250-Year-Old British Torah Scroll Is Returned to Cornwall Community
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
A Torah scroll that has spent more than 100 years in a British museum was returned to its Jewish community, the Falmouth Packet newpaper reported.
The Torah was one of four scrolls that had been kept in the Royal Cornwall Museum since the closing of the Falmouth Synagogue in 1892.
The 250-year-old Torah scroll was given during a ceremony to Kehillat Kernow, the Jewish community of Cornwall, on May 28. It was returned by the Duke of Gloucester on behalf of the museum, according to the BBC.
The scroll was first restored and repaired, and is believed to be the first kosher Torah scroll in the country to be given back by a museum.
In March 2013 the trustees of The Royal Institution of Cornwall, the charity which runs the museum, approved the return of one of the scrolls, following a formal request from heads of Kehillat Kernow and supported by the former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and with advice from the Museums Association ethics committee.
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