Resources

Our current list of our authorised sofrim is as follows:

Founded in 1906, the Jewish Museum in Prague is the third oldest of its kind in the world, and is a remarkable ensemble of historic synagogues, monuments, and exhibitions located in the former Jewish Quarter, Josefov, in Prague’s Old Town. It includes some of the most iconic sites of Jewish history and culture offering a profound connection to centuries of Jewish life, resilience, and tradition.

The MST’s 1564 Czech scrolls were part of a treasure of over 200,000 Jewish artifacts collected from 118 Towns across Bohemia and Moravia and shipped to Prague during the Shoah. In 1950 the Jewish Community ceded the museum to the State. Uninterested in religious items, the scrolls were moved to a warehouse, the former Michle synagogue.

In 1963 Eric Estorick an art dealer, interested in a Torah for his father, was taken to the Michle and offered all the scrolls. He contacted a client, Ralph Yablon z”l, who agreed to purchase them all and donated them to the Westminster Synagogue.

Visit – Jewishmuseum.cz

The congregation was founded in 1957 by Rabbi Harold Reinhart z”l and Kent House, their home, was aquired in 1960. An independent community it is largely in tune with the progressive movements in the United Kingdom.

The Synagogue has been closely involved in the Memorial Scrolls Trust which they established as an independent charity to take responsibility for the care and allocation of the Czech scrolls. The MST museum is on the 3rd floor of Kent House, the home of the Westminster Synagogue.

Visit – westminstersynagogue.org/