Temple Judea is honored to be the home of two Torah scrolls recovered from history by the Czech Memorial Scrolls Trust (MST).

MST#451 was written at the end of the 18th century and has a provenance of the Pinkas Synagogue Prague. In 1939 when the Germans invaded Czechoslovakia, synagogues were closed and many in and around Prague sent their Torah to the Pinkas for safe-keeping, unfortunately without recording the communities they came from. As a result there are 141 Pinkas scrolls.

MST#593 is an Orphan scroll from an unknown town in Bohemia and Moravia. We have no indication of age on our records. Over 200,000 Jewish artefacts were shipped to Prague between 1942 and 1944.  Almost all were catalogued by Jewish curators and librarians under awful stress and conditions. In some cases due to lack of time, in other due to the details being lost, there are 225 scrolls without any records of where they came from. These are referred to as Orphans, from an unknown town in Bohemia and Moravia.

These special Torah Scrolls function as working Torah scrolls, playing an important role in our community's worship and services. For example, each Selichot they are removed from the ark ceremonially, dressed in white with the rest of our Torahs, paraded around the room, and replaced lovingly back into the ark. On Yom Kippur, they are a part of the procession into our sanctuary and are held by our Past Presidents during Kol Nidre. On Simchat Torah, we dance with all of our Torah scrolls, and members of the congregation are given the honor of (carefully) carrying them around the room during hakafot before replacing the cover and returning them to the ark. Our MST scrolls are also sometimes brought out of the ark for the reading of the 10 commandments on Shavuot or at Parshat Yitro, and have been used to pass tradition - l'dor v'dor - into the hands of our confirmation students. These scrolls are an important symbol of Jewish resiliency, and each time time we use them, we remember our rich, shared history. Each MST is a messenger from a community that was lost, but does not deserve to be forgotten. It is a legacy we are proud to honor at Temple Judea. We encourage you to click here to learn more about how these scrolls were saved and preserved to make their way to our congregation.  For more information on the Memorial Scrolls Trust, visit their website.