ABOUT THE EVENT

Ariela Housman – Soferet ST”aM

For the Sanctity of the Torah Scroll: Imbuing Holiness through Intentional Action Ariela Housman (she/her/hers) has been a calligraphy enthusiast since 1995 and and a professional since 2003. In 2015 she began studying hilḥot safrut (Jewish scribal laws) with Jen Taylor Friedman, the first woman documented to have scribed a Torah scroll. In 2021 Ariela accepted a commission from Temple Beth Shalom in Needham, MA, a Reform congregation, to write a Torah for them. She completed the scroll in 2024, the eighth woman documented to have done so. Since then she has been repairing scrolls written by other scribes.

Ariela writes in the Spanish Portuguese scribal hand, one of only three scribes in the world currently doing so, and the only one to have written a Torah in it, at least so far. She looks forward to the swelling of those ranks.

In her other professional hat, Ariela does art and calligraphy relating to works of speculative fiction and fandom. Her art has garnered three nominations for the Hugo Award.