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.