...a wandering Torah

I recently heard a fantastic story from Jerry Tanenbaum (introduced in an entry in early February) and the World Union of Progressive Judaism. Two congregations from Santiago de Chile, Templo Or Shalom y Congregacion Yakar graciously donated a full-size Torah to a congregation in the Ukraine.

This excerpt is from the WUPJ email report:


SANTIAGO CONGREGATIONS REPLACE STOLEN TORAH SCROLL IN ODESSA

Templo Or Shalom and Congregation Yakar, both of Santiago, Chile, recently enabled the Progressive congregation in Odessa, Ukraine, to replace a Torah scroll stolen just before Rosh Hashana. The Santiago-Odessa transfer was facilitated by Jerry Tanenbaum, chairman of the World Union’s Yad B’Yad task force, which assists Progressive Jews in Latin America. According to Tanenbaum, the World Union had provided Or Shalom with a Torah when it became a movement affiliate in the late 1980s. Since then, the congregation amassed a number of scrolls, and agreed to provide one to Congregation Yakar, a younger World Union-affiliate that has been using a small Torah and wished to acquire a full-sized scroll. Then came word about the Odessa Torah, which disappeared shortly after the World Union coordinated its donation by Temple Emanu-El of San Jose, California. “The [Odessa] congregation was in shock,” said Rabbi Alexander Dukhovny, chief rabbi of the Progressive congregations in Ukraine. "You can imagine what Rosh Hashanah services were like.” Dukhovny later delivered a Sabbath sermon in Odessa. “I told them that no one can steal a Torah. Even without a physical Torah, they can have Torah in their hearts. With the help of their sister congregation and world Jewry, they are not alone.” Apparently, Dukhovny was right, for both Or Shalom and Congregation Yakar graciously agreed that the Santiago Torah go to Odessa instead.

For more information on these and other progressive Jewish communities around the world, check out the World Union website at: www.wupj.org