Our Holocaust Torah Scroll

Congregation Beth Israel is the proud guardian of a Torah scroll rescued from the Holocaust in Czechoslovakia. Our scroll, MST#616, was written in the 16th century. It is known as an "Orphan Scroll" because we only know that it came from some town in Bohemia or Moravia. Unfortunately, its exact origin is unknown to us. 

It comes from a collection of 1564 Torah scrolls that were saved in Prague during the Nazi occupation of 1939-1945. They were acquired by the Westminster Synagogue in London. It is on permanent loan from the Memorial Scrolls Trust in London.

The locations of other  rescued Torah scrolls can be seen on this map.