Torah

Lorraine Schnabel <rainyroon [at] aol__com> writes

>I have received a request for information about how to modify a
>Torah ark to provide better climatological conditions for the two
>Torah's inside. The Torah's are parchment, the ink used is gum-based
>with a walnut-shell dye. The covers are velvet, and the other
>ornamentation is silver.

I doubt that anything realistic can be done to accommodate the
combination of storage and usage which Torahs are subject to.

The scroll is read from beginning to end during the course of every
year, and at the end of the year it is re-rolled back to the
beginning in a fairly athletic celebration.

If you modify the environment inside the ark, what happens when the
ark is opened to remove the Torah for reading?  The environment is
lost.

Since the main problem here is that the ink is flaking, it would be
best to have the Torahs examined by a Sofer who is qualified to
write and correct Torah.

How do you know that the ink is "gum-based with a walnut-shell dye"?
That is not a traditional ink for Torah.

Jack C. Thompson
Thompson Conservation Laboratory
7549 N. Fenwick
Portland, Oregon 97217
USA
503-735-3942  (voice/fax)


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:40
                 Distributed: Friday, January 14, 2000
                       Message Id: cdl-13-40-002
                                  ***