Hebrew Genesis Scroll-IAC Training Library

The Hebrew Torah Scroll and Its Genesis Content

This particular scroll is a fragment of a Hebrew Torah scroll that contains the first few chapters of the book of Genesis. It's copied on the skin of a red deer, which is a clean animal. So this particular scroll contains the creation account, the account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, as well as the Cain and Abel account.

Yemenite Jewish Scroll Traditions and the Historicity of Genesis

This particular scroll is of the Yemenite Jewish tradition, and the Yemenite Jews use 50 lines in each column on the scroll. Other traditions use 42 lines per column. One thing you can use it for is you can use it when talking about the historicity of the book of Genesis.

Yom in Genesis 1 and the Meaning of a 24-Hour Day

You can point out to your audience the places where the word Yom, which is the Hebrew word for day, is used. Here you find Genesis chapter 1, verse 5. This is the phrase V 'yehi Erev V 'yehi Voker Yom Echad.

And that is the phrase, and it was evening, and it was morning, day one. There's the word Yom, which used in context with the words evening and morning, can only mean a normal 24-hour day, which involves the rotation of the earth, the alternating between evening and morning.

You can spot it several different places in the text. You can also see the word Yom used again on day 2 here, on day 3 right here again, day 4, day 5, as well as on day 6. So this is just a really unique, interesting piece that I'm sure will just grab the attention of your audience.

Using the Scroll to Support the Reliability of the Bible

I think it'll be an excellent tool to use when giving talks on the reliability of the Bible or on the historicity of the book of Genesis. It will provide a unique experience to actually be able to use a real Hebrew scroll.

Preserving the Scroll with a Yad

However, one thing that I do have to warn you about is don't actually let your audience touch the scroll. I know it seems like a bummer to not be able to touch the scroll, but the ink that is used on this scroll has not actually absorbed into the animal skin.

And so because of that, if you use your fingers on the ink, there's a possibility that you might actually rub the ink off of the actual scroll. So we don't want that to happen, so what I suggest you do is use this little device here called a yad.

Now yad is the Hebrew word for a hand, and as you can see here, this little yad device has a little hand on the tip of it that has its pointer finger stretched out. You can have your audience use this little yad to touch the text.

That will help us to preserve this text for more people to be able to use in the future.