MISC-----sefardi vs ashkenzi sefer torah

Moderator, I've got a question. I believe it is true that the Ashkenazi Torah and the Sephardi Torah are one letter different from each other.

Wouldn't that mean that one of them is wrong? Doesn't the Shulchan Aruch state that if the Torah is one letter different than it is supposed to be it is not Kosher?

That would mean that one of our Torah's are not kosher. Correct?

Additionally, there are many different ways Jews pronounce the Hebrew language. For example, what Ashkenazim call a Shoorook the Chassidim call it a Milipin. The pronunciation of these are totally different from each other.

1. Why are the Torahs written differently?

2. Why is the Hebrew Language pronounced differently?

3. Wouldn't that mean that only one way is right and the rest are wrong?

Sigh - this sounds like your off-the derech-former-rosh kollel again. Thank him for me, please. Because although it is the saddest thing in the world that a Yid became not frum, it is an inspiration and a kidush hashem that even an educated Jew who wants to find questions on Judaism really cant come up with anything of substance.

First, the text of the Sefardi Sifre Torah is identical, to the word, to the SIfrei Torah of Ashkenazim. What you are probably referring to is the Sefer Torah of some Yemenites, which have a few minor variations in their text, the most significant being "vayihiyu yemei noach" instead of of "vayehi yimei noach" (Bereshis 9:29) and the same thing in Vayikra 7:23. Or the word "petzuah dakah" spelled with an aleph instead of a hey.

There is a machlokes in the poskim of these Yemenite sifrei Torah are posul - the Kaf Hachaim - a sefardi - holds that these sifrei torah should not be used for reading or making a brachah because of these changes. Others hold that the variations are so minor as to render them kosher b'dieved.

Rav Ovadiah Yosef adds that the Rambam holds one may make a brachah on a sefer torah that is posul anyway, so he rules that everything considered, those sifre torah do not pose any problem for leining.

As far as the different pronunciations go, this was discussed at length elsewhere on the site. Rav Moshe Feinstein rules that these accents are merely accents, the same as, let's say the Brooklyn accent as opposed the southern drawl, and just as both Brooklynites and Alabamians are both speaking proper English, so too all the different accents are also considered proper Loshon Hakodesh.

Regardless of how the original Jews such as Avrohom Avinu and Moshe Rabbeinu spoke, it makes no difference is down the line we pick up a different accent - an accent different than what was originally used does not invalidate of change its status as proper loshon hakodesh.