Introduction to The Whittle Study Bible
This post is a living document about the Whittle Study Bible. The intention is to log progression of the layout of this site. I have discovered that I need to recall the decision process for the design of each book. I began with the book of Deuteronomy because this I was studying with Torah Portions. Each book is layout a little different because of the choices to make perceived improvements.
The book of Deuteronomy
While reading Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’ book “Covenant and Conversation”. I learned the book of Deuteronomy was originally laid out as an ancient treaty. I decided this is the way I wanted to layout this book.
The book of Genesis
04/07/2018 – While preparing to teach a small group of people I used Umberto Cassuto book “A Commentary on the book of Genesis Part One: From Adam to Noah” as the layout of the book of Genesis. I also added the interlinear with audio to learn how to read Hebrew.
12/16/2022 – Published Genesis 25 and realized I am having difficulty organizing the Semitic Literature portion of this chapter. I created my own but it’s not really semitic literature.
The book of Exodus
12/08/2022 – Today, I FB messaged and chatted with Rabbi Jeffery Siegel about the layout of a Torah Scroll, it seems the proper way to layout the Hebrew text.
12/09/2022 – Today, I listened to two videos by Dr. Nehemia Gordon explaining the pey and samech system used in the manuscripts. I have added the videos below as he can better explain this system than i can.
12/13/2022 – Today while laying out the template chapter pages for the book of Exodus, I decided to use the built in Pey and Samech method.
A Torah Scroll has natural line breaks. In a Chumash or a sepher these breaks are represented by the letter peh פ or the letter samech ס . Pey פ called “petuchah” means open. The samech ס called “stumaj” means closed. In the Book of Exodus, I will use these markings for the Semitic Literature Division.
