Our Czech Memorial Torah Scroll

Memorial Scrolls Trust Scroll #3 

Bet Shalom Congregation is home to a very special Torah scroll. It is one that has survived the darkest moments in Jewish history, lay abandoned and forgotten as those who read from it perished in the Holocaust, only to be saved and brought back to Jewish life here in our sanctuary.

On permanent loan from the Memorial Scrolls Trust in London, Scroll #3 is from the town of Klatovy, about 100 miles Southeast of Prague in what is now the Czech Republic. Our Scroll, just one of 1,564 scrolls that survived destruction in the war, was brought to London in February of 1964 as a result of a deal made between the Communist government of Czechoslovakia and the Westminster Synagogue in London. 

The story behind the saving of the scrolls is a remarkable narrative of a small group of Jews in Prague during the darkest days of Nazi occupation taking it upon themselves to devise a plan to gather and save all of the Judaica that they could from the hundreds of smaller communities.  With hopes that their labors would keep them from the transports they worked around the clock in terrible conditions to catalog and save their legacy in hopes that they could claim all of the items when the war was over.  Of course, for most, their efforts were in vein as nearly everyone involved perished.  But what did survive were hundreds of thousands of items representing Jewish life in the Czech lands; including nearly 2000 Torah scrolls.

Soon after their arrival in London, it was decided that the scrolls that could be repaired would be sent around the world to young and growing congregations.   The ones that had extensive damage would be also sent on permanent loan to become memorials to those communities that were lost.

Since arriving at Bet Shalom in 1981, shortly after Bet Shalom was founded,  our scroll had lived behind glass as a memorial; witnessing all worship and life cycles in our sanctuary.  In 2020, with the support of the Shamblott family, our scroll was taken from its commemorative case and was sent to Soferet Alexandra Casser who restored the scroll to the point of being suitable for worship.    Today, it now shares a place in our ark with our other Torahs and has a role in every B’nai Mitzvah service.

The Town of Klatovy

Jews established a community in Klatovy in 1848. The synagogue from where our scroll came was built in 1876.   Jewish life came to an end there on November 21, 1942 as all of the Jews were deported to Terezin and then most on to Auschwitz.  On the 70th anniversary of transports, a monument called “The Unfinished Menorah” was dedicated to all of the Jewish citizens of Klatovy just outside of the old synagogue site etched with the names of those who perished.