It’s ironic how life has a way of moving us in circles, revisiting people, episodes, thoughts and beliefs from earlier chapters in our lives. I became a Reconstructionist as early as my high school years when I could not reconcile my practice of Judaism with my inability to believe in the miracles recorded in the Bible. Recon. offered a Jewish path of some intellectual integrity and I was hooked. Today, I am no less a Reconstructionist, yet I am convinced that one cannot be a Jew in the 21st century and not believe in miracles. If I didn’t fully believe this before, our family’s involvement in acquiring a Holocaust Torah for Adat Shalom, which we will be dedicating today, made me a believer.
A miracle is an event or a series of circumstances that would otherwise be inconceiveable to the imagination. A religious miracle is one that also, reveals a larger truth. The story of the Holocaust Torahs is just this kind of miracle.
As the Nazis occupied country after country in Europe, they amassed a collection of synagogue treasures which they confiscated from the Jewish communities that they destroyed. It included gold, silver, ritual objects, manuscripts and books. The items were brought to Prague and catalogued by Jewish prisoners of the Third Reich. Most of those Jews were later sent to death camps. The collection itself was intended to form the basis for a museum that Hitler planned to create, telling the world the story of the Jewish race. It was also the basis for the Precious Legacy exhibit which was brought to the US by the Library of Congress in the 1980’s.
The decimated Jewish community of post-war Prague did not have the resources to maintain this collection so it was given over to the Czech state authorities who maintained it. The most treasured part of this collection were 1,564 Torah scrolls that were confiscated from synagogues across central Europe and brought to Prague by the Nazis. There were far too many to display and there was concern that, being already in bad condition, they would further deteriorate in storage, rolled up and uncared for.
In 1963 a prominent British art dealer brokered an arrangement between the Czech gov’t and a London Jewish philanthropist, Ralph Yablon, in which Mr. Yablon would purchase the scrolls provided they were transferred to a non-profit organization. Mr. Yablon convinced Rabbi Harold Reinhart, of Reform Westminster Synagogue in London to take responsibility for the scrolls. The rabbi, along with synagogue trustees, converted the entire third floor of their synagogue to the Holocaust Torah project.
Thus began a twenty-five year process of sorting, cataloguing and, to the extent possible, repairing the Torahs. The commitment on the part of the project’s organizers was to find synagogues around the world that would essentially, adopt these orphaned Torahs. I use the term "orphaned" quite deliberately. In many communities, there is a tradition that when a group of Jews is one short of the ten adults required for a minyan, the Torah is counted as the tenth. The Torah is, literally, a Jew’s companion. Judaism begins with the acceptance of Torah at Mt. Sinai by the Jewish people. As the focal point of centuries of study and commentary, the wisdom represented by the Torah is the common denominator that links Jews, not only with each other, but with our ancestors who stood at Sinai and entered into a holy covenant with God. Many were the Jews who ran into burning synagogues to rescue their beloved Torahs--sometimes successfully, sometimes not.
Indeed, the Torahs that were brought to Westminster synagogue bore every evidence of the terror and tragedy of the Holocaust from which they were saved. Some were charred from fire. Some mildewed from the elements. Some were stained with blood. Some were wrapped in clothing, presumably an attempt to protect them by the last Jew to touch it. Some were wrapped in talitot, the Jewish prayer shawl in which traditional Jews are buried. And in some were found handwritten notes, desparate pleas from Jews who knew that they would perish. They entrusted a Torah with the their final words hoping that it would survive them and bear their testimony to the world.
Which brings me to the miracles. Miracles are in the eye of the beholder. The Vatican requires evidence of three miracles to qualify an individual for sainthood. They are the kind of miracles that make most Jews roll their eyes. But there is another kind of miracle. Albert Einstein once said that the world is made up of two kinds of people--those who don’t believe in miracles; and those who see every day of life as filled with miracles. You’ll decide for yourself which catagory these Holocaust Torah miracles fall into.
Miracle #1- Within a few months of the arrival of the Torahs at Westminster synagogue, there was a ring at the door. Ruth Shaffer, the woman who, until this day, oversees the Holocaust Torah project as a labor of love, came downstairs to answer. A Hasidic Jew, trained as a sofer (scribe), was standing in the doorway. He had stopped by to inquire if the synagogue had any Torahs in need of repair. Without hesitation, Ms. Shaffer replied, "Yes, 1,564". For the next 25 years, sofer David Brand spent five days a week on the third floor of the Westminster Synagogue, doing his best to repair these Holocaust Torahs so that they might be fit for use by synagogues willing to take them.
