A rare Yemenite Torah scroll written hundreds of years ago is currently undergoing a restoration and preservation process, Israel Hayom has learned. The careful procedure is being undertaken by the Tifara Baatika [Glory in Antiquity] center in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. The unique scroll was passed from generation to generation in Yemen, arriving in Israel during one of the waves of Jewish immigration from the country. It eventually came to the hands of Yair Ozeri, who is a Torah scribe and owner of Tifara Baatika. The center preserves old Torah scrolls and writes new ones to connect Jewish people to their roots. Ozeri, who was delighted to receive the rare Torah scroll, guards it with care and is working hard to preserve it. "The scroll is 400 years old, and as is customary for Yemenite Jewry, is written on parchment made of unsplit animal hide," he said. "There are many flaws from the damage over the years, such as letters that have peeled off and crumbled. You can see how unique the Torah scroll is by the very old style of the letters, which indicates its age." The letters in the scroll wind into themselves, similar to the writing style of Maimonides. "This is evidence of a magnificent community that preserved their precise writing customs," said Ozeri. "The Torah scroll has undergone a restoration of cracked letters, and in the end will be preserved with special materials to keep it for generations to come." Preserving scrolls for coming generations is an important task, Ozeri said. "Throughout history, Torah scrolls connected and tied together the Jewish people and communities around the world. The Hebrew letters are the foundation and continuity of the Jewish people." Tifara Baatika also holds experiential gatherings of Jews from Israel and around the world, using Torah scrolls, tefillin and mezuzot to connect them with their Jewish roots. "We have other Torah scrolls from different eras and many different communities around the world," Ozeri said. "Much can be learned about the progression of Jewish writing over the generations by the writing style and shape of its letters, and even the curing of the skins or the Torah case."
