The Museum of the Scroll

Donate Your Scroll

לֹא־יָמוּשׁ סֵפֶר הַתּוֹרָה הַזֶּה מִפִּיךָ

A Sefer Torah is never truly retired. When a scroll can no longer be read in shul — whether from age, fading ink, or a community that has moved or merged — it still holds generations of prayer within its parchment. Entrusting that scroll to the Museum of the Scroll gives it a dignified, permanent future: studied, conserved, and honored, rather than stored in a closet or buried before its time.

Every scroll we receive is a life of a community preserved — the hands that wrote it, the voices that read from it, the simchas it witnessed.

Why donate your scroll to the Museum

Honor, not genizah

A pasul or fragile scroll that can no longer be used for kriah deserves more than burial. With proper rabbinic guidance, a scroll preserved for education and remembrance keeps its kedushah serving the community rather than being lost to it.

Professional conservation

We store scrolls in climate-controlled, archival conditions and engage trained conservators and soferim. Your scroll is protected from the heat, humidity, and handling that quietly destroy parchment in an aron kodesh closet.

A living legacy

Donated scrolls are studied by scholars, shown to students and visitors, and remembered in your — or your community’s — name l’dor va’dor, from generation to generation.

Who donates to us

  • Synagogues and temples with scrolls that are pasul, beyond economical repair, or surplus after a merger or downsizing.
  • Congregations that have closed or relocated and need a respectful home for their sifrei Torah.
  • Families and estates holding a private scroll, a megillah, or tefillin and mezuzah scrolls with no one to care for them.
  • Collectors and institutions wishing to place a Tanakh manuscript or fragment where it will be conserved and accessible.

How to donate — step by step

1

Reach out

Contact us at ben@museumofthescroll.org or (551) 238-7791 and tell us briefly what you have: type of scroll (Sefer Torah, megillah, Tanakh manuscript, tefillin/mezuzah), approximate age if known, and its current condition.

2

Assessment & halachic review

We arrange an evaluation of the scroll’s condition and provenance. For sifrei Torah, our rabbinic advisor confirms the appropriate, halachically sound path for a scroll being removed from ritual use, so the donation is handled with full respect for its kedushah.

3

Safe transfer

We coordinate secure, insured transport — or guide your gabbai or representative on proper handling. A scroll is never shipped loosely; it travels protected, wrapped, and tracked.

4

Deed of gift & tax receipt

You sign a simple Deed of Gift transferring the scroll to the Museum. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we issue a written acknowledgment for your records. (See the tax note below.)

5

Dedication & remembrance

If you wish, we record the name of the donor, the congregation, or a loved one’s memory alongside the scroll — in our exhibits and archive — so its story is never forgotten.

Give your scroll a future

Whether it is a single private megillah or your congregation’s sifrei Torah, we would be honored to care for it. Start the conversation today.

Begin a Scroll Donation

Questions families & congregations ask

Is donating a pasul Sefer Torah permitted?
This is a halachic question, and the right answer depends on the scroll and your community’s practice. We work with rabbinic guidance for every Sefer Torah and will never ask you to do anything contrary to halacha. We encourage you to consult your own rav as well; we are glad to speak with them directly.
Can I donate in memory of someone?
Yes. Many scrolls come to us as a memorial. We record the dedication and, where appropriate, display it with the scroll so the memory endures.
Is my donation tax-deductible?
The Museum of the Scroll is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and gifts of property may be tax-deductible. The deductible amount and any appraisal requirements depend on the item’s value and current IRS rules — for non-cash gifts above certain thresholds, the IRS generally requires a qualified appraisal (often reported on Form 8283). We provide a written acknowledgment, but we are not tax advisors; please consult your own accountant or attorney about your specific situation.
What if the scroll is very damaged?
We still want to hear from you. Even fragments and heavily worn scrolls carry historical and educational value and can be conserved or studied. There is no “too far gone.”
Who pays for transport?
We will discuss this with you when you reach out. In many cases the Museum can arrange and cover secure transport; we’ll make the process as simple as possible for you.

הַכְנָסַת סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה

Donate Your Scroll

An unused or retired Sefer Torah should not sit in a closet. Entrust it to the Museum and it will be documented, conserved, and — where halacha allows — restored and placed with a community that will read from it. Your family's name travels with it.

Nothing here is required except your name, email, and where the scroll is. Answer what you know; "not sure" is a real answer and it helps us more than a guess.

1 מִי אַתָּה About you

So we know who we are speaking with, and how to reach you.

There is no wrong answer. It only tells us who else should be in the conversation.

2 הַסֵּפֶר The scroll itself

Answer what you know. "Not sure" is genuinely useful — a guess is not.

A name helps us keep it straight and gives the rescue a title people can rally around.

3 מִדּוֹת וּכְתָב Measurements and script

These are the details that let a sofer date a scroll and place where it was written. Every one you can answer narrows it down. If you can only manage the height of the parchment, that alone tells us a great deal.

Count the lines of writing in one column. This single number is one of the most telling clues we have.

If you are unsure, leave it — the photographs will tell us.

4 מַצַּב הַסֵּפֶר Condition

Be blunt. Nothing here disqualifies a scroll — we have restored scrolls that arrived in far worse shape than their owners feared.

5 תּוֹלְדוֹת הַסֵּפֶר Its history — where it came from

This is the part no one else can supply. Once the people who remember are gone, the scroll becomes anonymous. Write down whatever you have heard, even if you are not certain it is true. We will tell you what the scroll itself confirms.

Copy it exactly as it appears, Hebrew or English, even partially. Names and dates here are often the key to everything.

6 תְּמוּנוֹת Photographs

Photographs decide almost everything. A phone camera in daylight is perfectly good — no flash, and lay the scroll flat if it is safe to open.

What we most want to see

  • One full column, straight on, filling the frame and in focus
  • A close-up of the letters, near enough to see the ink
  • The scroll rolled closed, with something for scale beside it
  • The first and last columns
  • Any dedication plaque, mantle embroidery, or writing on the atzei chaim
  • Every area of damage, however ugly
  • A seam, showing the stitching
Choose files, or drag them here

Up to 25 files, 20 MB each. JPG, PNG, HEIC, TIFF, or PDF. If you have hundreds of column photographs, send these now and we will give you a way to upload the rest.

7 מַתָּנָה About the donation

What you hope for the scroll, and what you need from us in return.

8 לְסִיּוּם Last things

A sofer reads every submission. You will hear from us personally, usually within two business days.

שַׁתְּפוּ אֶת הַמִּצְוָה

Send it home with a restoration

Many donated scrolls need work before they can be read from again. Families often choose to fund that work in the name of the person the scroll remembers.

$18 $36 $180 $1,800 $

A Sefer Torah has 304,805 letters, and every one must be whole. Gifts here are counted as letters dedicated toward this work at one dollar each.

Dedicate letters

Share it with family — this is how scrolls actually get funded

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The Museum of the Scroll is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Gifts are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

The Museum of the Scroll is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We locate, document, and repair Sifrei Torah, place them with communities that will read from them, and teach the history and craft of the scribal tradition. Admission is free, our programs are open to the public, and all contributions fund this work.

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