Historic Torah, looted by the Nazis, finds new home in Liberec
A historic Torah scroll that survived the Holocaust and decades of neglect under Communist rule has found a new home in Liberec. On Saturday, the rare artefact was loaned to the local Jewish community on a long-term basis by the Memorial Scrolls Trust in London, which manages over 1,500 Torah scrolls from Bohemia and Moravia.
For the Jewish Community of Liberec, acquiring the scroll has been a significant event. Until now, they had only one Torah in their prayer room, though every Jewish community is meant to have at least three.
Known as Torah scroll number 108, it originally belonged to the Jewish community of Nymburk, where it was in use until 1942, when the Nazis confiscated it for their planned museum on Judaism in Prague. Nearly 2,000 scrolls were taken for this purpose.
After the war, the scrolls were kept in a disused synagogue in Prague's Michle district. In the 1960s, the Communist authorities sold them to a private collector in London. A foundation was later established at Westminster Synagogue to preserve these scriptures.
David Maxa, Rabbi of Prague’s Progressive Jewish Community Ec chajim, says it was, in a way, a stroke of luck:
"Though Communist authorities treated this heritage poorly, the advantage of selling the scrolls abroad was that they were repaired and loaned to Jewish communities worldwide—from Buenos Aires, Israel, Germany, to the US. This way, they honour Bohemian and Moravian Jewish heritage and the memory of those who read from them before the war, most of whom did not survive."
On Saturday, representatives of the Liberec Jewish Community placed the precious scroll in a special spot in their synagogue to the sound of singing. For now, it cannot be used during prayers, as some letters are hard to read, explains Mr. Maxa:
“The letters in the scroll must be perfectly legible. If they are not, the scroll must be professionally restored by a sofer, a Jewish scribe. This is a rather costly process."
Despite its damage, the scroll holds great meaning for Liberec, as the Torah is a unifying symbol for Jews, says Jeffrey Ohrenstein, chairman of the Memorial Scrolls Trust, who personally delivered the scroll:
“Whether one believes in Torah min ha-shamayim—that God gave it to Moses word for word on Mount Sinai—or views it as a later compilation, most Jewish people also recognize the Torah as the Pentateuch, revered in Christianity, and Al Taurat, revered in Islam. One mission of the Memorial Scrolls Trust is to use this Torah to remind people of what we share, rather than what divides us.”
Liberec is only the third place in Czechia, after Prague and Olomouc, to receive a Torah from the Foundation. The community will now raise funds to restore it.
