Question
Is it permissible to decorate a Torah cover with metal bells?
Answer
A discussion in Talmud Shabbos 58b about when a metal bell is subject to impurity mentions “bells made for book covers” as an example of bells used for decoration; but there is no implication that if a bell is subject to impurity, it should not be used to decorate a book cover, even the cover of a Torah scroll. Today we are all regarded as impure (because we no longer have the means of purifying ourselves from contact with the dead, which involves the ashes of the Parah Adumah), but we are still allowed to hold a Torah scroll.