385. Writing God's Name

Tefillin, Mezuzah v’Sefer Torah 1:16

When a sofer (scribe) dips his pen in the ink to write God’s Name, he should not start writing with one of the letters of the Name. Instead, he should start with the letter before that Name. If he forgot to write God’s Name altogether, he may insert it between lines but he may not put part of the Name on the line and the other part between lines. When it comes to such an error with other words, he may write half the word on the line and the other half above the line. This is only the case with a sefer Torah. When it comes to tefillin and mezuzos, he may not insert even one letter between lines. In such a case, if he forgets even a single letter, what he has written should be stored away and he should start all over. For all of these items, one may write God’s Name on parchment where letters were scraped off or erased.

Tefillin, Mezuzah v’Sefer Torah 1:17

A sofer who writes a sefer Torah, tefillin or mezuzah may not turn the parchment face down. He should either cover the item with a cloth or fold it.