October 3, 2007 - North County News
Yorktown Synagogue Embarks on Campaign to Restore Torah Rescued from Holocaust by Laura Scharf

Temple Beth Am, a Reform Jewish congregation in Yorktown, is the proud home of one of 1,564 Torahs rescued from the Holocaust.

The Torah scrolls contain the first five books of the Old Testament.

The Torah, which has been at Temple Beth Am since September 1967, is urgently in need of restoration, which must be done by a trained scribe. The scribe letters every character by hand, writing on parchment with a quill pen. It is a painstaking process.

The Torah was is disrepair even before it arrived at Beth Am, and the congregation recently had a scribe come to inspect it. Letters are lifting off the parchment in places, and there are stains and tears that need to be properly repaired. The cost of the restoration is estimated at $40,000.

Rabbi Robert Weiner and the Temple Board hope to involve the congregation in the restoration process, using the experience as a hands-on opportunity to teach about the Torah. “This Torah is a symbol of hope,” says Rabbi Weiner, echoing the thoughts of the Nobel prize-winning writer, Elie Wiesel.

“May it be a reminder of the dark times; of the hope which endured within the Jewish people (during the Holocaust); of the task of remembering which we all share,’ wrote Wiesel.
  
The restoration initiative will begin on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah on Thursday evening, October 4, when the whole Torah is unrolled. Simchat Torah, which means rejoicing in the Torah, marks the end of the annual cycle of readings from the Torah.
  
The History of the Czech Torahs

December 15 and 25, 2008 - Journal News and Yorktown and Cortlandt Express
Temple Celebrates Torah Restoration by Danielle De Souza

When Temple Beth Am of Northern Westchester received its Czech Torah in 1967, its parchments had water damage, holes and tears.

Thirty-one years later, the Torah has been restored.

The temple held a "siyum," or celebration, to rededicate its restored Torah yesterday, a week before Hanukkah.

"This day is an emotional day because we have worked so hard to bring our scroll home," said Rabbi Robert Weiner. "It has brought us back to the beginning."

Before the Torah was donated to the temple, it was found in 1963 in a warehouse in Prague, the capital of what was then Czechoslovakia. More than 1,000 scrolls were languishing in disrepair, according to the temple's Web site.

During the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, Torah scrolls from destroyed Jewish communities throughout the county were collected for use in a proposed museum of the extinct Jewish race.

After they were discovered in 1963, members of the Jewish community in London were contacted, and the scrolls were transported there a year later for repair.

"The Torah is the foundation for the congregation and for Jewish life," said Louise Iyengar, recording secretary of the temple. "We have an obligation to keep and preserve it."

Temple members have kept that obligation.

Over the past year, the temple raised about $40,000 for the restoration, Iyengar said. The restoration took one year.

The Torah was restored by Sofer Neil Yerman and his trained assistants. A sofer is one who writes and restores the holy writings of the people of Israel.

Yerman said the celebration was overwhelming.

"I did not really think there could be a greater joy and blessing than bringing the scroll back to its healthy life," he said. "But seeing the faces of all in attendance and the love the community feels toward each other, the clergy, leaders and this sacred scroll, has brought this to an unanticipated higher level."

Toward the end of the ceremony, members of the temple unrolled the scroll and wrapped it all the way around the room.

Daelah Aaronson, 40, of Cortlandt watched in awe.

"This was emotional and spiritual," she said. "I had a relative that died in the Holocaust and to see something that came from that time and to be able to grow with it and see our children grow with it is very special."

The celebration was memorable to 14-year-old Robert Pagan. He was the last bar mitzvah child to read the Torah before its restoration.

"I used it before it was restored and people before that used it in the Holocaust," said the Peekskill resident. "I feel like I am following in their footsteps."

Website of the Journal News : http://www.lohud.com
Photos of our Siyum in the Journal News : http://jukebox.lohud.com/photos/refers/index.php?gallery=Torah%2012-14-08