UK couple donate first Torah since Shoah to Lodz community in Poland
search

The latest Jewish News

Read this week’s digital edition

Click Here

UK couple donate first Torah since Shoah to Lodz community in Poland

Torah scrolls
Torah scroll

A wealthy British couple have given the Jewish community of Lodz in Poland its first new Torah scroll since World War II, after celebrating their son’s bar mitzvah there.

Philanthropists Hilton and Louise Nathanson, whose families hail from Lodz and Radom, made the donation after their son Tate’s ceremony, sparking cheer from the local community. 

“It’s a wonderful culmination to the 210 years of existence of the local community and the 20th anniversary of its return to its pre-war headquarters,” said the rabbi of the Lodz Jewish community, Symcha Keller.

The Torah scroll took six months to write, and the scribes outlined the last few letters for the Nathansons to fill in during the ceremony last month. 

The event was celebrated by Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich and representatives of other Jewish communities, including Chazan Avromi Freilich of London’s Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue.

Lodz, in central Poland, had hundreds of thousands of Jews before the Holocaust, but the community now numbers a few hundred.

The couple made the donation after seeing the state of the old scroll, which pre-dated World War II and was so frail it had to be handled with extreme care to save it from tearing.

Support your Jewish community. Support your Jewish News

Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.

For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.

Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.

You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.

100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...

Engaging

Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.

Celebrating

There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.

Pioneering

In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.

Campaigning

Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.

Easy access

In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.

Voice of our community to wider society

The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.

We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.

read more: