Nearly 1,000-year-old Torah scroll found in Italy

For the first time ever, a nearly 1,000-year-old Torah scroll was found in Italy.

The world's oldest complete Torah scroll has been found in Bologna university, according to an Italian professor who said that the text could be from the 12th century.

The precious parchment had been classified by the university library as from the 17th century.
Professor Mauro Perani however, realized that the text does not conform to the fundamental changes in Torah writings implemented in the 12th century.

"I immediately thought it was much older than the 17th century," he said, adding that the scroll contained letters and signs that were banned by the Jewish scholar and philosopher Moses Maimonides in the 12th century.

The Torah was one of about 30 Jewish manuscripts in the library of the college.

"The scroll is very strange because when manuscripts spoil and lose their sanctity, they cannot be used. Then are buried," he said. "The condition is excellent," he said.

The previously oldest known scroll dated back to the late 13th century, but a biblical codex, which looks like a book instead of a scroll, exists in St. Petersburg, dating from 1008.

Carbon dating in Italy and the United States confirmed the findings, placing the manuscript from the late 12th and early 13th century.

The intact roll is 36 meters or 118 feet long and 64 centimeters or 25 inches wide.

The professor said the scroll came to the University of Bologna form a Dominican monastery in the city, most likely after Napoleon dissolved the religious orders in the country in the 19th century.

Culled from Yourjewish News