One aspect of our Temple’s mission is to guard and preserve the memory of the Shoah. Toward that end, our Temple  is honored to have in its possession one of the sacred Czech Torah scrolls that was plundered by the Nazis. The story of the Czech Torah Scrolls may be found at http://www.memorialscrollstrust.org. Our special Torah was acquired by Congregation Anshe Emeth in 1992 and was prominently displayed there until its merger with the Highland Park Conservative Temple and Center in 2006. It is now kept in the Aron Kodesh as a permanent symbol of remembrance within the sanctuary, thus making a symbolic statement that each time the Ark is opened that the memory of the victims is connected to the living Jewish community.

The Czech Memorial Scroll is used only three times during the year.  Once during the Torah procession of Kol Nidre, the holiest night of the year, a second time at Yom Hashoa Services during the recitation of congregant’s relatives who perished during the Shoah, and a third time during the Sixth Hakafah on Simchat Torah, which the Temple dedicates each year to preserving the memory of the victims.  In this way we link the legacy of the first owners of this Torah, a destroyed community of Bohemia and Moravia, to our community, and to the future of the Jewish people symbolized by our congregation.