Research project
Digitally Reconstructing a Desecrated Holocaust Torah Scroll
- Start date: 1 February 2026
- End date: 1 May 2026
- Funder: Digital Creativity and Cultures Hub
- Primary investigator: Professor Jay Prosser
- External co-investigators: Dr Marc Michaels, also known as Mordechai Pinchas. Sofer STa”M (Hebrew Torah scribe) and Hebrew Palaeographer, University of Cambridge; Catherine Albers Morris, Assistant Professor of English, Rochester Institute of Technology; Helen Davies, Assistant Professor of English and Joint Faculty, School of Data Science, University of North Carolina.
Value
£1000
Partners and collaborators
University of Leeds Cultural Collections; Royal Ontario Museum, former collection of Beth Tzedec Synagogue, Canada; Evy Cohen, private collection of Alfred Cohen, France.
Description
This project uses digital and creative practice research to restore and illuminate the story of fragments from a Torah scroll desecrated during the Holocaust. It builds on earlier work undertaken by the principal investigator, including archival and historical research, as well as digital imaging.
Image credit: © Dr Marc Michaels; no reproduction without permission. Low‑resolution test layout.
The desecration rendered the scroll, Judaism’s holiest object, irreparable. The deliberate destruction of such scrolls during the Holocaust represents a profound instance of what has been termed ‘cultural genocide’. The University of Leeds Cultural Collections holds two fragments – two layers from the sole of a left shoe – cut from a Torah scroll during this period. A corresponding layer from the right sole is held in a synagogue collection in Canada, and the final layer in a private collection in France. The PI Prosser has now identified all four layers, the French fragment most recently in 2025.
These four layers are dispersed across three countries and collections, both private and public. Using methods unavailable through conventional approaches, the project will:
- Digitally reunite the fragments, mapping each piece to its original location on the scroll without physically bringing them together.
- Reconstruct a substantial portion of the lost scroll – over two yeriot (sheets of animal skins).
- Produce a creative practice research output that imaginatively recreates the story of the soles.
This project is groundbreaking. To our knowledge, no comparable integration of archival, digital, and creative practice methodologies has been applied to Torah scroll fragments, Judaica, or Holocaust artefacts by any individual researcher or research team.
Its methodologies are inherently interdisciplinary, combining ancient pre-printing skills with advanced digital technologies and uniting digital analysis with creative practice.
Co‑Investigator Marc Michaels brings a uniquely valuable combination of skills and experience to the project. He has worked as a sofer (scribe) for over thirty years and is an expert in Hebrew palaeography, graphic design, and illustration.
Image credit: © Dr Marc Michaels; no reproduction without permission. Low‑resolution test layout.
Impact
The research will enable planning with stakeholder museums and collections regarding the future of the objects. In addition, the project will result in a digital reconstruction which would enable a Holocaust museum to show for the first time a reconstruction of a damaged Torah scroll. The model of digital reconstruction can be deployed at other collections with damaged Torah scrolls.
Publications and outputs
Cecil Roth’s Torah scroll shoe soles: collecting Holocaust relics in Greece
Pages 392-415 | Received 02 Aug 2023, Accepted 17 Nov 2023, Published online: 24 Jan 2024