Celebration of the Torah
Showing March 30.
In honor of today’s celebration of the gift of a Holocaust Torah to VCU Libraries, the Big Screen shares some images of this beautiful and meaningful religious relic and teaching tool.
This Torah scroll, on parchment in the customary Hebrew, was composed in Romania around 1750. During World War II, it was confiscated by the Nazis. It is believed to be from an area of Transnistria, known as the Romanian Auschwitz. It was repatriated to Israel in 2003. Israeli authorities released the scroll for private ownership, and the scroll was then presented to VCU Libraries by alumni Martin L. Johnson, M.D., and Olinda Young, to be held and safeguarded by VCU Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives.
The March 30 celebration, free and open to all, begins at 6 p.m. in the lobby of the James Branch Cabell Library. The scroll will be paraded through the building to the accompaniment of a klezmer band to the library lecture hall (room 303) for brief remarks.
The event is free and open to all. Parking is available for a fee in the West Broad Street, West Main Street and West Cary Street parking decks. If special accommodations are needed, please contact the VCU Libraries Events Office, at (804) 828-0593.
(Image below: The mantle and yad)
