Home

This Torah doesn't quite date back to biblical times, but it's a stunningly old artifact nonetheless.

In a Western manuscripts and miniatures auction in London on July 6, the Sotheby's auction house attempted to sell what is perhaps the oldest existing Torah scroll from Spain. The scroll, thought to be written by scribe Rabbi Israel ben Isaac of Toledo in Northern Spain during the early 13th century, has an estimated value of between 200,000 and 300,000 United Kingdom Pounds (GBP) -- or about $300,000 to $455,000 -- and the lot was bought in, meaning the item did not secure a high enough bid to be sold.

Only one Torah estimated to be from late 12th to early 13th century Spain, sold by Sotheby's for 276,500 GBP (about $420,000) in December 2007, has the potential of being older than the scroll put up for auction July 6, according to the auction house. Whether this scroll is the oldest or second oldest from Spain, it is the only one predating 15th century Spain that can be connected to the handwriting of a specific scribe. Professors Malachi Beit-Arie and Shlomo Zucker of Hebrew University in Jerusalem agree that the "large and monumental" script of the text represents Israel ben Isaac's handwriting, Sotheby's said.

Since Israel ben Isaac signed his name on two manuscripts, one completed in Toledo in 1222 and another completed in 1241, scholars say that those years are a good approximation for when he was active as a scribe. His two sons, Hayyim and Isaac, were also scribes.

Held "in the greatest esteem by his contemporaries," according to Sotheby's, Israel ben Isaac's manuscripts commanded "great respect centuries after his death." One rabbi once traveled from Germany from Toledo to commission a "Tikun" copy of the Torah -- one used to correct scrolls in other communities -- from Israel ben Isaac.

Israel ben Isaac's legacy and the rarity of Medieval Torah scrolls both contribute to the monetary value and historical significance of this particular scroll.

"The importance of Israel ben Isaac and the intellectual centre of medieval Toledo ensure that this scroll is of the utmost importance, and is greatly deserving of further scholarly work," according to Sotheby's published description of the Torah. "No future study of Hebrew Bible in the Middle Ages, with any claim to be comprehensive, can be written without mentioning the present manuscript."

Other than some water damage along bottom of the scroll, causing discoloration and some brittleness, the scroll is in good condition and there is no damage to the text. The scroll has 271 columns, with 44 lines per column.

Sotheby's told The Jewish State that the identity of the Torah's current owner is confidential.

As opposed to the era of the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century, Christian Spain during the Early Middle Ages was a "remarkably tolerant society" in which wealthy Jews held the same rights as Christians, Sotheby's said.

By 1300, there were a half-million Jews living in Christian Spain, leading to the flourishing of academics and the rise of great commentators such as Rabbi Moses Maimonides, the Rambam. Israel ben Isaac was "at the centre of this intellectual environment," Sotheby's said, and had direct access to the Hillel codex, an ancient (and now lost) manuscript of the Torah written by Hillel the scribe around the year 600 and recorded by the commentator Rabbi David Kimchi, who is known as the RaDak.