Torah Scrolls

SACRED TREASURES

Neve Shalom has the distinct honor of being  in possession of several Sifrei Torah. Two of them are described below:

HOLOCAUST TORAH

In October, 1978 our congregation came into possession of a Sefer Torah via the facilitation of the Memorial Scrolls Trust (MST #825) of London, England. This Trust became a  central depository of thousands of Sifrei Torah rescued from the Holocaust era. This particular Sefer Torah is from the Pinkas Synagogue in Prague and is one of 1,800 scrolls and 200,000 artifacts that were sent from the Jewish communities of Bohemia an Moravia to the Jewish Museum of Prague during World War II. A total of 1,564 of these scrolls were purchased by Mr. Ralph Yablon from the Czech government and then sent to the Westminster Synagogue in London. Neve Shalom secured this Torah through the work of Mildred Holtzman, VP, and the Memorial Scrolls Committee. The scroll is on permanent loan to Neve Shalom. It is prominently displayed on the wall of our sanctuary and opened to the section of Deuteronomy 25:19-----“The remembrance of Amalek…you shall not forget.”

SEPHARDIC TORAH

Prominently displayed inside our aron kodesh  a unique sterling silver case is displayed for congregants and visitors to behold and admire . This is a Sephardic Sefer Torah presented to Neve Shalom by Gail and Felice Fellus, z”l,  on the occasion of their 25^th wedding anniversary. This Torah was dedicated to the memory of their respective parents on December 16, 2006 on a special Shabbat celebrating Sephardic culture and nusach. The scroll inside the case was 50 years old at the time of the dedication, was prepared with Sephardic script, and the silver case was custom-designed and crafted in Israel with the names of the couple and their parents etched in silver. This Torah is rolled to the Book of Bamidbar, Parashat Pinchas (Felice’s Hebrew name) and is often used by our congregation when that Parashah is read on Shabbat and during chagim.