“Where there is Torah, it sustains the world.”
–Ovadia Yosef, the late Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel
At Shabbat morning services on Feb. 25, Northwest Baltimore’s Chevrei Tzedek Congregation will rededicate its Holocaust-era Torah scroll.
Since 1993, the scroll — which was rescued in the former Czechoslovakia and nearly destroyed during the Holocaust -– has been on loan to Chevrei Tzedek from the Memorial Scrolls Trust, a London-based nonprofit that oversees the care of more than 1,500 Torah scrolls from lost Jewish communities.
The loan was made possible through the efforts of the late Aubrey and Amelia Jay, who belonged to Chevrei Tzedek. But the Torah scroll was not used regularly by the Conservative congregation over the years due to damage to its handwritten panels.
Chevrei Tzedek recently raised the funds to restore and rededicate the Torah, thanks to the efforts of congregant Alan Cohen and the Brenner and Jay families, as well as the support of the Memorial Scrolls Trust.
The scroll was completely restored by Bernard Benarroch, a London-based sofer, or scribe, associated with the Memorial Scrolls Trust. At 10 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 26, a Zoom event about the Torah scroll will feature Benarroch and Dr. Deborah B. Thompson, an educator and scholar of Jewish art and history.
According to the synagogue, the provenance of the Torah scroll is both unique and mysterious.
“Our scroll is unusual because it is written by a sofer from the ‘Prague School of Kabbalists [Jewish mystics],’” Chevrei Tzedek declared on its website. “This style is noted by the placement of small letters inside of large letters. … Since the war, no sofer has written a Torah scroll this way because the Nazis murdered every member of this school of scribes, and we do not know why they wrote letters this way. Lacking this knowledge, scribes since the war do not believe they are qualified to duplicate this style of writing.”
The website noted, “During the summer of 2022, the Memorial Scrolls Trust’s sofer in London restored our Torah and determined that it is now kosher. We will have our first reading from the scroll, its first reading since 1941, in February, 2023.”
Chevrei Tzedek holds services at the Edward A. Myerberg Center, at 3101 Fallstaff Rd. The “Looking Back and Facing Forward” program and service on Feb. 25 will begin at 9:15 a.m. with coffee, donuts and text study, followed services at 10 a.m. A kiddush lunch will follow the service. All are welcome.
For information, visit chevreitzedek.org/torahrededication.html.
Spending on "hasbara" should be “like investing in jets, bombs and missile interceptors,” argues Israel’s foreign minister.
Presented by Jews United for Justice and a consortium of local synagogues, "Beyond Welcoming the Stranger" offered a Jewish approach to helping immigrants.
John Singer wants to help Marylanders of all economic backgrounds to afford ankle foot orthoses.
At Krieger Schechter Day School, joining in the later elementary or middle school isn’t a setback -- it’s a launch pad.