Provo, UT – In Jewish tradition, a Torah scroll is more than ink on
parchment detailing God’s commands and promises. It becomes — if not a
soul in and of itself — then the embodiment of what saves souls and
helps secure them in an insecure world.
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So when Rabbi Benny Zippel, Salt Lake City’s orthodox rabbi, learned
that a Provo antiques dealer had a Torah scroll, he went to the shop,
owned by Brent Ashworth, and found that pieces of the scroll had been
sliced up.
On site, the rabbi plunked down his credit card, asking for not only
the scroll, but also the cut-up pieces still waiting to be mounted and
framed.
“For Jews, this is a serious desecration of the most sacred object in
the Jewish faith,” he said, he was following a commandment found in the
Torah known as “Pidyon Shvuyim,” which means “redeeming the captives.”
Having survived the Holocaust — in which Hitler’s war machine was
determined to destroy both the Jews and everything Jewish — the scroll
made its way to Provo. Markings in the back of the scroll indicate it
was owned pre-World War II by a family in Poland.
The rabbi began to wonder how he could possibly “redeem” the scroll by
having it restored. He sent the items to Rabbi Moshe Klein, a scribe in
the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, N.Y.
It took Klein, who ascertained some of the scroll’s Holocaust history
based on markings on its back, nine months to repair the extant letters
and arrange for the completion of the new sections.
This week, members of Utah’s Jewish community and the public are
invited to attend a dedication ceremony at Chabad Lubavitch of Utah, 1760 S.
1100 East, to celebrate the “redemption” of the scroll.[startribune]
Zuto shel yam. The previous owner’s rights have long ago disappeared.
If we can know the writings on the back of the Torah, which indicate its from Poland, we might be able to ascertain its rightful owner or his family.