Shul Donates Scroll to Sandy-Hit Congregation
Members of a Kansas City synagogue have come to the aid of Jewish Hurricane Sandy victims in Long Island by donating a Torah scroll to a synagogue that lost four.
Kehilath Israel Synagogue, an Orthodox synagogue in Overland Park, Kan., which has more than 15 Torah scrolls, is donating a Torah scroll to Congregation Ahavas Yisroel, a small Orthodox synagogue in Cedarhurst which had its four Torah scrolls badly damaged by the hurricane.
The Long Island synagogue was decimated after 4 feet of water washed away tables, chairs, prayer books, and four Torah scrolls, one that was over 90 years old, the congregation’s rabbi, Yissachar Blinder, told JTA.
“Our Torahs were soaked with enough damage that it will be months before we are able to use them,” Blinder said. “We are really grateful for everyone in Kansas City for making this gesture to help us.”
The donation effort was spearheaded by Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz, Kehilath Israel’s senior rabbi, who noted that damage to synagogues could hurt the community as a whole.
“Torahs aren’t like necklaces that should just be worn occasionally and then stored away, they should be used and shared with the community,” Yanklowitz said. “We obviously weren’t affected by the hurricane here in Kansas City and we were looking for different ways to contribute to those hurt.”
Blinder’s synagogue does not own any Torah scrolls; the four scrolls damaged in the storm were on loan from synagogue members, and Blinder said a Torah scroll is just what the community needed.
“This is a silver lining for all that we’ve been through with this hurricane,” he said.
A small ceremony honoring the Torah donation and dedication will be held in Long Island on Dec. 4.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 3
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 4
Opinion What Jewish university presidents say: Trump is exploiting campus antisemitism, not fighting it
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture This Jewish New Yorker survived the Holocaust and the Hungarian Revolution, and is still helping others today
-
Fast Forward Trump says he and Netanyahu are ‘on the same side of every issue’ following talks on Iran, tariffs
-
Fast Forward California school board members accused of antisemitism during contentious meeting
-
Fast Forward Over 100 Chicago-area rabbis and cantors condemn Trump’s campus crackdown
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.