A rare Torah scroll was presented recently at an international book fair in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, drawing the attention of tens of thousands of book fair attendees.
The scroll itself is complete, though it does not have the "atzei haim," or wooden rollers on the ends.
It is estimated that the scroll was handwritten in the 16th century, and is about 400 years old.
The parchment was presented as one of 27 rare handwritten documents shown at a special booth. These documents are part of a larger collection found in the libraries named after King Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud, the King Salman Library in the university named after King Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud, and the national library named after King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
A total of 1,800 publishing companies took part in the book fair, which has 800 different booths; it is estimated that over one million people will visit the fair.