Antique Torah scroll made of 17 sheets from Spain that were written in the 14th century (12 of them are successive sheets) and another 45 sheets that are from Torah scrolls from all over the Spanish exile, almost certainly from the Land of Israel. These were written beginning in the first half of the 16th century and through the second half of the 17th century. The collection was sewn into one scroll, with an attempt to arrange the passages as much as possible according to the order of the Torah. All are on brown Spanish gevil, processed in gall.
The various sheets contain within them a treasure trove of information and many revelations about the shapes of the letters. In the sheets from the Land of Israel, the traditions from Spain were preserved and adopted by the Spanish exiles in the Land of Israel. In some of these passages, there are some of the earliest implementations of the letter ח in which the roof is made as זז with a pediment on top, according to the Tosafot-editors’ understanding of the words of Rabbeinu Tam. This form of script did not exist in the days of the scribes of earlier generations than this. Among these passages there are also some Sephardic traditions integrated with the Ashkenazic traditions of Vavei HaAmudim, a combination that is also typical for the Land of Israel.
In the scroll’s sections from the Land of Israel, there are those such as these, that were taken from Torah scrolls from earlier generations and integrated together with other more current passages in a form of restoration. Occasionally the final words at the end of one passage were erased and written later in order to create a sequence of complete text in a later scribal script, or a sheet was added, etc.
The Torah scroll comes with a signed authorization by researcher Shlomo Zucker, with extensive detail about the research virtues of the scroll. In addition, there is a precise detailing of all the sheets in the scroll.
[62] sheets, average height: Approximately 51 cm.
For the condition of the scroll, see Shlomo Zucker’s investigative report.