Torah scroll restored to 'ultimate perfection'

In Jewish tradition, a Torah scroll is more than ink on parchment detailing God's commands and promises. It becomes — if not a soul in and of itself — then the embodiment of what saves souls and helps secure them in an insecure world.

So when Benny Zippel, Salt Lake City's orthodox rabbi, learned that a Provo antiques dealer had a Torah scroll of unknown origin, he went to the shop, owned by Brent Ashworth, and found that pieces of the scroll had been sliced up, framed and sold to area collectors by another dealer before Ashworth purchased it.

On site, the rabbi plunked down his credit card, asking for not only the scroll, but also the cut-up pieces still waiting to be mounted and framed.

"For Jews, this is a serious desecration of the most sacred object in the Jewish faith," he said, noting he didn't have cash at the time for an unplanned purchase. But he was following a commandment found in the Torah known as "Pidyon Shvuyim," which means "redeeming the captives."

Having survived the Holocaust — in which Hitler's war machine was determined to destroy both the Jews and everything Jewish — the scroll made its way to Provo, but the rabbi said no one knows for sure how it got to Utah, or where it was in the interim. Markings in the back of the scroll indicate it was owned pre-World War II by a family in Poland.

The rescue happened about nine months ago, and the rabbi began to wonder how he could possibly "redeem" the scroll by having it restored.

Enter former Utah real estate developer and U.S. Ambassador John Price and his family foundation. Rabbi Zippel contacted the Jewish philanthropist, and Price agreed to provide funding to restore the scroll to its original condition. "His background goes back to pre-Holocaust Europe. I thought there would be a lot of affinity between he and his family and the origin of the scroll."

After funding was secured, the scroll was sent to Israel, where a highly-skilled Sofer, or Jewish scribe, worked to restore the scroll and rewrite the parts that were missing, under the direction of Rabbi Moshe Klein, a Sofer from Brooklyn.

Though observers may wonder about the time and expense involved in such a project, Rabbi Zippel said a perfect Torah scroll is imperative in Jewish life and worship.

"When you buy a book and you read it, you may find some pages a little blurry or missing some ink, but it's still readable. But for a Torah scroll to simply be legible, it's not sufficient. Every single letter has to be perfectly intact, with no scratches or missing corners," symbolic of the "interdependence of all Jewish people amongst one another.