The Czech Torah Scrolls and the Space Between Myth and Truth

WEYERHAEUSER MEMORIAL CHAPEL (1604 GRAND AVE, ST. PAUL)

FREE EVENT. NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED.

This documentary film explores the remarkable and often misunderstood journey of Torah scrolls that survived the Holocaust and ultimately found homes in synagogues around the world, including five in the Twin Cities. Today, in nearly 1300 synagogues, institutions, museums, and places of distinction around the world, a Czech Torah Scroll resides, some used in worship, and others displayed as a memorial. The story that accompanied these Scrolls was that they were collected by the Nazis during the war to be used in a “Museum of an Extinct Race.” It is startling. Even plausible. But it isn’t true.

Following the film will be a Q & A with Dale Bluestein

Dale Bluestein is a Twin Cities–based producer, writer, director, and editor with more than three decades of experience in visual storytelling. He has produced commercial, nonprofit, and historical documentary work, with a particular focus on Jewish history in the Midwest.

Hosted by Macalester Jewish Organization and the Center for Religious in Spiritual Life in partnership with other Twin Cities scroll hosts (synagogues Mount Zion, Temple Israel, and Bet Shalom, & Minnesota Hillel) and cultural organizations (the Czech and Slovak Cultural Center of Minnesota & the Minnesota JCC)