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Digital Torah scroll provides learning resource to students and historians

Published on Oct 29, 2021 by Erin Hedlun

 

Torah scroll

SPRINGFIELD, Missouri – Evangel University was recently gifted an authentic pasul (no longer kosher) Torah scroll for academic research and study. High resolution digital files of the Torah panels and columns have been compiled on a resource website that can now be used for worldwide study.

The Torah was donated by Ken and Barb Larson, founders of Slumberland Furniture and God’s Ancient Library, a foundation dedicated to preserving and gifting pasul Torah scrolls to schools that prepare students to teach biblical literacy.

The Torah is a Hebrew scroll that includes the first five books of the Old Testament as written by Moses and provides the foundation for Jewish life and worship.

Though its complete history is not known, it is believed that the Torah received by Evangel almost certainly originated in Eastern Europe (Poland) approximately 125-200 years ago.

Following the Holocaust of World War II, Jewish immigrants discovered the scroll and transported it to Israel. After being declared pasul, it became part of the ben-David family private collection of Torah scrolls, one of the largest collections in the world, before being acquired by the Larsons and gifted to Evangel.

The Torah is currently housed in a custom-built case and is on display in the Cordas C. Burnett Library at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.

The digital Torah website may be viewed at evangel.edu/torah.

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About Evangel University

Evangel University, with the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (AGTS), is a comprehensive Christian university committed to excellence in educating and equipping students to serve the Church and society globally. Evangel and AGTS serve more than 2,200 students from all 50 states and numerous foreign countries, offering 70 undergraduate majors and 19 master and doctoral degrees.