4. The Ark Contains a Torah from the Holocaust
The ark of Central Synagogue is something to behold. It’s the original ark of the synagogue and designed by Fernbach, who took on both the commission for the building and its interior design. The ark was made by the Pottier & Stymus Co. in New York, and managed to survive a devastating fire that tore through the synagogue on August 28, 1998. Inside the ark, there are multiple torahs, including a very special one.
In 1967, Central Synagogue was given a Torah that was part of a collection of over 1500 Sefer Torahs that were collected by the Nazis in Prague from Jewish communities in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia. Incredibly, they were not destroyed because the Nazis had intended to create an exhibition in the Jewish Quarter that would show the relics of the race they had decimated. Before being deported to concentration camps, Jewish prisoners in Prague meticulously cataloged and tagged the relics, which included not only torahs but also books, manuscripts, and religious objects. After the war, the torahs came under the authority of the Czech government, and in 1964, the scrolls were transferred to the Westminster Synagogue which subsequently distributed the scrolls around the world on permanent loan. Central Synagogue has Torah number 866 which came originally from Lipnik, Czechoslovakia. It sits on the right side, with a Star of David on it.
