Miniature Torah scroll

Manuscript scroll (Height of parchment: 5 1/2 in.; 140mm:: Height of text: 4 1/2 in.; 115 mm). Written in ink on parchment, in "Beit Yosef" script (generally used by those following Ashkenazi tradition, from Germany, England, Russia, and Lithuania); 43 lines; 187 columns on 43 membranes, sewn with gidin. A few small holes affecting only individual letters; several scribal text repairs; otherwise creased and worn as expected. Mounted on silver rollers with brass knob finials; green silk mantle, matching binder. Housed in a modern satin-lined plexi-fronted beveled wooden case with clasp and catch. 

The present scroll has the first letter of the Torah, the initial "bet" in Bereishit , written in outline only. This letter has been purposely left incomplete by the scribe in order to bestow a special honor on the patron of the Scroll. By filling in the outlined "bet", the patron accrues the merit and spiritual reward of having fulfilled the mitzvah of "writing" the scroll.