Category
torah scroll
Women of the Wall hold bat mitzvah at Kotel with smuggled Torah scroll
The Women of the Wall group secreted a Torah scroll into the women’s section of the Western Wall in order to hold a bat mitzvah ceremony during its monthly Rosh Chodesh service.
Women of the Wall director detained by police over Torah scroll
The executive director of the Women of the Wall was detained by police after smuggling a Torah scroll into the women’s section of the Western Wall.
Italian Torah scroll identified as oldest still in use by a Jewish community
A Torah scroll from the synagogue in the northern Italian town of Biella has been identified as probably the oldest in the world still owned and used by a Jewish community.
Women of the Wall smuggle Torah scroll into Kotel plaza
Women who defied Western Wall Plaza rules by bringing a small Torah scroll there were allowed to finish praying.
Women of the Wall, shielded by police, raises Torah scroll and blows shofar
Women of the Wall blew a shofar at the back of the Western Wall Plaza and raised a Torah scroll at the plaza’s gate under a heavy police barricade.
Israeli rabbi said to be suspected of stealing Torah scrolls
Police in Israel have reportedly arrested a rabbi suspected of stealing Torah scrolls from the synagogue of his community near Be’er Sheva.
Briefs: Jews, Muslims join to combat Islamophobia and anti-Semitism
On Nov. 17, some 20 devout Muslims from the King Fahad Mosque bowed and prostrated themselves as they recited the Isha, or night prayer, at Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, with about 80 Jews watching the unfamiliar ritual. At the same time, in another room of the Reform temple, Jewish congregants participated in the Ma\’ariv evening prayer, watched respectfully by a group of Muslims.
Scrolls for sale
The calligraphy on the coffee-colored parchment is crisp and clear, with delicately ascending crowns adorning the Hebrew letters. But rather than being unfurled on a bima and read by a proud bar mitzvah boy, this water-stained fragment of a Torah scroll from Turkey — thought to be about 300 years old — is spread out on a drafting table in the backyard studio of Sam and Debbie Gliksman. The Gliksmans have recently launched Spiritual Artifacts, a business that preserves, frames and sells fragments from decommissioned Torah scrolls.
Rescued Souls and Torahs Meet at Shul
Leo Baeck Temple in Bel Air hosted an unusual commemoration of Kristallnacht, the event that is often considered the beginning of the Holocaust. Instead of focusing on mourning, the gathering last weekend was marked by raucous joy and a sense of reunification.
The central symbolism was provided by guest of honor Olga Grilli, who fled Nazi-occupied Europe as an 11-year-old. On Saturday, she saw once more and touched the Torah scroll from the shul of her Czechoslovakian hometown. She had last attended this temple as a child.