Euroasian Jewish News

Alexander Mashkevich introduces Torah scroll to Capetown synagogue

EAJC President Presents Torah Scroll to Capetown Synagogue

On the 11th of February, a ceremony of introduction of a new Torah Scroll to the Capetown synagogue took place as part of the joint diplomatic mission between the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations to the Republic of South Africa. The well-known South African Jewish community leader, one of the leading Jewish philanthropists of the world, Mendel Kaplan, used to attend this very synagogue before he passed away recently.

The ancient scroll, newly restored and with a memorial dedication to the memory of Mendel Kaplan embroidered on its cover, was brought into the synagogue by the EAJC President Alexander Mashkevich. In his speech to those in attendance, he said, “For me, this is not only an opportunity to give you a gift in memory of my friend Mendel. This is my small contribution to the rise of Jewish self-consciousness, to showing the Jewish tradition to the young.

Let this Scroll, to which we have returned life, aid in the continuation of the task which Mendel served, and which all of you are a part of, for the strengthening of the Jewish way of life, the sanctity of our faith, and the preservation of the Jewish people.

I am certain that this is possible only with the Torah. The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, which I am honored to lead, gives Torah scrolls to synagogues in different countries, including Israel. In these acts we see the manifestations of the living connection between the Jewish communities of our region with the Jewish state and all of world Jewry.”