A rabbi bends over parchment, feather quill in hand. Working from right to left, he painstakingly transcribes Hebrew letters, whispering prayers as he does. After two hours, Rabbi Reuven Yaacobov needs a break. It will take about a year to complete the Jewish Torah this way.
Meanwhile, an orange robotic arm works ceaselessly. It was created by German engineering group robotlab. The robot is also writing Hebrew letters on parchment. Its manuscript will be complete in about three months.
A museum in Berlin, Germany, put the robot and the rabbi on display. The Jewish Museum wanted visitors to see how much effort goes into creating a “holy” document. Both copies will contain the same content, but only one could be used in a synagogue.
Rabbi Yaacobov says, “In order for the Torah to be holy, it has to be written with a goose feather on parchment, the process has to be filled with meaning, and I'm saying prayers while I'm writing it.” A robot isn’t concerned with meaning. It cannot pray. It simply follows its programming. Does that affect the content of the writing?
Words are important. God’s character is perfectly united with His word. He cautions us to choose words carefully and not to use language that tears others down or gives false representation.
Does that mean that the symbols we use for writing are important in and of themselves, though? Does the process of reproducing the message matter as much as the message itself?
No matter how many rituals we try to perform perfectly, we can’t make ourselves or anything holy. But the message of the gospel is that we still have hope. Our hope is outside ourselves but completely secure in Jesus. Isn’t that message the same, whether spoken aloud, written by hand, or printed off by machines to reach as many people as possible?
