I read in the news about a funeral that took place, but instead of a body, it was a Torah scroll being buried. I never heard about it before. Can you share some light about this topic?

Sefer Torah in Judaism

The Sefer Torah, or Torah scroll, is deeply revered in Judaism. It embodies the divine covenant between G‑d and His people and serves as the cornerstone of Jewish law, ethics and tradition.

The Torah scroll consists of the Five Books of Moses, meticulously handwritten by scribes on parchment with special ink. It’s treated with utmost reverence and handled with the same respect one would give a wise and learned sage. (In fact, it is technically the other way around, we accord the same respect to the Torah sage that we do to a Torah scroll.)

It is for this reason that when a Sefer Torah is no longer usable, it’s not simply discarded with the trash. Rather, it’s respectfully buried in the ground.1 This applies to all Torah scrolls.

When a Torah Is Burned

When a Torah scroll is burned, G‑d forbid, it’s considered a great tragedy. In fact, one of the saddest days in the Jewish calendar, the fast of the 17th of Tammuz, commemorates five terrible national tragedies, including the burning of a Torah scroll by Apostomus the Wicked.2

When this happens, G‑d forbid, we don’t only bury the Torah, but we also conduct a public funeral. There are two reasons for this:

  1. It demonstrates our deep respect for the Torah and the great feeling of loss; counteracting the great tragedy and disgrace that happened when the Torah scroll was burned.3
  2. The public display of mourning also arouses us to introspect. Nothing in this world happens by coincidence, so when a tragedy like this occurs, the public mourning reminds us to look inward and better ourselves.4

It’s the Other Way Around

The question we’re addressing takes it for granted that we mourn our human dead and wonders why this extends to Torah scrolls. However, the opposite is actually true—we learn how to mourn our loved ones from how a destroyed Torah is mourned. In the words of the Talmud:

Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: One who stands over the deceased at the time of the soul’s departure is obligated to rend his clothes. To what may this be likened? To a Torah scroll that is burned, for which anyone present is obligated to rend his clothes.5

(This intrinsic connection between the Jewish nation and the Torah, and the way the Talmud equates the two, has also given rise to the custom of perpetuating the memory of a loved one by writing a Torah scroll in their merit.6)

A “Happy” Funeral Procession

Although we have discussed the tragic funerals for Torah scrolls that were burned, it is interesting to note that when a Torah would become no longer usable due to decades of usual wear and tear, some communities have the custom of accompanying it to its grave with a celebratory procession. They do this to celebrate all the learning of the Torah that was done via this Torah scroll7

Ultimately, the Torah is not meant to sit in perfect condition in the ark, but rather to be read so that we internalize its eternal wisdom.