Please enjoy the historical moment of dedication of our
sacred Holocaust Torah aboard US Navy aircraft carrier Harry S.Truman.
May it bring Peace on Earth and may it be a Symbol of
Freedom in the World.
Historic Torah Dedicated on US Navy Ship
Source: US Navy
click on photos to enlarge and read more about this
event
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - A Torah scroll rescued from Lithuania has a new
home aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman.
click photos to enlarge and read more about this
event
070624-N-5345W-072 NORFOLK, Va. (June 24, 2007) -
USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) Commanding Officer, Capt. Herman Shelanski,
left, and Michigan Senator Carl Levin (D), Chairman of the Senate Armed
Services Committee, bow their heads in prayer at the commencement of
the Torah dedication ceremony in the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier's
hangar bay.
The holy Jewish Torah in the background, one of the few
scrolls from Lithuania to survive the Holocaust, was presented to Truman
by the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, and will be on loan to
Truman and displayed for 41 years, or the duration of the ship's life.
The smaller Torah in the foreground, known as the Truman Torah, was
presented to President Harry S. Truman by Israel's first President, Chaim
Weizmann in gratitude for America's diplomatic recognition of the state
of Israel in 1948.
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kristopher
Wilson (RELEASED)
The carrier is one of the few U.S. Navy vessels to have its own Torah. Few
ships are large enough to need one, said Sam Werbel, an organizer of
a dedication ceremony attended by a crowd of 500, including some Holocaust
survivors.
click photos to enlarge and read more about this
event
"This is not a ceremony alone," said Mark E.
Talisman, founder and president of the Project Judaica Foundation. "It's
about humanity or a lack thereof. It's about all of us understanding
the dignity of human life."
Several Jewish service members celebrated the event, taking photos with
the heavy 26-inch high scroll of the words of the Hebrew Bible. Machinist's
Mate 3r d Class Jesse Kopelman, USS Harry S. Truman's (CVN 75) Jewish
Lay Leader, holds a holy Jewish Torah, one of the few scrolls from Lithuania
to survive the Holocaust, which was presented to Truman.
About 5 percent or less of Lithuania's Jewish population survived the
Holocaust. No religious artifacts, other than this Torah, are thought
to remain of that country's Jewish population, organizers said.
"I'm very proud of our servicemen who are serving, and I'm very
proud that they saw fit to have a Torah on board the ship," said
Julius Marcus of Portsmouth, who attended with his wife, Jeanne.
click photos to enlarge and read more about this event
On May 14, 1948, President Truman was the first world leader to grant
diplomatic recognition to the newly reborn State of Israel. Israel's
first president, Chaim Weizmann, thanked Truman with a Torah scroll that
now belongs to the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library.
That Torah was on loan to the carrier and displayed next to the Torah
that was dedicated.
