Students studying the first five books of the Bible in the original Hebrew at Trinity International University in Bannockburn can compare their modern text in a printed book to one written by hand more than 500 years ago.
“It does not vary much at all,” said K. Lawson Younger Jr., a professor of Old Testament, Semitic languages and ancient Near Eastern history.
Trinity received the Torah three years ago as a gift, according to the university’s website.
It was handwritten in 15th century Germany, according to Richard E. Averbeck, director of Trinity’s Ph.D program and a professor of Old Testament and Semitic languages.
Averbeck and Younger said much of the scroll’s history is unknown, but it survived Nazi Germany before making its way to Israel and eventually to Trinity.
“It could have been shipped out when the discrimination against the Jews started, or it could have survived the war,” Younger said.
It was used by a Yemenite synagogue in Jerusalem after the creation of the country in 1948, according to Averbeck.
He described the first time he saw the Torah, which stands more than two feet tall and is made of parchment panels stitched together, as a “wow moment.”
“I was overwhelmed by its size and its condition for its age,” he said.
Younger said it is approximately 100 feet long when unrolled.
The Torah is kept in a climate-controlled room in Trinity’s library, according to Averbeck.
Rabbi Isaac Serotta of Lakeside Congregation for Reform Judaism in Highland Park said having it is a rare opportunity.
“It tells us something about a lost community,” the Deerfield resident said. “There was a great Jewish community in Germany at one time. It’s an opportunity to look at sacred scrolls from that time.”
“It’s the end and beginning of the cycle of reading the Torah,” Serotta said.
The Torah is a teaching tool for Trinity divinity students, and Younger said the school takes its position of the scroll’s guardian seriously.
“This is not just a scroll,” Younger said. “For us this is God’s word.”
Steve Sadin is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.