Artist Avraham Borshevsky didn't learn the Hebrew alphabet until he was in college. Now his life is filled with holy script

Photos: Elchanan Kotler, Personal archives

IN the three months since the Simchas Torah war broke out, Reb Avraham Borshevsky, a calligraphy artist and sofer stam in Jerusalem, has witnessed a dramatic shift in his line of work.

“More and more Jews from the most religiously distant enclaves are discovering the power of sacred scripts,” he says. “Sometimes it takes a war to uncover those latent holy sparks.”

In addition to writing mehudar mezuzahs and megillos, Borshevsky specializes in designing and producing top-line calligraphy artwork, pieces of which have found their way to the president’s and prime minister’s residences and other significant places in Israel, and over 30 countries beyond the borders of the Holy Land. But today, he says, there’s an awakening to get back to the basics. Jews want tefillin, mezuzahs and sifrei Torah.

His studio in Jerusalem’s Talbiyeh neighborhood isn’t large, but it’s well-lit and organized, filled with Judaica creations depicting brachos, pesukim, and beautifully 24k gold-illuminated tefillos and megillos. There is an Eishes Chayil, adorned in a Persian style, and a stunning Bircas Kohanim. Each creation sits in its own unique frame and is sealed with museum-grade glass.

Hanging on the walls are also a selection of certificates, including two from the Guinness Book of World Records for the world’s largest mezuzah, a meter-high scroll Borshevsky wrote in 2004. This mezuzah also set the record for the most expensive mezuzah sold in a private sale. The mezuzah opened a new chapter in Guinness (but that record was beaten in 2019, after a friendly conversation with Borshevsky, by the huge mezuzah that was presented on the roof of Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem).

“It’s not only the pieces themselves, it’s all that is concealed behind them,” says Borshevsky, who, while growing up in Leningrad, knew nothing about the Hebrew alphabet, although he’d been dreaming of creating art with letters since he was a child. And once Hebrew and Jewish tradition came into his life, he knew he’d found his treasure.

“The Hebrew alphabet has a spiritual depth that needs to be understood before work can begin. We learn in Maseches Avos that the ksav (letters) and the michtav (inscription) are listed among the ten things created on Erev Shabbos at twilight.