Editing Parashah (section)

== Spacing techniques ==

[[File:Sefer-torah-vayehi-binsoa.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Illustration of a closed section followed by an open section in a modern Torah scroll (closed at Numbers 10:35 and open at 11:1). Note the rare occurrence of "[[Masoretic Text#Inverted letters|inverted Nun]]" at these two points.]]
In most modern Torah scrolls and Jewish editions of the Bible, there are two types of ''parashot'', an "open portion" (''parashah petuhah'') and a "closed portion" (''parashah setumah''). An "open portion" is roughly similar to a modern paragraph: The text of the previous portion ends before the end of the column (leaving a space at the end of the line), and the new "open" portion starts at the beginning of the next line (but with no indentation). A "closed portion", on the other hand, leaves a space in the ''middle'' of the line of text, where the previous portion ends before the space, and the next portion starts after it, towards the end of the line of text.

In some manuscripts and in many printed editions, an "open portion" (''petuhah'') is abbreviated with the Hebrew letter "פ" (''peh''), and a "closed portion" (''setumah'') with the Hebrew letter "ס" (''samekh''), often in place of the visual gap in the line.<ref>The abbreviations are most often used in Hebrew editions of the Bible with commentaries, and in older one-volume editions of the Tanakh published through the first half of the 20th century. Though most current Jewish editions use the actual spacing techniques instead of the abbreviations, they are still used some in one-volume editions, most prominently in [[Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia]].</ref> Rough English equivalents are "P" and "S" respectively.<ref>As implemented [http://mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et0.htm here].</ref>

In masoretic codices and in medieval scrolls, these two spacing techniques allowed for a larger range of options:
* An "open portion" ''always started at the beginning of a new line''. This could happen the way described above, but also by leaving a ''blank line'' between the two portions, thus allowing the previous portion to sometimes entirely fill its last line of text.
* A "closed portion" ''never began at the beginning of a line''. This could happen as in modern scrolls (a space in the middle of a line), but also by the previous portion ending before the end of the line, and the new portion beginning on the next line after an indentation.

Open portions often seem to reflect the beginning of a new topic or a major subdivision within a biblical book, while closed portions seem to reflect smaller units or minor subdivisions.<ref>Tov, pp. 50-51, 210-211. However, no comprehensive and systematic study of the matter has even been done.</ref>

Most printed Hebrew bibles today represent the ''parashot'' using the more limited techniques found in typical modern Torah scrolls: A space in the middle of a line for a closed portion, and beginning  at the start of the next line for an open portion (not a blank line). A notable exception is ''The [[Jerusalem Crown]]'' (The Bible of the [[Hebrew University]] of Jerusalem, 2000), whose typography and layout is fashioned after the [[Aleppo Codex]], and follows the medieval spacing techniques for ''parashah'' divisions by leaving an empty line for {P} and starts {S} on a new line with an indentation.<ref>[[Maimonides]] and [[Rabbeinu Asher]] (''Rosh'') differ on their definition of 'Open' and 'Closed' sections ('''פרשה פתוחה ופרשה סתומה'''). The present custom of Askhenazi and Sephardic scribes is to compromise, where both an Open and Closed section end in the middle of the line, but in an Open section the next section commences on the following line, whereas in a Closed section, the next section commences on the same line after a short blank space (Soncino edition, ''Shabbat'' 103b, note c [2]). The Yemenite custom follows the practice of Maimonides.</ref>

Medieval Ashkenazic sources beginning with the [[Mahzor Vitry]] also refer to a third spacing technique called a ''parashah sedurah''. This involved starting a new ''parashah'' at the same point in the line where the previous ''parashah'' ended on the line above.