Torah Scroll in Early Sephardic Script, with Variations from the Masorah – Romaniote Community in the Balkans, 16th ...

Torah Scroll in Early Sephardic Script, with Variations from the Masorah – Romaniote Community in the Balkans, 16th Century
Torah scroll. [The Balkans, ca. second half of the 16th century].
Torah scroll on light-brown gevil (using the method of tanning widespread in the Balkans). Early Sephardic script (blended style, with Balkan and Italian influences), 48 lines per column. The style of writing is similar to that of 15th century Sephardic script, and is generally consistent with the influence of the Spanish exiles on the Mediterranean area in the 16th century. The lines were scored on verso (resulting in raised lines on the side of the writing). The scroll contains several variations in comparison to the accepted Masorah (see below).
It appears that the scroll was written in the Balkans in the 16th century, under the mixed influence of local and Sephardi customs. Presumably, the scroll originates from the Romaniote community of Greece and Turkey, which integrated with the community of Spanish immigrants over the years.
The present Torah scroll contains variations in comparison to the accepted tradition – see two examples below (for more detail, see enclosed expert report).
1. There is an early custom in Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities of starting specific columns in the scroll with a word beginning with the letters Bet-Yud-Heh Shin-Mem-Vav. According to the Sephardic custom, the word Yehuda is used to begin the column opening with Yud, while in Oriental sources, the word Yissachar is used instead of Yehuda. In the present scroll, the column begins with the word Yaakov, a custom which is not known from any other source.
2. There is an early halachic debate as to whether the song of Haazinu should be written in seventy or sixty-seven lines, yet from the first half of the 17th century, it was determined that the seventy-line format should be adopted. Here, the song of Haazinu is divided into sixty-seven lines – in accordance with the earlier custom.
Height of the gevil membranes: approx. 56 cm. Fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Tears, creases and wear. Holes in several places. Ink faded and erased, with later corrections. In various places the original script was scraped off and replaced by a later scribe.
Report by an expert on early Torah scrolls enclosed, regarding the location and date of writing.