Journeys of the Soul

published in Mishpacha Magazine December 2, 2009

Ten years ago, Rabbi Reisman bought a Sefer Torah from a private collector in the United States. Having bought and sold so many sifrei Torah throughout his life, at the time he did not realize the great importance and value this particular one had. Based on the Sephardic square script of the letters and other elements, Rabbi Reisman was able to determine that the Sefer Torah was from Central-Northern Spain and had been written before the Inquisition of 1492 and subsequent expulsion of the Jews from Spain.

For years, the Sefer Torah sat untouched in Rabbi Reisman’s workshop. Then two years ago, he decided to have it tested via carbon dating to determine its age more accurately. He turned to the Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The lab determined the scroll to be 690 carbon years old, with a margin of error of 20 years. An examination by a second source also arrived at a similar carbon date.

The age of the Sefer Torah shocked Rabbi Reisman. He had plenty of experience handling old Sifrei Torah, but to be holding one of the oldest intact Sifrei Torah in the world was humbling.

“Any manuscript written before 1400 is very valuable because there is very little available today,” Rabbi Reisman said.

In addition to the Sefer Torah’s age, it is especially unique because of the special crowns adorning the top of its letters, as well as the atypical Kabbalistic style of script (see the sidebar for more details).

With Rabbi Reisman’s experience in restoring old seforim, he had knowledge of preservation techniques. Though the Torah scroll was in excellent condition, he knew that its age required a high level of expert care, and this was a major factor in his decision to put it up for sale.

“It’s such a piece of history. You need to have museum-quality handling and supervision. It’s not in my ability to provide that upkeep. It needs temperature control and a special case,” said Rabbi Reisman. ”

So Rabbi Reisman approached Sotheby’s because of its experience selling similar items and its reputation among buyers. Sotheby’s is the world’s largest auction house of Judaica, selling everything from old Seforim to Kisai Eliyahu chairs, artwork and Megillahs.

Sharon Liberman Mintz, a senior consultant for Judaica at Sotheby’s New York for the past fifteen years, appraises and evaluates items, assigns prices and facilitates Sotheby’s sales.

“There was tremendous amount of excitement to have such a Torah scroll of antiquity, with all of the Kabbalistic crowns and heritage. People were incredibly enthusiastic,” she said. “It’s Judaism’s holiest object and something we’ve had a mesorah on for thousands of years. The ability to connect with something 700-years old is electrifying.”

The reaction from the public and potential buyers was equally passionate. In the weeks before the sale, Mrs. Mintz said her department received queries from many individuals worldwide who were fascinated by the Sefer Torah’s history and religious significance. Some were interested in buying the Sefer Torah for their own collections or to donate to museums. At least one Jewish institution called to express its own interest.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to own something from pre-expulsion Spain. People look at it as an opportunity not to be missed,” Mrs. Mintz said. “There hasn’t been anything like this before.”

The Sefer Torah was offered for sale as part of Sotheby’s Important Judaica auction sale on November 24. Mrs. Mintz said there was animated bidding among four or five buyers. It was finally purchased for $398,500 by an unnamed telephone bidder, a private collector from the United States. The final price was directly in the center of the $300,000-$500,000 price range that Sotheby’s estimated.

Early Inspirations

Rabbi Reisman first became interested in old Sifrei Torah in his early days in yeshiva in New York City. He grew up in a Chassidic home in the Lower East Side, and has spent his lifetime within the five boroughs of New York City. As a bochur in the 1950s and 1960s, he learned in the Mirrer Yeshiva in Brooklyn under Rav Avraham Kalmanowitz. The yeshiva was still rebuilding itself after its flight from Nazi Europe and its sojourn in Shanghai. Rabbi Reisman said the energy of the yeshivah, and the obvious mesiras nefesh of the rebbeim, left an indelible mark on him which has inspired him to this day.

“It was very invigorating because I was with the Alter Mirrer from Shanghai. At that time there weren’t that many yeshivahs even in New York City, so you felt like you were preserving the Torah just by sitting in the Beis Midrash,” Rabbi Reisman said. “It was a different feeling. They brought a brendt to learning.”

Rabbi Reisman learned in chavrusah with Rabbi Chaim Brandshtader, who was a trained Sofer Stam but practiced it only as a hobby. At the time Rabbi Brandshtader was repairing an old Sefer Torah in the Eitz Chaim synagogue on 13th Street in the Lower East Side. The work required rewriting all of the letters. Rabbi Reisman learned the art of Safrus by watching him and the old European Sofrim who had escaped from Europe before the Holocaust and were now living in the Lower East Side.

Most new Sifrei Torah at the time were being written in Eretz Yisrael, so when Rabbi Reisman finished his training he saw there was little demand for new scrolls. So instead, he found a unique niche in the repair and restoration of old Sifrei Torah. As Jews moved out of the Lower East Side in the 1950s and 60s, most of the synagogues closed. Rabbi Reisman began purchasing Sifrei Torah from the shuttered shuls at inexpensive prices. He repaired those in need of work, reselling them to other synagogues and yeshivos. He also began collecting and selling unique Sifrei Torah from around the world and found a particular personal interest in them.

