A Small Torah Scroll, [Poland, late 18th-early 19th century]

In order to fulfill the biblical ordinance enjoining every Jew to write a Torah scroll, people of means who are not themselves expert in the laws attaching thereto sometimes sponsor a scribe to write one on their behalf. While most communal scrolls used in synagogues for ritual purposes are large and heavy, their privately owned cousins tend to be diminutive and portable. This allows their owners not only to store them more easily, but also to transport them from place to place. Naturally, the degree of proficiency required to produce a small scroll like that of the present lot is beyond the ability of all but the most skilled scribes. Torah scrolls of such minute dimensions are thus highly rare and greatly prized.

One distinctive feature of the present example is the greatly elaborated tagin (crownlets) adorning certain letters appearing in the top line of almost every column. Also interesting is the fact that the last two verses of the Torah appear to have been written by different people, perhaps several members of a single congregation, as the letter-forms here differ from those of the rest of the scroll and from each other.

Physical Description

Scroll of 46 membranes (8 in. x approx. 69 ft.; 204 mm x approx. 21 m) made of parchment; written in Ari script in brown ink with three to seven columns per membrane (membrane widths ranging from approx. 10 3/8 to 25 in.; 265 to 635 mm) (total: 237 columns) and forty to forty-two lines per column; some later corrections and darkening of letters intermittently throughout; horizontally and vertically ruled in hardpoint on the recto; prickings often visible at each end of a membrane; justification of lines via dilation or contraction of letters (average justification: 5 1/2 x 2 1/2; 140 x 65). Slight scattered staining (heavier toward beginning); some cockling and abrasion of text; minor creasing on membranes 1-2 and elsewhere; two small marginal holes. Mounted on modern carved wooden rollers. Accompanied by a cream-colored silk binder with one tassel on each end, creased; small red velvet mantel decorated with images of lions supporting the Tablets of the Law, misshapen especially at the summit; full-size chased Polish silver pointer, the hand somewhat loose. The whole assembly housed in a small wooden ark with glass door, the wood chipped in places (16 1/2 x 10 7/8 x 7 1/8 in.; 420 x 278 x 181 mm).