A Czechoslovakian Torah from the Czech Memorial Scroll
Trust & Museum in London is on display at the Holocaust & Intolerance
Museum of New Mexico as part of an educational initiative promoting peace.
The Torah is one of 1,564 scrolls, and other Jewish
artifacts, salvaged from historic Czech synagogues left destroyed and deserted
following the Nazi invasion during World War II.
In 1942, members of Prague’s Jewish community
devised a way to bring the religious treasures from the deserted provincial
communities to the comparative safety of Prague. The Nazis were persuaded to
accept this plan and more than 100,000 items were sent to the Central Jewish
Museum in Prague. Among them were hundreds of Torahs. Each was meticulously
recorded on a card index by the museum’s staff with a description of the scroll
and the place from which it came.
In 1964, the scrolls were transferred to Westminster
Synagogue in London. After months of sorting, examining and cataloguing each,
the task of distributing them began with the aim of returning them to Jewish
congregations worldwide. The Memorial Scrolls Trust was established to carry this
out. Over the years the racks have grown vacant as one scroll after another is
restored to its rightful place in Jewish life. Currently, there are about 1,400
scrolls housed all over the world.
Now the only scrolls available for distribution are
those that are returned for a variety of reasons. Congregation B’nai Israel in
Albuquerque obtained its Torah several years ago and has agreed to lend it to
Holocaust & Intolerance Museum of New Mexico. The Torah will be the
centerpiece in a curriculum aimed at educating young people about the Holocaust
and combating hatred.
“This is a way to remind ourselves as to what
happened,” said Congregation B’nai Israel President Harvey Buchalter. “This is
a Torah that once served a congregation that no longer exists. We’ve reclaimed
some part of Czech Jewry that goes back 2,000 years.”
A Museum official agrees.
“If we do not learn from the inhumanities of the
past and present, these brutal injustices will continue worldwide,” said Jerry
Small, museum co-president. “People, especially young people, must not only be
aware of this, but also understand it and become active in promoting peace.”
The Torah and curriculum will be available until
April 2013 at the New Mexico Holocaust & Intolerance Museum at 616 Central
Ave. SW, in Albuquerque. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday through
Saturday. For more information call (505) 247-0606, or visit www.nmholocaustmuseum.org.
The Holocaust & Intolerance Museum of New Mexico
is a beneficiary agency of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico. This post was written by Ann Powers.
