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Overcast These scrolls are still here
Rockville Centre synagogues honor Torahs that survived Holocaust
The Nazis thought these Torahs would be relics of a forgotten people, but today they stand as the symbols of the people who thrived and survived.
The Jewish community of Rockville Centre honored three sacred Torah scrolls in a ceremony for Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, at Congregation B’Nai Sholom-Beth David on Hempstead Avenue.
During World War II, Nazis took Torah scrolls — handwritten copies of the Jewish holy book — from communities across Bohemia and Moravia in the current Czech Republic. Supposedly, the Nazis kept the Torahs and other Jewish objects for a planned museum of the former Jewish people.
“We are pleased to be able to bring our scroll to this community tonight in order to join together with the other two Holocaust scrolls,” said Rabbi Elliot Skiddel of Congregation Beth Emeth. “And send a clear message to all those who hoped that museum of the extinct Jewish community, to show them that our Jewish communities are alive and thriving.”
After the war, the Torahs — 1,564 total — ended up in a Prague synagogue turned warehouse. Eventually they made it to the Westminster Synagogue in London, which morphed into the Memorial Scrolls Trust. The Trust has restored many of the Torahs, providing them to schools and synagogues around the world.
“From there, over the years, they’ve been sent to Jewish communities around the world,” said Rabbi Marc Gruber of Central Synagogue of Nassau County. “The members of these communities — our three congregations — are among them, cherish these sifrei Torah as memorials to a tragic past, and more importantly use these scrolls for study by a new generation of Jews, the guarantors of Jewish survival and rebirth.”
Each of the congregations in Rockville Centre received a 19th century Torah from the collection. The first arrived at B’nai Sholom in 1980, and now sits in the main lobby of the temple. It is kept open to Deuteronomy 25:17-19: “Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you were leaving Egypt.” Amalekites represent evil for evil’s sake.
