With Jonny Daniels: Edmonton Holocaust Survivors and families inscribe the Survivor Torah

By Ari Sniderman

(AJNews) – The 603rd commandment in the Torah is written near the end of the Torah in parashat Ki Tetzei: “Remember what Amalek did to you on the road from Egypt.” Those words came to mind as Nina, a 98-year-old Holocaust survivor, rose and passionately repeated “Remember! Remember!” to the other survivors and witnesses at the Jewish Senior Citizen’s Centre on the afternoon of October 22. Only later did I learn that she and I had just helped to inscribe a Torah with some of the words in that same portion.

Nina was one of more than thirty Edmontonian Holocaust survivors to participate in Jonny Daniels’ Survivor Torah Project that week. Daniels spent four days in Edmonton and Calgary discussing current affairs in Israel and inviting community members to learn about and participate in the Survivor Torah Project. In Edmonton, he was able to help survivors and their families inscribe the letters of Ki Tetzei into a 250-year-old Torah scroll. He’ll be back in Calgary soon to do the same.

The Survivor Torah Project started in Poland in 2014. While working on a restoration project for Jewish tombstones, Daniels came across an elderly shepherd whose family had been secretly housing a Torah scroll since 1939 under a sofa. Through the decades, the Torah had deteriorated, and Daniels has since been passionately working around the globe, helping Holocaust survivors and their families restore it letter by letter. The scroll is now known as the Survivor Torah and is slated to be preserved at Beit Ha’Nasi (the House of the President) in Jerusalem once completed. The column in which we wrote was smudged, but it didn’t phase Daniels. “Parchment can be scraped and repaired,” he quipped, which was entirely emblematic of the project and its participants.

The Survivor Torah Project has a dramatic impact on all generations. Children may first be exposed to Holocaust remembrance by witnessing the passion that is conveyed as letters are inscribed. Words are hushed, and everyone can hear as the amateur scribes tell why they are helping restore the Survivor Torah. The final commandment in the Torah says “write the Torah.” The commandment to remember the impact of Amalek is being performed at the same time as the final mitzvah. Survivors participating are sometimes performing the final mitzvah in the Torah as one of the final mitzvot of their lives.

Sadly, the Torah was delayed in transit and was not available for the Calgary event. However, Daniels did share a moving presentation about the Survivor Torah with a group of survivors and their descendants in Calgary. He also spent an inspirational afternoon with them, visiting and sharing stories.

Also, a planned event in Edmonton at Talmud Torah on the afternoon of October 21 for students to witness survivors’ participation didn’t pan out exactly as planned due to the scroll’s travel delay and the teachers’ strike. However, a few students did come on a field trip from Strike School and about 60 survivors and their families heard the story of the scroll and some memorable stories of survivors who had participated in its restoration.

Later that evening, the Survivor Torah ended up at Beth Israel in time for Daniels’ presentation. Before an audience of about 150, he discussed an array of current events in Israel and the Jewish world before taking questions. He began his lecture saying “What an amazing time it is to be Jewish. What an unbelievable gift it is to be part of this nation.”

When asked “what can I do to prepare my kids for antisemitism they might encounter in junior high and beyond?” Daniels replied: “The most important thing you can do for your kids today is teach them to be proud that they are Jewish. To be very, very proud.” When asked what to do to gain support, he said we should share Judaism with our coworkers and neighbours, invite them to light candles, bring them into our community, and be willing to discuss what they are seeing about Israel on Instagram and how it affects us.

After his Israel affairs lecture, Daniels unveiled the Survivor Torah and gave attendees the opportunity to inscribe letters. In front of the community, survivors and their descendants explained why the project was meaningful to them. As they contributed their letters, the impact of the act was poignant and obvious. Tears and hugs from participants and witnesses were abundant throughout the sanctuary.

In a more intimate setting, Daniels ended his visit to Edmonton at the Seniors Centre the following morning. Anna Linetsky was the first to put ink to parchment. Anna was six years old when the Nazis invaded her home of Dniepropetrovsk, Ukraine. She had one word to describe her experience inscribing the Torah: “emotional.” After a pause, she continued to pour out her thoughts.

“I was in tears,” she said, “when I was talking to him. I didn’t know that I would be writing in a real Torah with a real feather and ink.” It transported Anna back to Ukraine and the 1940s. It was like being in shul before the war. It was returning something taken from her. To those with the opportunity to write their own letter, Anna says:

“I put my arm on Jonny’s and it was a very special moment in my life. I never thought in my life I would write in the Torah. I traveled six months from Dnipro to Turkmenistan to escape the Nazis. My cousins and my grandfather were murdered by Nazis and Ukrainians. I wrote a letter in the Torah and dedicated it to my mother, Yocheved. My children are proud of me.” My interview with Anna was then interrupted as she got news of the birth of her second great-grandchild!

Arkady Karpilovsky was one of the last to print a letter at the Senior’s Centre. Arkady relayed the harrowing stories of his parents and grandparents, and explained that as he grew he became an accomplished violinist. Arkady had even brought his violin to the Centre for the occasion. After writing in the Torah, Arkady retrieved his violin and put on an impromptu concert. As the Survivor Torah was rolled up and placed in its case, Arkady played “A Song for the Mothers.”

The last words of Ki Tetzei are “You must not forget.” I will not forget the looks of sorrow on the faces of community members inscribing the Survivor Torah, and I will not forget their looks of relief once their letters were forged. I hope the scroll is fully restored soon, and that every living survivor has the transformational opportunity to inscribe a letter in the Torah dedicated to their legacy.

Jewish Family Services is committed to the well-being of survivors and ensures they can access the services available to them through funding from the Claims Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. For more information in Edmonton, please contact JFSE at 780-454-1194. For information on the Claims Conference program in Calgary, please contact JFSC at 403-287-3510.

Ari Sniderman is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.