Torah scroll portion
Not on view
Date1840
ClassificationsJudaica
Credit LineGift of Aaron and Irene Rosenfeld
Object number2000.A.280
Object DescriptionFull size Torah scroll on parchment. Missing about 40% of Deuteronomy and the second brass stave (etz). The one stave that remains is engraved. It says, in Hebrew, "this is the Torah given as a gift to the synagogue by The R"R (harav rabi) Yaakov ben R' Nachum in partnership with the group of those who recite Psalms/ on the day of light, happiness and joy, the 14th of Adar II in the year 5600." This was Purim. This Sefer Torah was hidden during the Holocaust with 48 others on a farm by a non-Jewish farmer in Poland. Apparently the farmer was afraid that Germans would come through to collect food and find the Torahs being hidden in the farmer's stable. No information about why he was willing to take this risk. After the war, the donor's cousin, Jacob Stransky got two pieces: one he gave to a rabbi in the US, no name available, and the one that Mr. Rosenfeld donated to us. Mr. Rosenfeld had this one at the Young Israel of Petach Tikvah, where he lived from 1970-1974. But they weren't doing anything with it, so he took it back. Stransky had been in Siberia and after release joined the Czech army. Stransky is no longer alive and his wife didn't have any more relevant information.Collections
- Judaica
- Jewish Holidays
Keywords
- Hebrew
- Purim
- Torah scrolls
- Defiance-religious and cultural
- Poland
