As Moses had wanted

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

There are two techniques to assemble the pages for editing a text on a flexible support. The only one that is common today is the paper book, where sheets are bound by one of their sides.

The practice of scroll is older, on papyrus or parchment. The Jews use it for three millennia to teach the Torah, meaning the word of Moses. A copy of this text is a Kabbalistic pretext for a search of perfection, and Maimonides, who was one of the most important philosophers of all times, contributed to the codification of the details of this rite. The preparation of a Torah scroll (Sefer Torah) took over a year, and its completion was the subject of a great festival for its presentation to the synagogue.

On November 24 in New York, Sotheby's will sell an early Sefer Torah of northern Spain, typical of the calligraphy in use at the time of Shem-Tov ben Abraham ibn Gaon, a follower and commentator of Maimonides who lived in the late thirteenth century of our calendar.

The book is complete, written in black ink on gevil, a preparation providing a brown color to the parchment. The scroll of 58cm high is including 48 pages for a total of 221 columns by 47 lines each and a length of 36.65 m. Let's be clear: the wikipedia says that a valid Sefer Torah must include 304805 letters (no less, no more).

This exceptional copy is estimated $ 300K.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Sold 400 K$ including premium. That's good. This scroll is exceptional for its age, its care for rules and traditions, its condition, and its witnessing from very long time ago, before the Jews were expelled from Spain.