On Nov. 9, I had the privilege of celebrating the b’nai mitzvah of one of my son’s Hebrew school classmates. For our community, this milestone in Jewish life is a time to witness and honor our traditions, but this celebration carried an even deeper significance.
My son was provided the honor of reading from the Torah, the ancient scroll that holds our faith’s most sacred texts, at his friend’s b’nai mitzvah. However, this Torah was unlike many others — this was a rescued Torah, one of the scrolls miraculously saved from the ravages of World War II.
For those unfamiliar, a Torah is the most sacred object in Judaism, containing the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, meticulously handwritten by scribes on parchment. It is treated with the utmost reverence, read from weekly in synagogues, and forms the foundation of Jewish law and ethics.
So, why do we rescue Torahs? The answer lies in our collective memory and our resilience.
During World War II, the Nazis looted thousands of Jewish religious artifacts, including Torah scrolls, from communities throughout Europe. After the war, organizations like the Memorial Scrolls Trust in London worked tirelessly to restore these Torahs and send them to Jewish communities around the world. Each rescued Torah that is read today bears witness to both destruction and survival. It connects us to a past that the Nazis tried to erase and stands as a testament to our endurance.
The significance of reading from this scroll is heightened by the time of year: the anniversary of Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, on Nov. 9-10, 1938. Kristallnacht was a violent pogrom orchestrated by the Nazi regime, during which Jewish businesses, homes and over 1,400 synagogues were destroyed across Germany and Austria. The shattered glass that littered the streets gave the event its name, but it was the breaking of Jewish spirits and lives that made this night a harbinger of the Holocaust.
Eighty-six years later, as we commemorate Kristallnacht, we are once again witnessing disturbing attacks on Jewish communities. On Nov. 7, a wave of coordinated violence unfolded in Amsterdam. Groups of assailants targeted Israeli soccer fans in town for a match between Maccabi Tel Aviva and Ajax, assaulting victims and throwing them into canals, according to the Jewish Journal. The attacks, which were apparently planned online, were a modern-day pogrom.
The mayor of Amsterdam said these Israeli soccer fans were attacked by “antisemitic hit-and-run squads.” In addition, the king of Amsterdam was quoted saying, “the Netherlands had failed its Jewish community during World War Two — under Nazi occupation and persecution — and again on Thursday night.”
According to the Anti-Defamation League’s statement, thousands of Israelis were hunted and assaulted and injured. Although this incident followed a soccer match in Europe, it could easily have occurred at any event or on any street around the globe, given the worldwide rise in antisemitism.
This fear is not abstract. It is a reality Jewish people face even at our moments of joy. When my son celebrated his bar mitzvah this year, we hired security, a step that has, disturbingly, become commonplace for Jewish celebrations.
Recently, the historic synagogue in Philadelphia’s Old City, Mikveh Israel, faced vandalism, arson and attempted break-in all in one day. The rise in antisemitic incidents locally and across the globe makes our gatherings and places of worship feel vulnerable. As a community, we cannot allow this to be the “new normal,” but it reflects the growing trend of antisemitism and hate we must all confront.
And yet, in the face of this hate, the Jewish community continues to exhibit extraordinary resilience. Reading from a rescued Torah, especially on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, surrounded by loved ones celebrating a b’nai mitzvah, is an act of defiance and hope. It is a reminder that, despite efforts to annihilate us, we are still here. We are still reading from the same scrolls that have guided our people for thousands of years, still teaching our children to carry on our traditions, and still standing together as a community.
Our commitment to life, learning and remembrance is unbreakable. The resilience of the Jewish community, past and present, is something the world should not only witness but support. As we remember Kristallnacht and grapple with modern echoes of hatred like the attacks in Amsterdam, let us renew our dedication to fighting antisemitism and hate in all forms, championing a world where all people can live in peace and safety.
Andrew Goretsky is regional director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Philadelphia Office, serving Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey and Delaware.
