

In our generation, one can fulfill this obligation also by purchasing printed books, through which the main purpose of the commandment is accomplished, as it is written "Teach it... place it in their mouths," referring to the study and knowledge of Torah.