A Jewish home for the aged in Philadelphia has provided a Torah for the tiny recently organized Jewish community of Majorca, a Spanish island in the Mediterranean off the east coast of Spain. There are 300 Jews on the island which is a popular tourist resort. According to Harry A. Robinson, president of the Home for the Jewish Aged, the presentation of the Torah scroll helped revive formal Jewish worship on the island for the first time in more than 500 years.
Mr. Robinson was instrumental in securing the Torah for the islanders after he visited Majorca on a holiday last summer. It was shipped through the intercession of Sidney Jaffe, director of finance of the Federation of Jewish Agencies of Greater Philadelphia with which the home for the aged is affiliated. Mr. Robinson said the Jewish community on Majorca is descended from Marranos, Jews forcibly converted to Christianity during the inquisition in the 15th Century. There are also some recent Jewish immigrants.
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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.
