What a memorial sefer is made of
A booklet for the shloshim, a sefer for the yahrzeit or a kuntres of divrei Torah l’iluy nishmas. They usually have the same parts, in this order:
- Title page
- The niftar’s name, the date of passing and “l’iluy nishmas”. A ready-made title page with a frame, or with a background image.
- Image page
- A portrait, a handwritten letter or a scanned document, as a whole page.
- Life story
- One chapter or several, with headings.
- Divrei Torah and hespedim
- From several writers, each in a chapter of their own with the writer’s name in the heading.
- Table of contents
- Built by itself from the headings.
- Memorial page at the end
- With an ornament or a frame.
In Ariach each part is a chapter of the book, and the design is the same throughout. What you change once, like the font or size, applies to the whole booklet.
Title page, ornaments and frames
The title page is seen first, and it sets the impression. In Ariach you choose a ready-made title page with a frame or a background image, or paste the title lines and the Assistant sorts them into fields: name, date, “l’iluy nishmas”. Beside them are 148 built-in ornaments, for the end of a chapter or the memorial page.
Everything added to title pages and ornaments: title pages, ornaments and frames.
Many writers, one book
In a memorial sefer the words come from many people: children, grandchildren, talmidim and rabbanim. Upload the first file from Word, and paste the rest, each in a chapter of its own. Whoever helps with editing or proofreading is added to the book and works on it at the same time, and every action can be undone.
Size, draft and print
For a booklet handed out at the shloshim, A5 is handy and common, and easy to print folded. For a memorial sefer that will be bound and stand on the shelf, 17 × 24 cm. Send the family a PDF with a draft watermark, correct, and finally download a PDF for the print shop, with bleed and crop marks if they ask for them.
More on sizes and printing at home or at a print shop: typesetting a kuntres or booklet.
