Question:
We’re a retirement community. We have the opportunity to acquire a very nice sefer Torah that was lained from just a few times, at a reasonable price. However, the margins are according to the Chazon Ish and we want to know if we can trim them down to the shiur of Rav Avraham Chaim Naeh. By doing so, we’ll make it a few pounds lighter, making it easier for the chazan to hold/carry to the bima and enable more people to do hagbaah and dance with it on simchas Torah. It also gives us the option to lend it out to a beis avel since, as is, even with special ordered atzei chaim, it will be very difficult to get in/out of our portable aron kodesh.
Answer:
Since the sefer torah was already used it cannot be trimmed according to all opinions. If it would not have been used then it is controversial, however since it was used, even only a few times, it may not be trimmed.
Sources:
Biur Hagra Y:S 290-2, Minchas Yitzchok 2-13, see Shevet Halevi 8-230 that remains undecided in an extreme case that there is absolutely no one that pick the sefer torah up and it will not be used at all, but in our case although it is inconvenient, it is still usable, and not permitted.
What if this sefer Torah was found to have never been kosher due to a few mispelled words? Is this sefer Torah called “already used”?
Interesting point
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