Repairing our scrolls

Only Sofrim authorised by the Memorial Scrolls Trust may work on our Czech Torah. They must be Sofer Stam, an acronym for sefer torah (Torah scroll) tefillin (phylacteries) and mezuzah. They have agreed to respect the integrity of our scrolls, as many of which are hundreds of years old and were written in various styles of Ashkenazi and Sephardi calligraphy resulting in a great variety of over the centuries. 

Many Torah scrolls written by Kabbalistic Sofrim resulting in certain letters having swirls, enlarged or a special shape, with each letter said to convey a mystical meaning. Today, there is greater standardization among Torah scrolls.  Today most Torah are written with 42 lines and are Vav emu dim, with every column starting with the letter Vav. However, our scrolls come in all shapes and sizes with Klaf heights varying from 8 inches to 30 inches and the number of lines vary from 36 to 72.

Sofrim authorised by the MST must confirm they:
  • Have a halachic (Smicha) and academic qualifications and/or have studied or had an apprentice-ship under a recognised sofer and provide satisfactory evidence of the same.
  • Have advised the MST whether they are a Sofer shomer mitzvot and yareh shamayim.

  • Recognise the integrity of the scroll is paramount, will neither add, change or remove signs, embellishments or any visual style (based on midrash or not), to or from the scroll. Every effort will be used to maintain the integrity of the scroll, keeping the same writing style, ink colour and thickness, stitching etc. Also they accept the purity of the ancient script which at times may seem to conflict with the current halachic standard of scribing, as many of these scrolls were written prior to the the strictness of halacha today.

  • Confirm that they only use cleaning and/or repair materials and instruments that are acceptable under halacha and are the norm in cleaning and maintaining the parchment.

  • Will not allow anyone who is not authorised by the MST to work on MST scrolls, regardless of whether they are supervised.

  • Whenever asked to work on a MST scroll, must explain to the Scroll Holder written permission for work to be undertaken should be obtained from the MST before work commences and such permission is shown to the Sofer who is to undertake the work. If asked to undertake work on an MST scroll without written permission having been provided, the Sofer has agreed to advise the MST immediately.

  • After working on any MST scroll, they will send details of the repairs done and a condition report to the MST together with a good photo of the 10 Commandments.


A current list of our authorised Sofrim can be found here >

Sofrim wishing to be authorised by the MST should email us at info@memorialscrollstrust.org attaching their CV .