Torah scroll abandoned at Western Wall
Visitors at the Western Wall were in for a surprise last week: Offering no explanation, a man arrived, left a Torah scroll and quickly left the scene. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, who oversees the Western Wall and the holy sites, discovered the scroll was worth tens of thousands of dollars.
He consulted with the official sofer (ritual scribe) for the Western Wall, Yisrael Gottlieb, who determined it was an old scroll that is no longer suitable for public Torah readings, reported Hebrew daily Maariv. Upon examining the case that houses the scroll – according to the Sephardic custom – he found the area that typically shows the name of the owners or donors or a dedication had been removed.
Based on concerns the scroll had been stolen from a synagogue, Rabbi Rabinowitz reported the incident to the police and STAM (scribal work) organizations as part of efforts to locate the synagogue it had been taken from.
Rabbi Rabinowitz said if the owners are not found, the Torah scroll would be buried in a cemetery, in accordance with the Jewish tradition.
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