Czech President Vaclav Havel recently took part in the ceremonial return of a repaired Torah scroll to this city’s historic Altneuschul synagogue.
In a ceremony that began at the Jewish town hall here, the chairman of the Czech Federation of Jewish Communities, Jiri Danicek, said because of the stormy history of the country during the 20th century, the scroll had not been repaired since 1907.
During the ceremony, two scribes from Israel who had carried out the repair inscribed the last words of the Torah in the open scroll.
The Torah was then rolled up, dressed and festooned with a golden crown that had been donated to the Prague community in the 18th century by one of its rabbis, Ezechiel Landau, who died in 1793.
The Torah was carried out of the town hall by Henry Greenfield, an Australian Jew of Prague origin who sponsored the repair and who will finance the repair of 10 additional Prague Torahs in the coming years.
Accompanying the Torah in a procession to the Altneuschul were Klezmer music players, singers, and dancers.
In his remarks, Havel said the ceremony reflected the revival of the Jewish community in this country.
In addition to Havel, those attending the ceremonies included Czech Culture Minister Pavel Tigrid; the ambassadors of the United States, Israel and other countries; rabbis from abroad; and leaders of the local Jewish community.
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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.
