NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, have exploded into the finance scene in recent months. NFTs function as digital collectibles with their data stored on a blockchain, ensuring the asset is unique. In just the past year, the fad of NFT trading cards and artwork has blown up among investors, who are certain these tokens will continue to hold value. Back in March, Christie’s, the famous auction house, sold an NFT art piece for $69 million.
With all the popularity of NFTs, it was only a matter of time before they entered the Jewish financial sector. NFTorah, spearheaded by Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone, founder of Tech Tribe; and Jonathan Caras of Lionschain Capital, a cryptocurrency hedge fund, is a project whereby an NFT Torah will be available for purchase, with the proceeds going towards writing real sifrei Torah. Lubavitch.com made the announcement of the NFT Torah in late June.
The first real sefer Torah will be sent to Arugot Farm, a moshav in central Israel. The second completed scroll will be donated to Lightstone’s Tech Tribe, a division of Chabad Young Professionals that runs programming geared towards Jews in the tech and digital media world. Ultimately, NFTorah’s goal is to write 18 sifrei Torah for communities around the world.
Buyers can collect each “parsha” individually. Each Torah portion is represented by an NFT minted on the Ethereum blockchain, along with a piece of artwork highlighting that chapter’s narrative. The store is only accepting the Ethereum (ETH) cryptocurrency, although interested parties can still make a donation to the project via PayPal, and all purchases are tax deductible. As of press time, one ETH is valued at over $2,000.
“Why were NFTs created, if not for this purpose?” Lightstone posited to The Jewish Link. “The sages teach that every person is like a letter in the Torah—a unique and indispensable part of our collective whole. This project uses crypto to show the unique nature of the letter each person purchases in a real Torah scroll, which reveals the unique quality of each soul.”
Lightstone is very proud of the dual nature of this undertaking, both the digital reminder of Judaism as well as the real-life good that will come out of it. “We hope to reach everyone! It’s actually a mitzvah for every Jew to write a Torah scroll. Now this is a difficult task for most people. Even purchasing a scroll from a scribe is an expensive, and time-consuming, task,” Lightstone said. “The Rebbe launched a special campaign for every Jew—man, woman and child—to purchase a letter in the Torah, thereby taking part in its writing. We’re taking this campaign and bringing it into the crypto space.”
Interested buyers can learn more at www.nfTorah.com
Elazar Abrahams is an intern at The Jewish Link and the incoming student council president of Yeshiva University’s men’s campus.
