Our RESCUED SEFER TORAH
Chevrei's scroll number 345
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Thanks to the generous efforts of our late members Aubrey and Amelia Jay, Chevrei Tzedek is proud to be the custodians of one of the 1,564 Torah scrolls rescued by the Jewish community of Prague during World War II.
According to the 1930 census, there were 117,551 Jews living in what is today the Czech Republic. The Nazis deported 81,000 Czech Jews to camps of whom only about 10,500 Czech Jews survived. The rest managed to flee the country. Today, only 4,000 Jews live in the Czech Republic. Before World War II, there were at least 350 synagogues in what is today the Czech Republic. On Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938, the Nazis destroyed 50 synagogues along with the majority of their contents in the Sudetenland border region. This area had been turned over to Hitler just five weeks before under the terms of the Munich Pact. Under Nazi occupation of the remainder of what is today the Czech Republic, which began on March 15, 1939 and lasted until the end of the war, the remaining 300 synagogues were abandoned. By the end of the war more than 60 synagogues were destroyed and most of their contents lost. During the Communist regime, 1948 to 1989, the remaining synagogues were demolished or left to decay. |
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In 1942, prominent Prague Jews persuaded the Nazis to allow them to bring the artifacts from the abandoned and destroyed synagogues to Prague, where a museum would be opened. Over 100,000 artifacts were brought to the museum in Prague, including 1,800 Torah scrolls. Each scroll was labeled and an index card created describing the scroll and the synagogue and community from whence it came. All of the Jews who participated in this project would be deported to Terezin or Auschwitz, only two would survive.
After the war, the Communist government transferred the scrolls to one of the abandoned synagogues outside Prague, where they were stored until 1964, when several philanthropic Jews in London purchased 1,564 scrolls from the Communist government and transported them to London. The Memorial Scrolls Trust was created to care for these scrolls and distribute them to worthy congregations around the world.
Over the past 50 years, they have distributed most of the scrolls to worthy congregations. Many congregations have been able to restore their scrolls, and over 100,000 bar and bat mitzvahs have been celebrated using scrolls that Prague Jews rescued from the clutches of the Nazis.
Chevrei Tzedek's scroll no. 345 was one of 22 scrolls that the Nazis allowed Jews to remove from synagogues outside of Prague when the Nazis forced the Jews to close the synagogues. The scrolls were taken to the Jewish chapel at Malvazinka cemetery which was being used as a warehouse for confiscated Jewish property, and later they were taken to Prague. The Jews in Prague, working under Nazi occupation at the Jewish museum, cataloged these 22 scrolls under the name "Praha-Malvazinka" but were unable to identify the specific community and synagogue from which each scroll had been removed.
After the war, the Communist government transferred the scrolls to one of the abandoned synagogues outside Prague, where they were stored until 1964, when several philanthropic Jews in London purchased 1,564 scrolls from the Communist government and transported them to London. The Memorial Scrolls Trust was created to care for these scrolls and distribute them to worthy congregations around the world.
Over the past 50 years, they have distributed most of the scrolls to worthy congregations. Many congregations have been able to restore their scrolls, and over 100,000 bar and bat mitzvahs have been celebrated using scrolls that Prague Jews rescued from the clutches of the Nazis.
Chevrei Tzedek's scroll no. 345 was one of 22 scrolls that the Nazis allowed Jews to remove from synagogues outside of Prague when the Nazis forced the Jews to close the synagogues. The scrolls were taken to the Jewish chapel at Malvazinka cemetery which was being used as a warehouse for confiscated Jewish property, and later they were taken to Prague. The Jews in Prague, working under Nazi occupation at the Jewish museum, cataloged these 22 scrolls under the name "Praha-Malvazinka" but were unable to identify the specific community and synagogue from which each scroll had been removed.
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Our scroll is unusual because it is written by a sofer from the "Prague School of Kabbalists." This style is noted by the placement of small letters inside of large letters, for example, פ 's with a little פ inserted into the פ. Since the war, no sofer has written a Torah scroll this way because the Nazis murdered every member of this school of scribes, and we do not know why they wrote letters this way. Lacking this knowledge, scribes since the war do not believe they are qualified to duplicate this style of writing. Our scroll suffered serious water damage in the Book of Exodus. We are informed that the ceiling of the basement of the building in which the Communist government stored the scrolls leaked, and the scroll during this 16 year period was rolled to the section which sustained the water damage. Beginning with Leviticus through to the end of Deuteronomy, the scroll is in excellent condition. It will cost approximately $11,000 to restore our scroll to usable condition, and we would welcome any donations so that we too may someday celebrate a bar or bat mitzvah with this scroll. |
