July 21 2002
12 Av, 5762
Jerusalem

With Jewish Agency Assistance Six Torah Scrolls From Desecrated Wales Synagogue Will Arrive In Israel Tomorrow (22 July)
Four Scrolls Have Been Donated to IDF
Ceremony to Be Held in Tsriffin Army Base at 13:00

Six Torah scrolls from the Swansea (Wales) Synagogue, which had been desecrated on 10 July by anti-Semitic vandals, will be brought to Israel tomorrow (22 July) on a special Jewish Agency flight. The Swansea Jewish community, under the spiritual leadership of Rabbi Joseph Ives of Cardiff, was behind the initiative of bringing the Torah scrolls to Israel.

The scrolls will leave Wales on an El-Al Flight tonight and will arrive in Israel in the early morning hours. Four of the Torah scrolls have been donated to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). They will be introduced in a special ceremony to be held tomorrow (Monday, 22 July) at 13:00 in the Chaplaincy Corps Base at Tsriffin (Sarafand), under the aegis of Brig. Gen. Rabbi Israel Weiss, Chaplain General of the IDF. These Torah scrolls will be issued to IDF bases. The other two scrolls will be donated to educational institutions in Israel.

Mr. Dubi Bergman, Head of the Jewish Agency Mission to the United Kingdom, who was instrumental in bringing the Torah scrolls to Israel, said that the Jewish community of Wales numbers some 1300 souls, whose ancestors had immigrated from Eastern Europe 200 years ago. About 1200 Jews reside in Cardiff and approximately 100 live in Swansea.

On 10 July, vandals desecrated the synagogue in Swansea. The building's walls and the Holy Ark were sprayed with Swastikas and graffiti in praise of Hitler's "Racial Program." Prayerbooks and a 300 year-old Torah scroll were ripped apart and thrown on the floor. The vandals smeared feces on the walls and attempted to set the building on fire.

All requests to cover the Torah introduction ceremony at Tsriffin Military Base must be made through the IDF Spokesperson's Unit. Foreign Press should contact the IDF Spokesperson's Foreign Press Branch: 02-6245789 or 02-6245268. Journalists of the Israeli press should contact the IDF Spokesperson's Press Initiatives Branch at 03-6080212 or 03-6080213.

For additional information contact Yehuda Weinraub 053-927017

Or
Contact the Office of the Spokesman:
Michael Jankelowitz
Liaison to Foreign Press and Media
Jewish Agency for Israel
Tel: 972-2-6202780
Fax: 972-2-6202708
Mobile: 972-51-601706