Our shul has about 15 unusable Torah scrolls. (To place it in a positive light, we have 6 that are usable. The shul has been in existence for 90 years, and we retrieved a number of "Holocaust" scrolls that were donated by some former members.) A sofer evaluated all of them and said that either they are completely unrepairable, or the cost to repair them exceeds the cost of buying a new one. Our shul cannot afford to buy a new one. So, all these scrolls sit in the ark, unused for years, or lay in closets or on tables covered by tallitot.
I'm curious if shuls, in general have sold these unusable scrolls to sofrim. Isn't there some need where sofrim can take some of the usable portions from these scrolls and create a new one, or cut out sections or perhaps, even certain words to patch other Torah scrolls? I understand that a Torah cannot be "downgraded"- i.e., one can't excerpt the sections of the "Shema" and use it for a mezuzah or tefillin.
Would anyone know or have some idea what can be done with such unusable scrolls other than just leaving them around or burying them? I gather that our shul is not unique in facing this situation.
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