Chevrei Tzedek's scroll number #345
Thanks to the generous efforts of our late members Aubrey and Amelia Jay, Chevrei Tzedek Congregation is proud to be the custodian of one of the 1,564 Torah scrolls rescued by the Jewish community of Prague during World War II.
In 1941, prominent Prague Jews persuaded the Nazis to allow them to bring the artifacts from the abandoned and destroyed synagogues to Prague. These artifacts included approximately 1,800 Torah scrolls. 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 (MST) was created to care for these scrolls and distribute them to worthy congregations around the world. (Learn more detail about how the scrolls survived)
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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, cataloging artifacts from synagogues under Nazi occupation, 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. (Learn more about the double peh and other extraordinary letters) |
Per the 1993 correspondence, Aubrey and Amelia Jay paid the MST $1,500 for the Torah which included shipping. A year later they purchased the breastplate. Our scroll suffered serious water damage in the Book of Exodus. We were informed that the ceiling of the basement of the building in which the Communist government stored the scrolls leaked, and the scroll was rolled to the section which sustained the water damage.
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From 1993 to 2016, we understood that the scroll was unrepairable because that is what Rabbi Menachem Youlus told Chevrei Tzedek. Youlus claimed the parchment had deteriorated so it was no more firm than paper. He claimed he boxed it up and sent it to Minneapolis for a second opinion, then on its return to Baltimore got a third opinion, all concurring it was unrepairable. Given what was later learned about Youlus, it is possible that these two soferim did not exist.
According to Alan Cohen, Aubrey Jay did not believe the scroll was unrepairable.
In June of 2016 Rabbi Salazar of Sofer on Site examined the scroll and said he could repair it for $14,800. He said strongly disputed what Youlus had said about the deteriorated parchment. In October of 2019 Sofer Alexandra Casser of Falls Church Virginia examined the scroll and said she could repair it for $10,800.
In early 2022 Sofer Alexandra Casser examined the scroll again and advised it had seriously deteriorated from mold and could no longer be repaired and were it not an MST scroll it should be buried in a genizah. Alan Cohen forwarded her report to London, and MST president Jeff Ohrenstein asked us to ship it back to London, where he felt that the MST sofer Bernard Benarroch would be able to repair it.
The scroll was shipped to London and some months later Mr. Ohrenstein advised that Sofer Benarroch would be able to repair it. We advised we were a small congregation of very limited resources and could not afford what the two previous soferim were asking for. Some time later Mr. Ohrenstein replied that Mr. Benarroch would repair it back to kosher status for $3,000, payable in three annual installments, plus MST dues of $360 a year for as long as we had the Torah. (MST had instituted these dues in 2015 but had grandfathered out every congregation, including ours, which already had a scroll). During the summer 2022 the coordinating committee accepted these terms, and the first payment was made in August.
We will have our first reading from the scroll, its first reading since 1941, in February, 2023, Shabbat Teruma. Read more about why we chose this parsha.
According to Alan Cohen, Aubrey Jay did not believe the scroll was unrepairable.
In June of 2016 Rabbi Salazar of Sofer on Site examined the scroll and said he could repair it for $14,800. He said strongly disputed what Youlus had said about the deteriorated parchment. In October of 2019 Sofer Alexandra Casser of Falls Church Virginia examined the scroll and said she could repair it for $10,800.
In early 2022 Sofer Alexandra Casser examined the scroll again and advised it had seriously deteriorated from mold and could no longer be repaired and were it not an MST scroll it should be buried in a genizah. Alan Cohen forwarded her report to London, and MST president Jeff Ohrenstein asked us to ship it back to London, where he felt that the MST sofer Bernard Benarroch would be able to repair it.
The scroll was shipped to London and some months later Mr. Ohrenstein advised that Sofer Benarroch would be able to repair it. We advised we were a small congregation of very limited resources and could not afford what the two previous soferim were asking for. Some time later Mr. Ohrenstein replied that Mr. Benarroch would repair it back to kosher status for $3,000, payable in three annual installments, plus MST dues of $360 a year for as long as we had the Torah. (MST had instituted these dues in 2015 but had grandfathered out every congregation, including ours, which already had a scroll). During the summer 2022 the coordinating committee accepted these terms, and the first payment was made in August.
We will have our first reading from the scroll, its first reading since 1941, in February, 2023, Shabbat Teruma. Read more about why we chose this parsha.
