Gathering of scrolls memorializes Shoah victims and communities

Gathering of scrolls memorializes Shoah victims and communities

Jewish specialists sorting materials sent to Prague (MST website)
Jewish specialists sorting materials sent to Prague (MST website)

The 60th Anniversary Memorial Scroll Gathering for New Jersey and Southern New York — bringing together Czech Torah scrolls saved from the Nazi Holocaust — will take place Sunday, Nov. 3, 2:45 p.m., at Temple Beth Tikvah in Wayne.

The musical program will begin at 2:45; the convocation at 3.

The NJ-Area Memorial-Scroll Gathering Committee is convening the event six decades after the rescued scrolls’ arrival at London’s Westminster Synagogue.

After the war, the Memorial Scrolls Trust selected congregations and organizations around the world to serve as custodians for one of these sacred scrolls, with the recipients’ pledge to return them to active Jewish life. This gathering celebrates these memorials to Jewish heritage and the lives and communities destroyed in the Shoah.

The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Ramapo College is available to help congregations research their scrolls’ communities of origin and to plan educational programs around them. Contact the center at holgen@ramapo.edu.

Participating synagogues have been asked to have two scroll custodians transport the scrolls and to arrive at 2 p.m., to ensure that the scrolls be displayed before most participants arrive. The scrolls will never be left unattended.

Synagogues and organizations with Czech Memorial Scrolls that have not yet confirmed their participation should send an email to gathering@scrollgatheringnj.org.

Those interested in learning more about the community of origin of their synagogue’s or organization’s scroll and developing educational programming around it should contact the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Ramapo College at holgen@ramapo.edu or 201-684-7409.

All program attendees, including scroll custodians, are asked to acquire tickets in advance by going to scrollgatheringnj.org. The program will last approximately two hours. While there is no charge to attend, donations of $10 per person or $18 per family are suggested.

For more information, contact gathering@scrollgatheringnj.org.

— NJ-Area Memorial-Scroll Gathering Committee

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