Brno Jewish community unveils new Torah scroll

The Jewish community of Brno in the Czech Republic, inaugurates a new Torah scroll in the city’s only surviving synagogue.

The dedication ceremony marks the completion of a more than one-year-long renovation of the synagogue in the country’s second largest city.

Several hundred people attend the inauguration, including the head of the Czech Republic’s federation of Jewish communities Petr Papousek, Israeli ambassador to the Czech Republic Gary Koren, the mayor of Brno Petr Vokral and the bishop of the Brno diocese Vojtech Cikrle.

The Torah scroll was fashioned by Jewish scribe Rabbi Moshe Fluemenbaum of Jerusalem.

The costs of the renovation, which amounted to about $480,000, were covered by the EU as well as the European Economic area and Norway grants. The cost of the new Torah scroll alone was over $32,000, according to the manager of the project, Petr Špunar of the Brno Jewish community.

The Jewish community of Brno has about 300 members. The functionalist-style Agudas Achim synagogue was erected in the 1930s. It was re-dedicated in 1945 and has since been in active use as the only synagogue in the eastern region of the country.

–JTA