The Scroll Gemach — Borrow & Lend
גְּמִילוּת חֲסָדִים — בְּסֵפֶר תּוֹרָה
A Sefer Torah should never sit silent while a minyan stands without one.
The Scroll Gemach matches the two: kosher Sifrei Torah from our hosted collection, lent with honor to those who need them — and scrolls from private hands, placed with the museum so they are guarded, maintained, and used for the mitzvah they were written for.
Borrowing a Sefer Torah — terms & charges
- Short-term — $250. Days to weeks: a simcha, a shiva house, an event.
- Mid-term — $500. Three months: a seasonal minyan, a shul under renovation.
- Long-term — $2,000 per year. Twelve months, reviewed and renewed annually.
- Traveling — a scroll prepared and cased to accompany a journey; arranged per trip.
- Permanent placement — a scroll takes up residence in your synagogue under an annual hosting agreement, remaining under the museum’s care and title.
Where the money goes — protection, not profit
These charges exist because a Sefer Torah must never travel unprotected. Insurance alone costs roughly $800 a year to keep a scroll individually valued and scheduled on a fine-art policy. The remainder funds a sofer’s check-out and check-in examination (so both sides know exactly what left and what returned), coordination of transport with the dignity halacha requires, and the scroll’s ongoing care. A refundable security deposit, scaled to the scroll’s appraised value, is set in writing before anything moves — and returned in full when the scroll comes home as it left.
Lending your scroll to the museum
Perhaps you hold a family Sefer Torah that is rarely read. Place it with us: it stays yours, it is insured and maintained on our checkup cycle (photographed column by column, examined by a sofer), it carries your family’s name and story on its page here — and it lives: read, carried, danced with, on terms you set and may recall. There is no greater honor for a scroll than to be used.
Halachic care, always
Every handover follows halacha: proper casing and covering in transit, aron placement at destination, a sofer’s eyes before and after, and terms reviewed with our rabbinic guidance. A rav decides; we arrange.
The Museum of the Scroll is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Gemach charges cover insurance, examination, deposit escrow, and transport only. Every loan is documented in the scroll’s permanent file.