173. Writing a Torah Scroll

27:5 One should pronounce everything he studies aloud as per Joshua 1:8, “This Torah shall not depart from your mouth…” If one says the words of Torah study out loud, he fulfills the mitzvah of Torah study even if he does not understand the words. This is why even one who does not know how to learn says the blessings for Torah study every morning before the appropriate verses as well as when he is called to the Torah for an aliyah. If one occupies himself with Torah study but he cannot understand the material because of his own intellectual limitations, he will merit understand of it in the Next World.

28:1 There is a positive commandment for every Jewish man to write a Torah scroll, as per Deuteronomy 31:19, “Write for yourselves this song.” Even if one inherits a Torah scroll from his father, there is a mitzvah for him to write one himself. If one hires a scribe to write a Torah scroll for him, or if he buys a Torah that contains errors and has it fixed, it is considered as if he wrote it himself. One may not sell a Torah scroll; in a case of great need, an authority must be consulted.