“One day I went into a store on the Lower East Side that had acquired a book dealer’s inventory from Tunis. In that shipment were four Tunisian Torahs. They were old, beautiful Torahs in wood cases. For the four Torahs I paid $500. I fixed them and sold them one by one for a little profit.”

New York City at the time was awash with Sifrei Torah and other old Seforim, at prices which sound very inexpensive compared to today’s prices. For the young bochur, it was an exciting time to be a trained sofer and it offered a unique parnassah.

“At the Hebrew Publishing Company on Delancey Street in the Lower East Side, I found a table piled high with old Sifrei Torah. They were for sale very inexpensively. The highest price was $100. A miniature, eight- or nine-inch Torah was $75!”

From East To West

Rabbi Reisman began following his passion overseas in search of additional old, unique Sifrei Torah. Since then, he has traveled extensively throughout North Africa and Europe. He not only looks for unique items to purchase, but also to examine and research old works.

“I was visiting Morocco and was in Casablanca for one day. I caught a taxi and told the driver to bring me to the old Jewish ghetto. I got there and saw a man with a Kippah. I spoke to him in Hebrew and said I’m interested in buying old Jewish books. He came back in five minutes, with a pile of books, most for a dollar apiece. I bought a beautiful illuminated Megillah for $15. When I got back to New York, I sold it for $25. I made a big profit,” said Rabbi Reisman said with a chuckle in his voice. “That was how we looked at things years ago. I sold many items that today would have been far more valuable.”

In the 1960s, Rabbi Reisman spent several weeks in Egypt. There were still many Jews in Egypt at the time, and he visited ancient Jewish synagogues, communities and schools throughout the country. At each stop, he received permission from community leaders to analyze and study their old Sifrei Torah and manuscripts. He even visited the country’s two Karaite synagogues and was able to examine their books and received a tallis from them.

During the trip, he purchased many old and very valuable Jewish works, including a copy of a work by Josephus printed in Naples in 1492. He packed up the items before he left Egypt, had the shipment approved by an Egyptian censor, and arranged for it to be sent to America.

In the airport on the way out of the country, Rabbi Reisman was arrested. His travels around the country and his visits to the Jewish communities had aroused the suspicions of the Egyptian government. He was accused of being a spy and his passport was confiscated. He was placed under house arrest in his hotel.

Rabbi Reisman spent the next two weeks shuttling back and forth from his hotel to the American embassy in Cairo to petition their help. He had no contact with the Jewish community during that time, out of fear of arousing more suspicion. Suddenly one day, he received a call from the embassy that his case was cleared and he was allowed to leave the country. He ran to the embassy to pick up his passport, and then sped to the airport. He caught the first plane out, which was going to London. Unfortunately he had spent all of his money during his house arrest in Cairo and the plane flight, so had to wait for several days in London until more money could be wired from America.

Much later, he found out that his arrest had caused a minor diplomatic incident between Egypt and the United States. His release was due to pressure on the Egyptian government from the American embassy and the U.S. Congress.

He finally arrived back in the United States, but never received the shipment he had sent from Egypt. It had been confiscated by the Egyptian government.

Prized Possessions

Though he never received his shipment from Egypt, Reisman has managed to collect and bring home other priceless Sifrei Torah and items from his travels around the world. Currently in his collection are a 500-year old Sefer Torah from Poland, a 300-year old Italian Torah and many others. He also has a large collection of Megillos Esther scrolls from communities throughout the world.

In particular Rabbi Reisman is fascinated by tracking changes made in the writing of Sifrei Torah over time. For example the Sefer Torah from Poland includes an extra line break called a Sedurah which is no longer in use. Rabbi Reisman also has a Sefer Torah from Germany that is between 300 and 500 years old that includes a different spelling of the name Aharon.

Rabbi Reisman’s travels and examination of Sifrei Torah from around the world and from different eras trained him in being able to identify old Torahs. As he learned to identify the various scripts, Rabbi Reisman also learned how to mimic the styles and writing methods of old scrolls. By analyzing the style of writing, minor details in the shape of the letters, the type of ink and other factors, he can now identify the place of origin of most Sifrei Torah as well as the time period in which they were written.

Rabbi Reisman says the key chemical ingredient in ink used in old Ashkenazi Sifrei Torah, ferrous sulfate, a derivative of iron, did not last as long as the chemical made today. Therefore much of his restoration work today is rewriting letters in old Sifrei Torah that have turned from black to brown. Rabbi Reisman makes his own ink. He purchases the ferrous sulfate from a chemical company and follows a recipe in an old Tikkun Sofrim. Sephardic sofrim typically use soot, honey and various gums to make their ink, and Rabbi Reisman has learned to make these as well. The Sefer Torah that was sold last week used ink made from salt, flour and mey afatzim (wasp residue/gall-nut water), and Rabbi Reisman reported the letters to be in a very high-quality condition.

