Czech Torah Scroll

Temple Emanu-El is honored to be the custodian of Holocaust Memorial Torah Scroll #760, originally from the town of Budyně nad Ohří in the historic Bohemia region of the Czech Republic. While the exact date of Scroll #760’s creation is unknown, an inscription on a band on its rollers suggests the scroll may date back to 1926, making it nearly a century old. Temple Emanu-El received this scroll in 1986, and it remains a cherished and meaningful part of our community.

Holocaust Memorial Torah Scroll #760, photographed in Temple Emanu-El’s Main Sanctuary

This scroll belonged to Budyně nad Ohří’s Ashkenazi Jewish community, which was active from the early 18th century until its tragic decimation during the Holocaust. Remarkably, the town’s Synagogue survived and, after being marked as a cultural monument in 2009, it underwent an extensive restoration, completed in 2023. To learn more about the building and this project, check out the links below. 

Scroll #760 is on permanent loan from the Memorial Scrolls Trust in London, which was established after art dealer Eric Estorick’s 1964 purchase of 1,564 Torah scrolls from the Artia, a company run by the Czech communist government. The purchase was funded by philanthropist Ralph Yablon under the guidance of Rabbi Harold Reinhart of Westminster Synagogue. Each scroll was authenticated and examined by a team of sofrim (scribes) to determine its condition and potential for ritual use.

The 1,564 recovered Czech scrolls are survivors and silent witnesses. They represent lost communities in Bohemia and Moravia and serve as powerful tools for education across the world. The scrolls are never sold or donated; rather, the Memorial Scroll Trust encourages their use in ritual life and in fostering interfaith and educational engagement. Check out the links below to learn more about the Memorial Scrolls Trust and their continuing work in locating and identifying missing scrolls.