Court rules rare Torah parchment to stay in hands of Civil Administration

19 February 2018, 7:06 pm

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The Jerusalem District Court ruled yesterday that parchment from a Torah scroll dating back to the 11th century will remain in the hands of the Archaeological Unit of Israel’s Civil Administration.

The rare scroll was seized at the Allenby border crossing in 2013, from smugglers who were trying to take the parchment into Jordan to be sold.

It later emerged that the parchment contains passages written in Samaritan Hebrew from the biblical book of Numbers, and is one of a handful of texts of its kind that date back to the Middle Ages.

In its ruling, the court underscored the importance of combating antiquities theft in Israel and the West Bank.