Presentation: The Creation of a Scroll of Resilience - Saturday, May 2nd, 2026
- gerberjeremy
- Apr 28
- 1 min read
Services at 9:30 a.m. Presentation to Follow
Congregation Beth El in Edison is hosting a talk, open to the public, entitled:
Engaging our Holocaust Torah Scrolls Through Art and Community - A Presentation by Rabbi Jeremy Gerber & Artist Siona Benjamin
Across North America, many synagogues hold Torah scrolls rescued from destroyed Jewish communities in Europe. These sacred scrolls are often preserved with reverence — yet often remain silent behind glass. What if those scrolls could once again become teachers, educating us about pre-Holocaust Jewish life?
Siona Benjamin and Rabbi Gerber share how they worked to transform a Holocaust-era Torah scroll from a static memorial into a living narrative — one that honors loss, celebrates life, and affirms Jewish resilience. The guiding principle: Many congregations display their Holocaust scrolls; few have researched the communities from which they came. Why do we call it a Holocaust Scroll? Could we not instead honor the communities that learned from and prayed with this Torah, rather than those who tried so hard to destroy it?
The result of their collaboration on creating a living narrative was a contemporary illuminated megillah — a Scroll of Resilience — rooted in history and alive in the present. The pictures included here are from Megillat Lostice, created collaboratively by the presenters and honoring the Moravian town of Lostice in Czechoslovakia. For more images:
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