An Important Torah Scroll from Yemen, [16th century]

One of the earliest known Yemenite Torah scrolls extant, carbon-dated to the sixteenth century.

Containing the text of the Pentateuch and written by hand on specially prepared animal skins by a trained scribe according to traditions that date back thousands of years, the Torah scroll is the most sacred ritual artifact of the Jewish faith and is most often used for public worship services in Jewish communities around the world. The execution of a ritually fit scroll depends on a great many factors. In addition to the rules concerning the materials to be used, there are numerous requirements regarding the text itself. These are detailed in the Mishneh torah, the comprehensive code of halakhah (Jewish law) written by Rabbi Moses Maimonides in the twelfth century. Among the issues he addresses are majuscular, minuscular, “dotted,” and “unusual” letters, the formatting of specific sections of the biblical text, and the layout of both “open” and “closed” paragraphs. Maimonides cites what is today known as the Aleppo Codex, edited and corrected by the tenth-century biblical scholar Aaron ben Moses ben Asher, as his authoritative source, a distinction it maintains down to the present day.

Although Maimonides was highly respected by Jews the world over, this was especially so within the Yemenite community, where his halakhic rulings were venerated and adhered to with particular zeal. By close comparison of Yemenite biblical scrolls and codices with the known variants found in both the Aleppo Codex and Maimonides’ Mishneh torah, scholars have demonstrated the great degree of accuracy of Yemenite Torah scrolls like this one.

The present example is among the earliest surviving witnesses to the various Yemenite customs concerning the copying of a Torah scroll, having been carbon-dated to the sixteenth century. Fewer than a dozen complete or substantially complete Yemenite scrolls of such an early provenance (or earlier) are recorded in worldwide public collections: London, British Library, Or. 1451-1458; Cambridge, Trinity College, Ms. 159; and Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Ms. Or. 1209. Moreover, the present lot is apparently the only carbon-dated Yemenite Torah scroll to have come to the auction market.

Sotheby’s is grateful to Jordan S. Penkower for providing information that aided in the cataloging of this Torah scroll. Copies of his report are available upon request from the department.

Physical Description

Scroll of 59 membranes (approx. 22 in. x 96.56 ft.; approx. 559 mm x 29.365 m) made of varnished reddish-brown gevil (parchment processed for writing on the hair side only and prepared with mei afatsim [gallnut solution]); written in Yemenite square script in black ink with two to five columns per membrane, except the last, which has one (membrane widths ranging from approx. 9 1/2 to 27 3/4 in.; approx. 243 to 705 mm) (total: 226 columns), and fifty-one lines per column; later corrections intermittently throughout; horizontally and vertically ruled in hardpoint on the recto. The Songs of the Sea (Ex. 15:1-19) and of Moses (Deut. 32:1-43) are laid out to look like brickwork (ariah al gabbei levenah and ariah al gabbei ariah, respectively); almost every column closes at the end of a verse; majuscular, minuscular, dotted, and peh lefufah (spiral Hebrew letter peh) customs observed; mid- and endpoints of verses, as well as beginnings of aliyyot, usually marked with blind impressions on the gevil. Nine membranes are modern replacements by different hands covering Gen. 1:1-4:26 (membrane 1), Ex. 3:8-9:34 (membranes 17-18), Ex. 39:2-Lev. 2:6 (membrane 28), Num. 20:14-25:15 (membranes 43-44), and Deut. 29:15-34:12 (membranes 57-59); three appear to be early replacements (membranes 27, 31-32); intermittent creasing, patching, (mostly) marginal punctures and holes, and short tears in upper and lower margins, sometimes reinforced with parchment on verso; occasional abrasion of lettering; sinews connecting some membranes beginning to loosen; pen in upper margins of membranes 26, 29-31, 33; tear through some lettering near upper margin of membrane 37. Mounted on one plain wooden roller on the right side.

Literature

Eylon Aslan-Levy, “University of Cambridge Students Read From 14th Century Torah Scroll at Morning Service,” Tablet Magazine (March 10, 2016), available at: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/university-of-cambridge-students-read-from-14th-century-torah-scroll-at-shacharit-service.

Jordan S. Penkower, “Maimonides and the Aleppo Codex,” Textus 9 (1981): 39-128.

Jordan S. Penkower, Nussah ha-torah be-keter aram tsovah: edut hadashah (Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University, 1992).

Jordan S. Penkower, “A Sheet of Parchment from a 10th or 11th Century Torah Scroll: Determining its Type among Four Traditions (Oriental, Sefardi, Ashkenazi, Yemenite),” Textus 21 (2002): 235-264.

Mordechai Breuer, Keter aram tsovah ve-ha-nussah ha-mekubbal shel ha-mikra (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1976).

Mordechai Weintraub, “Simanim paratekstua’liyyim be-sifrei torah” (M.A. thesis, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2021).