A Torah scroll that was landed on the beaches of Normandy shortly after “D” Day in June, 1944, and went into battle four years later in Israel’s War for Independence, was presented to Israel as a gift of Rabbi Aaron Decter, of the Garment Center Congregation here. Rabbi Decter handed the Torah to Moshe Ben Nahoum, representative of the religious department of Histadrut at Chanukah ceremonies at the Garment Center Synagogue. It will be brought to Israel and placed in Bet Berl College, Kfar Saba, where orientation lectures are given for visiting American rabbis, educators and others.
Rabbi Decter was the senior Jewish chaplain in the U.S. Army, European Theater, in 1944, and personally carried the Torah on Omaha and Utah beaches during the Allied invasion of Europe, where he conducted services for Jewish soldiers. He also carried a Torah presented by the chief rabbi of the British Empire.
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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.
