Rare Hebrew Torah Scroll Given to HSU
Dr. Doyle and Inez Kelley, benefactors of the Kelley College of Business at HSU, have entrusted Hardin-Simmons University with the gift of a rare and valuable manuscript; the product of a South Arabian Jewish Scriptorium in the late 17th or early 18th century.
The manuscript, an ancient Sefer Torah scroll, contains over 200 columns comprising the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses, which appear as the first five books of the Christian Old Testament and the Jewish Bible. Scribed in Hebrew, on very highly finished white cow skin vellum panels, the scroll is exceptionally tall, at approximately 27 inches.
Dr. Kelley presents the Torah to HSU President, Dr. Craig Turner
Lee Biondi, rare documents dealer and appraisal expert, places the scroll as likely coming from Yemen, formerly the Biblical region of Sheba, in the southern area of the Arabian Peninsula.
According to Biondi, “The Jews there are known for their excellent scriptoriums, whose scribes have preserved the ancient sacred Scriptures from as far back as the early days of the First Temple period.� The Jews of Yemen have inhabited that country continuously from the Babylonian Captivity, and Biondi asserts, “They are qualified to be acclaimed as keepers of the Sacred Scriptures. An uninterrupted history of Scriptural scribing can be dated there through documentary evidence back to the 4th Century BC.�
Mr. Biondi is was the manager of Heritage Book Shop, Inc. of Los Angeles, California; the largest and most successful antiquarian book shop in the history of the United States, from 1990 to 2001. He has been a private dealer since 2001. Widely interviewed and highly sought after as an independent expert in the history of Biblical manuscripts, his paperback history of the Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls to the Bible in America has sold over 37,000 copies. He has appraised six and seven-figure collections for such institutions as Cornell University, Princeton University, Columbia University, Boston University, and the Rothschild Family Trust.
Biondi believes this example of the Sefer Torah to be extraordinary, “Sefer Torah Scrolls of this vintage and quality are excessively rare in private hands and even in major institutions. I have appraised at least 40 ancient to relatively modern Sefer Torah’s from virtually all parts of Asia, Europe, and the Middle East over the last ten years, and assert that this is one of the finest I have handled.� Although he places its fair-market value in the six-figures, many believe the document to be priceless.
The Torah scroll
Dr. Robert Ellis, Associate Dean & Phillips Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at
Logsdon Seminary says, “The only experience most Logsdon students have had of the
written scripture is in the form of a book or some electronic format. But the scripture was first recorded on scrolls, not in codices. In biblical classes we have the great opportunity of stretching students’ understanding of the remarkable history of the Bible. We encourage students to imagine the complex and fascinating process through which words spoken and written thousands of years ago have arrived in our hands as Holy Scripture."
"In my classes in Old Testament and Biblical Hebrew, we talk about ancient forms of writing on papyrus and parchment scrolls, and how the process of recording words in antiquity has helped shape the content and nature of the Bibles we read today. Our students look at photographs of antique scrolls and try to imagine their nature. Now, with this ancient Sefer Torah Scroll on campus, thanks to the remarkable generosity of Dr. Doyle Kelley, students will actually be able to see and explore the content of a 300 year old Torah scroll. Hebrew students will be able to read the words of scripture from an antique scroll, hand-written in a tradition that is thousands of years old. This Torah will certainly make the history of the Bible come alive for our students in a tangible way. Seeing, and especially reading, the scroll is a humbling experience, as it impresses on you again the great miracle of God, who has inspired and preserved the scripture through the millennia.�
Dr. Doyle and Inez Kelley are alumni of Hardin-Simmons University and met while attending the University. Dr. Kelley is a past chairman of the Board of trustees, a 1998 recipient of the John J. Keeter Alumni Service Award (the highest alumni award HSU can bestow), and received the Honorary Doctor of Laws from HSU in 2000. Inez was a member of the HSU Cowgirls as a student and currently serves on the Board of Trustees. The scroll, given out of love for the University, will eventually be on permanent display in the Betty Woods Fine and Rare Books Room of the Richardson Library. A permanent, climatically controlled, display case is currently being built specifically for this document with an anticipated construction time of 90 days.
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