Editing Parashah (section)

=== Validity of scrolls ===
According to the ruling of Maimonides, any error regarding a ''parashah'' completely invalidates a Torah scroll. This includes a ''parashah'' in the wrong place, of the wrong type, or a missing ''parashah''.<ref>{{cite book | author=Maimonides | title=Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzah and Torah Scrolls | at=10:1}}</ref>

However, there is also a responsum by Maimonides <ref>Blau, responsum #294; also appears in ''Shu"t HaRambam Pe'er HaDor'' #9, and is thus cited by Rabbi [[Ovadiah Yosef]] in ''Yehaveh Da'at'' VI:56.</ref> in which he ruled that one may recite a blessing over reading from an invalid scroll, based on the reasoning that the commandment is in the reading itself, not in the text being read from.

Maimonides' strict ruling that any error in the ''parashot'' completely invalidates a Torah scroll led to a major [[halakhah|halakhic]] debate that continues to this day.<ref>An English-language survey of the halakhic sources that deal with discrepancies in the transmission of details in the masoretic text of the Torah, regarding both its spelling (letter-text) and its ''parashah'' divisions, may be found in Barry Levy's ''Fixing God's Torah: The Accuracy of the Hebrew Bible text in Jewish Law'' (Oxford University Press, 2001). Levy discusses most of the sources listed here and translates some of them.</ref> Among those who ruled against Maimonides' stricture in practice were his son, [[Abraham Maimonides]],<ref>Responsum #91.</ref> [[Menachem Meiri]],<ref>Commentary ''Beit HaBehira'' to Kiddushin 30a and in the introduction to his ''Kiryat Sefer'' on the laws of writing Torah scrolls.</ref> Moshe Chalava,<ref>Responsum #145. Maharam was a student of [[Shlomo ben Aderet]] in thirteenth century Spain.</ref> [[Judah Minz]],<ref>Responsum #8. Rabbi Judah Mintz flourished in Italy in the fifteenth century.</ref> and [[Ovadia Yosef]].<ref>''Yehaveh Da'at'' VI:56. Basing himself on previous authorities who disputed Maimonides ruling entirely, in addition to Maimonides' own ruling that a blessing may be recited upon reading from an invalid Torah Scroll, Rabbi Yosef permits [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazic]] and [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic Jews]] to recite a blessing upon reading from a [[Yemenite Jews|Yemenite]] Torah Scroll. Yemenite scrolls differ from both Ashkenazic and Sephardic scrolls for exactly one ''parashah'' division: an open section at Leviticus 7:22 (Yemen) instead of at 7:28 (Ashkenaz and Sepharad). Yemenite scrolls also differ regarding certain spellings (exactly 9 letters), while Ashkenazic and Sephardic scrolls are identical in all of these details.</ref>

All of the above authorities rule that a scroll containing ''parashot'' based on alternative scribal traditions that disagree with Maimonides' list of ''parashot''<ref>{{cite book | author=Maimonides | title=Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzah and Torah Scrolls | at=chapter 8}}</ref> is nevertheless a valid scroll. However, even according to the lenient opinion, a blatant error with no source in any scribal tradition invalidates a Torah scroll.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}}