Miniature Torah scroll. [Poland?, ca. beginning of 19th century].

Ink on thin, high-quality parchment. Silver, turned (marked with fineness mark "12" and maker's mark featuring the letters "A. C. M." in a rectangular frame); filigree; early fabric mantle.

Ashkenazic Stam script, with large serif decorations (Tagim) at top of several columns in the scroll, especially on column with the Song of the Sea. Written in conformity with halachah (not examined for halachic validity). Apparently written by two alternating scribes (those sheets have columns in two different hands). Corrections in many places by other scribes. 41 lines per column. Sheets correctly sewn together with sinews (sinews torn in several places, and sinews somewhat detached).

Wound on a pair of small turned silver rollers, with filigree decorations, against a gilt alloy; handles screwed in.

The Torah scroll is placed in a modeled fabric "mantle", decorated with fabric ribbons and metal wires, in the shape of a Star of David.

Minuscule Torah scrolls such as the present one are exceedingly rare, due in part to the complexity of scribing them and the great cost entailed. Such scrolls were usually scribed for exceptionally wealthy people, such as Sir Moses Montefiore who would bring a Torah scroll along with him on his travels around the world. Likewise, such scrolls were prepared as gifts for prominent rebbes, so that they could easily carry them around, as mandated for Jewish kings (see Sanhedrin 21a-22a).

Height of parchment: 10 cm. Maximum height including rollers: 21.5 cm. Height of mantle: approx. 16 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains, wear and creases. Late corrections. Fading of ink. Several sheets partially detached. Early mantle with defects and many tears.

A Torah Scroll Like an Amulet

The Talmud (Sanhedrin 22a) states that a Jewish king requires two Torah scrolls – "one that leaves and enters with him, and one placed in his treasury. The one that leaves and enters with him is fashioned like an amulet and hung on his arm, as it is written, 'I place the Lord before me always'". Rashi explains that the portable Torah scroll is small, made with thin parchment, and easy to carry.

The Minchat Elazar of Munkacs is said to have lived the hope for the Messiah with his entire being. Each night, he would cry for the exile of the Divine Presence and beseech G-d for the redemption of the Jewish people. In 1926, he hired a Sofer famous for his fear of G-d to write him a particularly small Torah scroll, written on parchment produced from the skin of a deer. In the ceremony celebrating the new Torah scroll, he explained that as a king, the Messiah requires two Torah scrolls, one in his treasury and one to take around with him. He therefore ordered a miniature Torah scroll which could be easily transported, in order to give it as a gift to the Messiah upon his arrival (see: Toldot Rabbeinu, 162; Darchei Chaim VeShalom, Hilchot Stam, 948).

The Ruzhin Chassidic dynasty had the custom to write a small Torah scroll for the Rebbe, in accordance with the law mandating it for a Jewish king. The Boyan dynasty had several such Torah scrolls, attributed to R. Yisrael of Ruzhin and his son R. Avraham Yaakov of Sadigura, which they would use during their travels.

Esther scroll with naïve colored illustrations. [Germany, early 18th century].

Ink and paint on parchment.

Written on three sheets of parchment sewn together, 12 columns of text (and an additional introductory column with the blessings to be recited over the reading of the Megillah), 24-31 lines per column.

Most of the text columns (with the exception of the opening column and the column listing the names of Haman’s ten sons) are enclosed within circular frames. The spaces between the circles are filled with over forty figural illustrations in a folk-naïve style, most of them colored, depicting scenes from the Book of Esther (or midrashic traditions). The characters wear contemporary costume: soldiers in European military uniforms (though the king's eunuchs wear headgear reminiscent of fezzes), while the Jewish figures are shown wearing flat, round black caps characteristic of 18th-century German Jews.

This format – text columns enclosed within circular frames – is relatively uncommon in Esther scrolls, but already appears in 17th-century scrolls created in Amsterdam by artist Shalom Italia. A number of 18th-century German scrolls share this feature, forming a group known as "Statt Susonn" (City of Shushan), named for the inscription typically found above the illustration of the city of Shushan at the scroll's opening.

Illustrations

At the beginning of the scroll, the blessings for the Megillah are set within an architectural frame, beneath which is an illustration of the reading of the Megillah in a synagogue. The illustrations on the first sheet are accompanied by captions quoting biblical verses: "he made a banquet for his princes and his servants", "the court of the king", "Vashti the queen made a banquet for the women", "the army of Persia and Media", "he sent letters to all the king’s provinces", "the king's officers", "Nebuchadnezzar[!] [and] Mordechai", "Esther was taken to the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women", "Mordechai would walk about in front of the court of the house of the women", "Bigthan and Teresh", "and the matter became known to Mordechai", "and Esther told [it] to the king in Mordechai's name". The subsequent two sheets continue the story chronologically, though without captions: Ahasuerus giving Haman his ring; two of the king’s chamberlains holding branches; Ahasuerus and Haman seated at a banquet; Mordechai clothed in sackcloth and ashes; Ahasuerus conversing with a courtier; Ahasuerus extending his scepter to Esther; Haman leading Mordechai on horseback as Haman's daughter empties a chamber pot over him; and more scenes.

Additional illustrations, some uncolored, appear in the lower margins, depicting cityscapes, buildings, a lion and a unicorn in combat, two women holding fans, trumpeting soldiers, hunting scenes, a stork devouring a serpent, figures smoking pipes, and more.

Height of parchment: 16 cm. Total length: 202.5 cm. Overall good condition. Beginning of first sheet in fair condition. Stains and wear, primarily to beginning of first sheet, end of last sheet, and margins. Some dark stains and folding marks, affecting several illustrations and text. Marginal tear to final column.

Decorated Esther scroll, in silver case. [Probably Greece, 19th century].

Ink and paint on parchment; silver, repoussé and engraved; silver, cast and turned (unmarked).

Written on five sheets of parchment sewn together, 20 columns of text, 17-19 lines per column.

Decorated throughout in yellow, red and green. At beginning edge of scroll, large, colorful "rug" decoration with a symmetrical vegetal pattern. All text columns enclosed in thin rectangular frames decorated in yellow, separated by rectangular strips in colorful vegetal patterns.

Cylindrical silver case, decorated symmetrically in vegetal patterns. At top of case, decoration resembling a flower vase. Wide silver pull bar, decorated in matching pattern, with small ring.

Height of parchment: 10.5 cm; height of case (including handle): 32.5 cm. Overall good condition. Minor marginal tears and stains, mainly to seams. Tear reinforced with tape at end of fourth membrane. Floral decorations loose or partially lacking at top of case.