Miracle #2- Many are the stories of survivors of the war who discover lost relatives after decades of separation. Sometimes they didn’t even know that a loved one survived the Holocaust. It also happens with Torahs. So it was that when one of the Holocaust Torahs was dedicated at Bet HaTikvah Synagogue in N.Victoria, Australia a few years ago, in attendance was the Czech consul general, a certain Dr. Kantor. As a diplomat, he didn’t know the details of the dedication but he thought it appropriate to attend. Lo and behold as the rabbi explained that the Torah they were dedicating was traced to the small town of Jicin, Czechoslovakia, Dr. Kantor started to shiver. He stood up and told the stunned assembly that his father and grandfather were both leaders of that very Jewish community in the years leading up to Nazi occupation. Life had again come full circle.
Miracle 3#- Our family experienced a miracle of its own upon our visit to Westminster Synagogue this summer. I was somewhat familiar with the Holocaust Torah project. I acquired one at my prior congregation some 20 years ago and was pleased to see Beth Israel of Media,PA listed in the literature at Westminster Syn. detailing all of the congregations around the world which were now using Holocaust Torahs. But at that time, the procedure only involved a letter and a payment of funds. When Joel indicated his interest to acquire a Holocaust Torah last year as part of his Bar Mitzvah project, I was told that there were no more full Torah scrolls fit for regular use to be had. What remained were badly damaged scrolls, fitting for a commemorative display and no more. So as to avoid disappointment, we would be required to pay a personal visit to Westminster Synagogue to select a scroll that we might want to bring back with us to the States.
In my mind I imagined that as we put up our new building we should create just such a display case for the Torah remnant we would bring back. And so I informed our Land and Building Committee to plan accordingly. Our family, along with my parents, flew directly to London after spending two weeks in Israel. We went directly from the airport to Westminster Synagogue where we had a set appointment. After viewing the small museum on the synagogues third floor, we were ushered into the storage rooms with the remaining Torahs. Most appeared just as they were described--badly damaged, torn and charred. Which to choose? Suddenly our eldest, Danny, pulled out a scroll from under the many others piled on a table. It looked to be in excellent condition. We set it down on the table and opened it to find the most beautiful calligraphy we had ever seen. The treatment on the letters lamed and peh were intricate and ornate. So unique in fact, that when we later had the scroll checked by a so fer it took him less than a minute to identify the Torah as having been written in the 16th century in southern Germany in a style that has long since been out of use. Even more remarkably, scroll #1854 seemed to be complete. Even the custodian of the project who oversaw the selection process was shocked. It had been years since anyone had found a complete and ready to use Torah in the Czech collection at Westminster Synagogue.
All of which brings me to the fourth and most significant miracle in the story. The Torah that we will dedicate today at Adat Shalom was once used by a Jewish community in Europe that we cannot identify and by Jews we will never know. Both the community and the Jews were wiped out by the Nazis. This Torah was orphaned. It was intended to be used by the Nazis as an exhibit in a museum to the extinct Jewish race. But the Torah has outlived the Nazis. And so have we.
Today we have the great privilege of adopting this Holocaust Torah and dedicating it. When we take it out of the ark and read from it, it will be used as it was intended for the first time in at least 50 years. What does it mean?
In becomming its custodians, there is an element of melancholy as well as an element of great joy and celebration. Melancholy because when we see it, it will always serve as chilling reminder of the millions of Jews who lost their lives tragically only because they were Jews. Joy and celebration because in re-dedicating this Torah for use in as vibrant a Jewish community as Adat Shalom, we are reminded of our people’s tenacity for survival. Finally, being custodians of this sacred scroll becomes a powerful reminder to us of our responsibility to take Torah and Judaism seriously--to study Torah, to live Torah, to be Torah in our lives. And to pass that legacy on to the next generation.
(This is a modified version of the prayer invoked by Rabbi Harold Reinhart of Westminster Synagogue in London upon the dedication of the first Holocaust Torah on June 2, 1968).
Dear God, source and sustainer of all creation. We thank you for this sefer Torah which now comes to illumine our sanctuary and our lives. We consider it a sacred treasure. May its presence in our midst serve as a memorial to the martyrs of our people who perished in the Holocaust. We pray that the souls of the pious who eyes once looked upon this Torah, be remembered for good and that we, who survive them, insure that they did not die in vain.
As we bring this Torah into our community and into the spiritual home that we are building together, we pray that we may be worthy of the history which this scroll represents. May each of us deepen our commitment to a life of Torah, living lives that bring honor to the Jewish people and advance the cause of peace and justice in the world at large. To this end do we dedicate this Holocaust Torah for use at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation this fourth day of Adar II, 5760, shabbat Pekuday, March 11, 2000.
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