סוֹפֵר, scribe, writer of documents, copyist of prayers &c. Gitt. VIII, 8 כתב ס׳ גט וכ׳ if the scribe wrote the letter of divorce for the husband and a receipt for the wife &c. Keth. 51ᵃ, a. e. טעות ס׳, v. אַחֲרָיוּת. B. Bath. 21ᵇ ס׳ מתא (Ms. M. ספר) town-scribe (libellarius); B. Mets. 109ᵇ top ספר; B. Bath. 21ᵃ ס׳ מתא (some ed. ספר), v. Tosaf. a. l.; (Rashi: principal of a town-school keeping assistants, v. infra); a. fr.
סוֹפֵר, a scholarly man, opp. בּוֹר illiterate. Ber. 45ᵇ אחד ס׳ וכ׳ if one is a scholar (knowing the prayers) and the other illiterate.
סוֹפֵר, school teacher, primary teacher. B. Bath. l. c. ס׳ יהודי a Jewish teacher; ס׳ ארמאי a teacher of secular branches (oth. opin.: a gentile teacher). Ib. ס׳ מתא, v. supra. Tosef. Meg. IV (III), 38 והס׳ מלמד כדרכו but the Bible teacher teaches (these passages) in his usual way; a. fr.—Pl. סוֹפְרִים, סוֹפְרִין. Gitt. 24ᵇ ס׳ העשויין וכ׳, v. לָמַד. Y. Ḥag. I, 76ᶜ, a. e. ס׳ ומשנים, v. מִשְׁנִים. Ber. l. c. בששניהם ס׳ when both of them are scholarly men (knowing the prayers); a. fr.—Kidd. IV, 13 לא יְלַמֵּד ס׳ must not be a teacher of primary schools.—מסכת ס׳ the Treatise Sof’rim, one of the small treatises attached to the Talmud, containing rules for writing Torah copies; (in Septem Libri &c., ed. Kirchheim: מסכת ספר תורה).—Esp. Sofer, pl. Sof’rim, title of the scholars of the ante-Tannaic period, beginning with Ezra (v. Ezra VII, 11). Y. Shek. V, beg. 48ᶜ. Kidd. 30ᵃ לפיכך … ס׳ שהיו סופרים וכ׳ the early scholars were called Sof’rim, because they counted all the letters in the Torah; a. fr.—דברי ס׳ enactments or interpretations dating from the Soferic period. Yeb. II, 4 מד׳ ס׳ belonging to the prohibitions ascribed to the Sof’rim. Snh. XI, 3 חומר בד׳ ס׳ וכ׳ disregard of Soferic enactments is more strictly dealt with &c., v. חוֹמֶר I. Ib. 88ᵇ דבר שעיקרו … מד׳ ס׳ a law which is founded on the Torah, but the interpretation of which dates from the Soferic period. Tosef. Kidd. V, 21; a. fr.—תקון ס׳, v. תִּיקּוּן.
