(JTA) — A funeral was held in New York for 12 Torah scrolls that were destroyed in superstorm Sandy.
Some 1,000 rabbis and members of more than 45 synagogues attended the ceremony on Sunday outside Congregation Kneseth Israel, familiarly known as the White Shul, in Far Rockaway, Queens. The buried scrolls were from synagogues in Queens and on Long Island.
Several experts reportedly could not repair the damage to the scrolls.
The scrolls were not buried last October in the aftermath of the storm, according to the Jewish Press newspaper, because rabbinic leaders believed the Jewish community would not have been able to internalize how deep the tragedy was because of their other losses.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.