A year ago, Ilana Nankin, along with nine other South Bay Jewish teens and 8,000 youths from around the world set out for Poland and Israel for the annual March of the Living trip. Their aim was to understand history and come home with a renewed Jewish spirit.
Little did they know they would also come home with a pair of tattered Torah scrolls that had been through hell.
Halfway through the two-week trip, the Holocaust Torahs were spotted, purchased and spirited out of Poland, first to Israel then to California. Today one is in San Diego. The other is being stored at Saratoga’s Congregation Beth David awaiting restoration.
Nankin, 18, is one of several student leaders of the Holocaust Youth Education Project, which is committed to repairing that Torah. “We want to raise money to restore the 78 destroyed panels and put the Torah on display,” says the Cupertino native.
So far, scores of individuals and Jewish organizations have pitched in to help Nankin reach her target. Among those are the Jewish Community Center, Jewish Family Service and Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley; Congregation Shir Hadash of Los Gatos and Beth David.
Much of the money has come from children, many of whom have contributed by “buying” a letter in the Torah. Total raised so far: $19,952. The cost of repair is $20,000, but the committee hopes to use additional funds to mount the damaged panels and send more students on trips such as March of the Living.
Fund-raising is day-in-day-out work for the Monta Vista High School senior. But it’s worth it when she recalls that day in Warsaw.
It was April 21, 2004. Seth Krosner, an adult chaperone, wandered into an antique shop. In a dusty corner, he noticed two uncovered Torah scrolls on a table, many panels torn or burnt.
The Torahs turned out to be of Polish origin, dating from the 1920s.The shopkeeper knew they were Jewish objects but had no idea how significant they were.
Krosner did. He raced back to the hotel, telling his fellow adult chaperone Rivy Poutko Kletenik about the find.
“I said we had to do something,” remembers Kletenik, who works with the Jewish Education Council in Seattle. “We hopped in a cab, went to the store and paid $2,000.”
The day before the kids flew off to Israel, Krosner and Kletenik saved the Torahs, surprising the teens by bringing them onto the tour bus.
“We were all dancing, singing and crying on the bus,” says Nankin. “We wrapped the Torahs in a tallit. The second we purchased them, we knew we wanted to take them back to California, make them community Torahs and bring them back to life.”
The trip itself was enough to greatly impact Nankin’s life. Add in the Torah and the teen was transformed. “It made me realize that even though the Jewish people had been tormented and killed, we still came out of [the Holocaust] strong. It made me want to do something.”
That was the catalyst to create the Holocaust Youth Education Project. Today the organization has come a long way toward meeting its financial goals.
For now, the Torah resides at Congregation Beth David. In a month, the scribe begins replacing the damaged panels, which will then be framed for display, with most going to local institutions that supported the project.
Nankin hopes the restoration will be finished by fall, in time for the scroll to be consecrated for Simchat Torah. Some on the advisory panel feel the two Torahs should eventually be returned to Poland’s reviving Jewish community, but no final decision has been made.
While the kids are driving the Torah project, the adults around them share their passion. Says Kletenik: “They killed 6 million Jews, but did not destroy the Jewish people. The Torah was saved. We took it out from Poland, and this will buoy us forever.”
Donations to the Holocaust Youth Education Project may be sent c/o Congregation Beth David, 19700 Prospect Road, Saratoga, CA 95070-3352. Information: Lindsay Greensweig at (408) 366-9118 or [email protected].