Sefer Torah #421
Temple Israel Columbus is blessed to be entrusted with the care a treasure from the ashes of the Holocaust—a restored Torah scroll from the town of Dobris, Czech Republic—where Jews first settled in the 17th century. The scroll has been entrusted to us on permanent loan from the Czech Memorial Scrolls Trust in London, England. This organization has loaned over 1400 scrolls to congregations around the world to be used for liturgical, commemorative and educational purposes as a symbol of continuing Jewish faith and culture and the endurance of the Jewish people.
A Thriving Community Cut Short
According to the 1930 census, over 117,000 Jews called Bohemia and Moravia home. These communities maintained at least 350 synagogues across the region, each serving as a spiritual center for generations of families. One of these synagogues was located in the city of Dobris and established in 1904. This synagogue housed the Torah scroll now held by Temple Israel Columbus.
In 1942, the Central Office for Jewish Emigration in Prague—the Nazi authority overseeing the persecution of Jews— commanded Jewish communities to send all their sacred objects to the Jewish Museum in Prague, which was now being used as a repository for looted and surrendered property from Jewish congregations and organizations. The Germans employed Jewish workers to catalog these items, only to deport those same workers to concentration camps once their task was completed. By 1943, over 82,000 Jews had been deported to Terezin and other camps. More than sixty synagogues were destroyed by war’s end.
From Communist Control to London
After the war, the museum was placed under national administration. By the early 1960s, the Czechoslovak Communist regime began seeking to sell liturgical items to buyers abroad and in 1963, the entire collection of Torah scrolls was sold to London lawyer and businessman Ralph Yablon and stored at Kent House—the headquarters of the Westminster Synagogue, where Yablon was a member. Rather than keeping these sacred objects in storage, a decision was made to give them new purpose. The scrolls could be loaned for commemorative use to institutions around the world, ensuring that the destroyed communities would not be forgotten. So the Czech Memorial Scrolls Centre of London was established.
Our Sacred Trust
Over the past 35 years, the Czech Memorial Scrolls Centre of London has distributed more than 1,500 Czech Torah scrolls on permanent loan to Jewish congregations, Holocaust memorials, museums, and libraries worldwide. Each scroll carries with it the story of the community that once treasured it. The remaining scrolls are housed in a small museum at Kent House, where they serve as a permanent memorial to the fate of these sacred objects and to the rich history of the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia—a history that spans centuries but was nearly extinguished in just a few terrible years.
Temple Israel Columbus is entrusted with the care of Sefer Torah #421, a restored Torah scroll from the town of Dobris, Czech Republic. In 1992, Temple members Judy and Gary Cooper were among the six people who traveled to Westminster Synagogue in London to transport Sefer Torah #421 back to Temple Israel Columbus.
For years, the scroll was housed in a beautiful display case created by Gary Cooper. Following Temple Israel’s renovation over a decade ago and our move to a new building, the Torah scroll now resides in our Aron Kodesh (Holy Ark), taking its rightful place among our most sacred objects.
Thanks to the generosity of Irene Levine and Lee Hess, Sefer Torah #421 is properly adorned with a beautiful cover depicting the Dobris Synagogue, a sterling silver breastplate with the names of Dobris temple members, as well as Torah crowns, and a Yad provided by Paula and Stuart Levine, z”l.
The Synagogue Today
During World War II the synagogue lay empty and in ruins until it was renovated in the 1950s and opened as a public building and cultural center. When it was renovated, the tower was removed and the building was transformed, making it difficult today to see the original architectural detail. Fragments that remained from the original destroyed synagogue were stored in the building’s attic, including a small stained glass window depicting a Star of David. This window is now displayed in the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center in Israel. During the renovation, the “Ten Commandments” panels from the synagogue tower were set in the façade of the building as a memorial to its past.
May their memories be for a blessing
Judy Tuckerman and Irene Levine also arranged for calligraphic artwork that lists the names of the Dobris Jewish community at the time of their transport to Auschwitz, Terezin, and Treblinka—names provided by the Jewish Museum of Prague. This poignant memorial piece hangs on a wall adjacent to the entrance to our Sanctuary.
