Lodz Gets First New Torah Scroll Since Holocaust
The Jewish community of the Polish city of Lodz received its first new Torah scroll since World War II, its rabbi said.
The scroll, donated to the community by the British Jewish philanthropists Hilton and Louise Nathanson, was introduced on Monday during a special ceremony in the city’s synagogue, the rabbi of the Jewish Community of Lodz, Symcha Keller, told the PAP news agency.
“It is a wonderful culmination to the 210 years of existence of the local community and the 20th anniversary of its return to its prewar headquarters,” Keller said of the donation made by the Nathansons.
The donors chose Lodz after celebrating their son’s bar mitzvah there, because their families hail from Lodz and Radom, PAP reported.
The scribes of the Torah, which took six months to write, outlined the last few letters for the Nathansons to fill in during the ceremony under a scribe’s supervision. Chief Polish Rabbi Michael Schudrich also attended the event.
Lodz, which is located in central Poland, had hundreds of thousands of Jews before the Holocaust.
Prior to receiving the new scroll, the Jewish community of Lodz, which is made up of a few hundred members, used an older scroll that predates World War II and was so frail it had to be handled with extreme care lest it tear, according to David Szychowski, the Lodz envoy of the Israeli Shavei Israel organization, which aims to help people with Jewish ancestry return to Judaism.
Earlier this year, Beit Trojmiasto — the Reform Jewish community of cities of Gdansk, Gydinia and Spopot – dedicated a synagogue in Gdansk. It was named Beit Haim Dov in honor of Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, the director of Friends of Jewish Renewal in Poland, which is a support group for Beit Polska, the umbrella organization for Polish Reform and Conservative Jewish communities.
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
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
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.