A Small Torah Scroll, [Ashkenaz, late 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.

Physical Description

Scroll of 46 membranes (5 1/4 in. x approx. 62 ft.; 133 mm x approx. 18.86 m) made of parchment; written in Ari script in black ink with four to eight columns per membrane (membrane widths ranging from approx. 10 1/4 to 21 in.; 260 to 533 mm) (total: 273 columns) and forty-one to forty-two lines per column; some small later corrections and patches intermittently throughout; horizontally and vertically ruled in hardpoint on the recto; prickings often visible in upper and lower margins and, at times, at each end of a membrane; justification of lines via dilation or contraction of letters (average justification: 3 3/4 x 1 3/4 in.; 96 x 43 mm). Slight scattered staining; intermittent spotting; episodic creasing; minor dampstaining in membranes 3-4, 13, 21; heavy erasure near outer edge of membrane 12. Mounted on modern carved wooden rollers. Accompanied by a cream-colored silk binder, creased and worn at each end; small purple velvet mantle embroidered with a golden Star of David housing the Tablets of the Law and surmounting a golden wreath; small metal pointer, dented. Wrapped in a small woolen tallit.