Medieval scribal procedures for writing the Tetragrammaton

Some medieval scribes left blank spaces for the Tetragrammaton in Torah scrolls, to be filled in during a second stage of writing. Medieval rabbinic literature gives various reasons for delaying the writing of the divine name: the scribe was distracted or needed ritual immersion, or the absence of a prayer quorum. An early antecedent to this practice is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The practice is then anticipated in a baraita, which refers to writing multiple divine names. The Jerusalem Talmud, or an interpolation therein, interprets the baraita as referring to writing multiple divine appellations in a row. However, the Tosefta and Babylonian version of Soperim interpret the baraita as referring to the filling in of God’s name in noncontiguous blank spaces during a second stage of writing, attesting to this procedure during the silent years between the Dead Sea Scrolls and medieval Torah scrolls.