Thanet community explores scroll history

In 1986, a year after the Thanet & District Reform Community was formed, the synagogue became custodians of one of the scrolls of the Klatovy community, a small town in Bohemia.The synagogue was able to take advantage of a paid internship scheme, run by Canterbury Christ Church University, to explore the history of this scroll. The research covered 200 hours of work by a student and mentored by an academic at the institution.

At the culmination of the current research, a special mincha (afternoon prayers) service was held in Ramsgate last Saturday in remembrance of the Jews of Klatovy who perished in the Shoah (Holocaust). After a service conducted by Rabbi Cliff Cohen, and following a delightful havdallahceremony marking the end of Shabbat and refreshments, a visual presentation of the research, which included a filmed interview with Evelyn Friedlander, Chair of the Memorial Scrolls Trust, was given by Dr. Maria Diemling, Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies and Andrew Miller, Second year history and politics student.