Holocaust Torah

Where did this scroll come from?  It is an incredible story. There were 1,564 Czech Torah scrolls saved from neglect and further deterioration after World War II. (Learn about their incredible story below.)  They ended up at Westminster Synagogue in London, where the Czech Memorial Scrolls Trust (MST) was established to oversee the scrolls.  The Trust provides many of these scrolls on long term loan to synagogues and institutions throughout the world.

We display this scroll so that people today may learn about and remember those Jews who perished in the Holocaust.  This very scroll was held, used, and revered by some of those people.

We hope that its history becomes more personal and meaningful to people from the experience of seeing and learning about this Torah.

From the website of the Memorial Scrolls Trust:

In 1963, the Artia, a company run by the Czech Communist government approached Eric Estorick an art dealer who frequently visited Prague to buy paintings for his Grosvenor Gallery in London, to ask if he was interested in buying some Torah and other scrolls.  He approached a client, Ralph Yablon who discussed the situation with Harold Reinhart, Rabbi of the Westminster Synagogue. 

It was decided to instruct Chimen Abramsky, Professor of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College, London to examine the scrolls in Prague and report on their authenticity and condition, on receipt of which Ralph Yablon generously agreed to fund the purchase of 1564 scrolls that arrived in London in February 1964.

Subsequently the Memorial Scrolls Trust, a charity, was set up and the scrolls have subsequently been allocated on to communities and organizations around the world. The scrolls are never sold or donated, but allocated on loan. Communities that close or merge with other Czech scroll-holders are obliged to return their scroll to the Trust.

Learn more about the Memorial Scrolls project HERE.