KIEV, Ukraine (JTA) — Ukraine returned more Torah scrolls to local Jewish communities.
The government on Friday transferred six old Torah scrolls to the Union of Religious Jewish Organizations of Ukraine.
Yakov Dov Bleich, the chief rabbi of Kiev and Ukraine who received the scroll fragments, told JTA that he considers the transfer a small step on the way toward all Torah scrolls and fragments being held in the Ukrainian State Archives being returned to their original communities.
“It seems they returned old, not exploitable Torah scrolls’ fragments,” Bleich said.
Kiev is a home to between 17,000 and 30,000 Jews.
Some 85 damaged Torah scrolls and fragments were returned last week to the religious Jewish community in the Ukrainian city of Chernigov.
