Received from Frtemplebethal.org

Title: Sefer Torah — Poland, c. 1875 (Ksav Beis Yosef)

Scribe/Author: Unidentified Date: c. 1875 Year: 1875 Place of origin: Poland Script: Ksav Beis Yosef, old Ashkenaz tradition; Sheimos written al pi kavanos haAri Language: Hebrew Material / writing surface: Klaf Age / dating of the writing surface: c. 150 years, consistent with the writing Ink: Iron gall (deyo) Accession no.: your number Condition: Iron gall ink browning toward a rustic tone, consistent with age; tzuras ha’os intact throughout — the discoloration is not a psul. Yuds generally retain the kotz shel Rabbeinu Tam. Repairs & restoration history: Yeriah of the second Aseres HaDibros (Va’eschanan) is a later replacement. In Parashas Noach (Bereishis 7:11), a vav was added to מעינת by a later magiha, conforming the original chaser spelling to the prevailing mesorah. In Bereishis 9:29, the final vav of ויהיו was erased by a later hand, conforming the original plural reading to the standard ויהי. Provenance: Poland, c. 1875; sofer unidentified — add acquisition details when ready

Description

A Sefer Torah written in Poland around 1875 in Ksav Beis Yosef — a holdout of the old Ashkenaz scribal tradition at a period when most Polish sofrim had long adopted Ksav Arizal. The Sheimos were written al pi kavanos haAri, placing the scroll in a milieu where the Ari’s kavanos for the Divine Names had spread beyond Chassidic circles while the letter-forms themselves remained Ashkenaz. The yuds generally carry the kotz shel Rabbeinu Tam.

The scroll preserves direct physical evidence of textual traditions that predate the standardized text — both within Parashas Noach. In Bereishis 7:11, מעינת was originally written chaser, without a vav, following the tradition of the Maharam Mintz and others; a later magiha added the vav to bring the word in line with the prevailing mesorah. In Bereishis 9:29, כל ימי נח was originally written with the plural ויהיו — the reading preserved to this day in Yemenite scrolls — and a later hand erased the final vav to conform it to the standard ויהי. Both emendations remain visible in the klaf: in one place the mesorah added a letter, in the other it removed one, and the history of the text is written into the parchment itself.

The yeriah containing the second Aseres HaDibros (Parashas Va’eschanan) is a later replacement. The iron gall ink has browned toward a rustic tone consistent with its age; the tzuras ha’os remains intact, and the discoloration does not render the scroll pasul.