Approximately 20 years ago, someone brought Rabbi Reisman a section from an old Torah scroll that he had bought at an auction in Europe. The man paid $1,000 for it, and knew it was old, but did not know its origins.

Rabbi Reisman examined the section. Due to the large size of the letters and other factors, he realized the section had come from a Sefer Torah written by a Sofer from China. Further examination told him that it had been written approximately 400 years ago and originally belonged to the synagogue in Kaifeng.

The sections in most Sifrei Torah are sewn together with animal tendons. In this Chinese Sefer Torah, Rabbi Reisman realized that the sections had been sewn together with silk thread.

The section was put up for auction again and was purchased by the Bible Society of America for $15,000.

A Burgeoning Market

The market for Judaica today is extremely vibrant and is growing. To get a sense of its size, Sotheby’s alone reported $10 million in sales of Judaica items in 2008. Last week’s total sale drew in more than $3 million.

The minimum value of an item to be sold at Sotheby’s is $5,000, and at the upper end, the sky is the limit. Mrs. Mintz said old, unique seforim sell high, especially if they are illustrated. The most expensive Jewish item Sotheby’s has sold was the first Nuremberg Haggadah for $1,017,750. The November 24 sale included an illustrated Megillas Esther from 1654 which sold for $602,500.

“Things sell higher when there are many more people collecting that item. Haggados appeal to a larger portion of the population. There are a lot of collectors,” Mrs. Mintz said. “Also, decorated items sell more. People just enjoy them, so they have a broader appeal.

“There is a very strong interest in the high-end part of the market. When you have something that is the oldest, most rare or most beautiful, there is tremendous interest in that “We haven’t seen price depreciation in that. It’s actually growing.”

The November 24 sale included a wide variety of rare seforim, silver items and paintings. These included a second-edition Talmud Bavli Meseches Kesuvos printed in Venice in 1527 which sold for $104,500 and a silver Menorah made in Germany in 1750 which sold for $542,500. The sale also included several unique, original printed documents related to the famous debate between Rav Yaakov Emden and Rav Yonoson Eybeschutz which sold for close to $30,000 each.

“It was very spirited bidding. There was phone bidding and bidding in the room,” Mrs. Mintz said. “The buyers as a general rule right now are private individuals, but there were some institutions as well from Israel, Europe and America.”

Part of Mrs. Mintz’s job is helping to set prices for items. Sotheby’s sets a range of the expected final price for items as a guide for interested parties. To set prices, Sotheby’s looks especially at the sales prices of comparables items. For items such as the Spanish Sefer Torah for which there are no closely similar items, the auction house looks at the significance and history of the item, its rarity and how much interest can be expected from bidders.

Sometimes items sell for far above Sotheby’s estimates. For example the November 24 sale included the only known decorated kesubah from Indonesia which was written in 1916. It sold for $32,500, five times Sotheby’s estimate.

“You always get surprises. Sometimes there’s a lot more action on something than we expected,” Mintz said.

Another intriguing trend that Mrs. Mintz is seeing is a strong demand for Jewish Americana. She said collectors are very interested in books, manuscripts and other objects from the 18th century through the early 19th century.

She also points out that the Judaica auction market is growing. One factor is that the majority of Jewish auction sales now take place in New York. In prior years, most Judaica sales took place in Israel, but with the move to New York over the last few years, there has been an upsurge in the market.

“It’s a good central location. New York is accessible to people from around the world – from Europe, the US, South America and Israel. It’s worked out very well.”

Mrs. Mintz says she is constantly amazed and impressed by the items that cross her desk for evaluation and sale. In particular, she has received many unique and exciting pieces that had been passed down in European families from generation to generation. She’s also enthralled by the serendipity that occurs with items.

Two years ago someone purchased a picture in an antique store but wanted only the frame. Inside the picture frame was a one-of-a-kind micrographic illustration of King David using verses of Tehillim by most one of the important Jewish artists of the 18th century. The man subsequently sold the illustration for a large sum.

“It’s always surprising. You never know what will pop up next. I’m always intrigued by how items surface in places that you wouldn’t expect them to, items of tremendous rarity and beauty. It’s interesting for people to see what’s out there,” she said

When the bidders gathered last week for the auction of the Sefer Torah, they were doing more than just trying to purchase an old scroll. They were trying to buy a piece of our history, a portion of the Jewish people.

We don’t know where the Sefer Torah went after it was completed, but presumably it went with the Jews into exile into Europe, North Africa or Eretz Yisrael. There it served as the representative of our ongoing history. The Jews left Spain not knowing where they were going or why Hashem was sending them, but they had complete trust in Him. The Sefer Torah that accompanied them served as an indelible sign of their faith in Hashem and a reminder of His guiding presence. Now as the Sefer Torah enters the next stage of its travels, may it continue to serve the same beloved role.