Chevrei Tzedek
  • Home
  • Our Community
    • About Chevrei Tzedek
    • Our Rabbi
    • Our Leadership
    • Our Youth
    • Our Rescued Torah
  • Participate
    • Calendar
    • Newcomers
    • Become a member!
    • How Do I... >
      • Sign Up for Shabbat Services
      • Sponsor Kiddush
      • Schedule an event
      • Learn to Lead
      • Sign Up: Solar Energy!
      • Submit a Yahrtzeit
  • Donate
    • Donations
    • Car Donation
    • Long Term Impact
  • Contact Us
  • Members' Resources
  • Photos
  • Watch Limudim!
  • About Our Cemetery
  • Orioles tickets

Looking Back &
​ Facing Forward


The Rededication of our Rescued Holocaust Torah Scroll


​At Shabbat services,  February 25, 2023
We began with coffee, donuts & text study at 9:15 am
Services began at 10 am
Festive Kiddush Luncheon followed
We celebrated in person at 
Chevrei Tzedek Congregation
3101 Fallstaff Road
at the Edward A. Myerberg Center
​Baltimore, MD 21209

There were activities for kids from 10 am - 12 noon
​including "A True Torah Tale"
​

See the program from the event

On Sunday, February 26, 2023
We learned about our rescued scroll

from
Deborah Thompson who has done extensive research on  the double peh 
&  from​
Sofer Bernard Benarroch who repaired the scroll

See the recording of this learning session.

Picture

Rabbi Katz's Torah Intro

Debbie Steinig's D'var Torah Introduction

Rabbi Katz's Prayer for Survivors


Learn more about our rescued Torah Scroll.

Why choose Shabbat Terumah for the rededication?

The recently repaired water damage to our scroll occurred in the portion of Shemot (Exodus) that we will chant today, Parshat Terumah. We surmise that the scroll was rolled to this section during the 16 years (1948-1964) when it lay in a damp warehouse in Communist Czechoslovakia.

Why was the scroll rolled to this section? Might Parshat Terumah have been the last part of this Torah chanted before it was confiscated by the Nazis? Or might the Torah have been rolled ahead to Parshat Terumah just after its last use, in anticipation of a service that was never held?

The tantalizing possibility that we are picking up where the scroll’s previous owners left off is just speculation. It’s possible that the Torah was unrolled and re-rolled sometime between its confiscation in the early 1940s and the time that the water damage occurred. We will never know.

In any case, it feels appropriate to resume using this scroll at the section that was so carefully restored. Additionally, the words of this text are fitting. Parshat Terumah teaches about the sanctity of ritual objects and the importance of donating generously to create and sustain our places of worship. What a beautiful message for this day on which, thanks to the love and generosity of Jews in three countries over eight decades, our rescued Torah scroll can once again be opened up and chanted.

​
Chevrei Tzedek Congregation
shalom@chevrei.org

443-992-7485

​
3101 Fallstaff Road
(at ​the 
Edward A. Myerberg Center)

Baltimore, MD  21209
Picture
  • Home
  • Our Community
    • About Chevrei Tzedek
    • Our Rabbi
    • Our Leadership
    • Our Youth
    • Our Rescued Torah
  • Participate
    • Calendar
    • Newcomers
    • Become a member!
    • How Do I... >
      • Sign Up for Shabbat Services
      • Sponsor Kiddush
      • Schedule an event
      • Learn to Lead
      • Sign Up: Solar Energy!
      • Submit a Yahrtzeit
  • Donate
    • Donations
    • Car Donation
    • Long Term Impact
  • Contact Us
  • Members' Resources
  • Photos
  • Watch Limudim!
  • About Our Cemetery
  • Orioles tickets