California Synagogue Returning Torah Scroll To Czech Town It Was Saved From
Image by thinkstock
A synagogue in the San Francisco Bay Area is soliciting funds to restore and return a Torah scroll saved from the Nazis during their pillaging of Czechoslovakia’s Jewish communities.
The Peninsula Sinai Congregation, which holds a Torah from the town of Olomouc, explained in a GoFundMe appeal: “During the Nazi era, thousands of Torah scrolls were looted in Czechoslovakia. Over 1,500 were rescued and placed in Jewish communities across the globe. The Jews of Olomouc, a town near Prague, were all but gone by the end of World War II…. Now they have asked that their Torah be returned — the first request ever to bring one of the Czech scrolls home.”
The Conservative congregation has already pulled in $11,000 toward a fundraising goal of $38,000 — an amount needed to restore the scroll to kosher status. It’s also raising further funds to replace the scroll when it is sent back to Olomouc.
The GoFundMe page encourages donors to give in $18 increments — in keeping with the Jewish chai tradition — and suggests giving to restore specific sections of the scroll.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter, @DanielJSolomon
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
