How to fund the purchase of new High Holy Day maḥzorim

IN THE PROCESS of research what is the highest and best use for kosher Torah scrolls that Mishkon is not immediately using (a subject for another day), I came across a way to finance the replacement of our synagogue’s outdated maḥzorim with the Conservative movement’s newer (2010) edition — namely Maḥzor Lev Shalem, edited by Rabbi Ed Feld. 

In order for this Torah scroll to be usable again,
this passage had to be patched in 4 places.
(As usual, click/tap on an image to enlarge it.)

Given that acquiring such prayer books has been high on our synagogue’s wish list for some years now, let me share what I just learned. It involves certain of the Torah scrolls in our possession, and ironically it relies upon their status as imperfect and otherwise unusable.…

QUESTION:  May a synagogue sell ritual property, including sifrei Torah? And if the sale is permitted, are there any restrictions?

Thus begins an insightful teshuvah (responsum) titled “On the Sale of Holy Property,” composed in 2005 by Rabbi David J. Fine, which was unanimously accepted by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. It can be accessed HERE. This document happens to provide the key to our prayer-book needs, offering a solution to our lack of funding.

At one point in the discussion (p. 4), Rabbi Fine reaches a particular conclusion (emphasis added):

Following those who hold that one can use funds from one degree of holiness for other items within the same degree, one can then sell a pasul sefer Torah and purchase with those funds sacred books. 

(As you may know, the term פסול pasul refers to a scroll that has become unfit for ritual use over time, due to wear-and-tear or aging.)

This provision is of interest because Mishkon owns 3 ostensibly pasul scrolls. (I say “ostensibly” because they have been flagged as such, while the exact reasons are not known to me, at least in 2 cases.). Furthermore, we otherwise lack the motivation to get those pasul scrolls repaired, since we are blessed with having enough other ones in sufficiently good condition. And there are few other religiously permitted ways to part with a Torah scroll, other than giving it away. So the pasul scrolls are just sitting unused in a safe. 

In contrast, it would not be permissible to fund the purchase of maḥzorim by selling kosher Torah scrolls. That’s because such scrolls occupy a higher grade of sanctity than prayer books do — and we are obliged to not diminish holiness that is under our control. Consequently, the subsequent purchase of new prayer books ironically requires that the scroll(s) involved be imperfect and with little other utility.

That being said, in order to properly sell one or more of our pasul scrolls, we would still have to follow a certain procedure. Namely, any repairs that are needed to make the scroll kosher again (as the buyer would presumably desire) would need to be undertaken only after the transfer of ownership. As Rabbi Fine explains: 

The cost of the repairs can be deducted from the sale price, and the seller can even arrange that the repairs be made, but the Torah must already belong to the new congregation at that point.