Hebrew Shema Yisrael Scroll on Vellum, from an Amulet

A handwritten Hebrew manuscript fragment on vellum, written in black ink in a square script, containing text from Deuteronomy chapter 6, including the opening lines of the Shema Yisrael: “שמע ישראל יהוה אלהינו יהוה אחד / ואהבת את יהוה אלהיך…” The sheet measures 81 × 94 mm.

This passage, beginning at Deuteronomy 6:4, is the central declaration of Jewish faith and the same text traditionally written into mezuzah scrolls and tefillin, the most frequently copied text of the Hebrew Bible, affixed to Jewish doorways for over two millennia. Fragments such as this survived from worn Torahs or liturgical manuscripts later cut down, reused, or repurposed.

The piece was acquired in Istanbul in the 1980s. It suits collections of Torah and biblical manuscripts, Hebrew calligraphy and Judaica, parchment fragments and paleography.