442. The Rambam's Sefer Torah

Tefillin, Mezuzah v’Sefer Torah 9:10

The Rambam wrote a sefer Torah in which each column was four thumb-widths wide, except for the columns of the two songs, which were six thumb-widths wide. There were 51 lines per column and 226 columns in the entire sefer Torah. All told, this sefer Torah was about 1,366 thumb-widths long.

Tefillin, Mezuzah v’Sefer Torah 9:11

The six additional thumb-widths beyond those that one would reach through calculating the columns were for the empty margins left at the beginning and the end of the scroll. The Rambam wrote his sefer Torah on parchment made from a ram’s hide. If one wants to write a sefer Torah using the dimensions of the Rambam’s Torah – or in the ballpark by two or three columns either way - there is no need to make any calculations as this will lead to a Torah whose length equals its circumference.