(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Impressive ceremonies were arranged by the Jewish community of Kovel, Poland, on the eve of Rush Hashanah when the burial of a number of Holy Scrolls desecrated during the Balachovitch pogroms in 1920 was held.
During the pogroms committed by the Balachovitch army in 1920 in the region of Kovel, the synagogues in many towns were raided and the Holy Scrolls torn. Many of the Scrolls were covered with the blood of pogrom victims. The scrolls were brought to Kovel several years ago, but permission for holding the burial exercises was not received until recently.
The Scrolls were brought to the Great Synagogue of Kovel from where the funeral procession started. An old Jewish custom provides that a desecrated Scroll is to he buried with all the attendant ceremonies of a funeral. The entire Jewish population participated in the exercises. All synagogues were filled and rabbis delivered sermons and recited the El Molei Rachmim. An intense feeling pervaded the large crowds. An aged man, Schmarya Selzer, died following the funeral from injuries he received in the crush of the crowd.
The scrolls were deposited in a grave in the new cemetery.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
