To learn about other historical Torah scrolls in the area, and to get even more contextual information about Jakob’s Torah, we recommend The Pittsburgh Torah Scrolls Project,…… Read more “Additional Sources- Jakob’s Torah”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8m15Y1ov-U Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh’s annual Kristallnacht program is generously supported by Edgar Snyder. For our annual commemoration program, held live online, we hosted a community screening…… Read more “Kristallnacht 2021: Telling the Story of Jakob’s Torah”

During the rededication at the JCC. Photo source: Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh archive In 1999, a dwindling congregation caused Tree of Life-Sfard Synagogue to permanently close its…… Read more “Coming to the Holocaust Center”

In 1977, on a visit to see his brother, Jakob meet with Rabbi Sydney Rackoff of the Tree of Life- Sfard Synagogue in White Oak, PA. Rabbi…… Read more “A Home for the Torah”

After the war, Jakob Weinblum travelled to New York City to make a new life in the United States. He entrusted the Torah to his brother, Siggy…… Read more “After the War”

When making the journey to Shanghai, Jews left behind their homes, successful businesses, families, and friends in order to ensure their safety.  Due to the mass arrival…… Read more “Life for Refugees”

German and Austrian Jews first trickled into Shanghai after the beginning of Nazi persecution of Jews in 1933. Following the 1938 violence of Kristallnacht, the steadily increasing…… Read more “Immigration to Shanghai”

Not all was destroyed by Kristallnacht. The Torah from the Forst (Lausitz) Synagogue was saved by 18-year-old Jakob Weinblum. Jakob was born in Forst (Lausitz) in 1921…… Read more “A Glimmer of Hope”

On the night of November 9, 1938, violent anti-Jewish demonstrations broke out across Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. Over the next 48 hours, violent…… Read more “Kristallnacht”

The story of Jakob’s Torah begins in the town of Forst (Lausitz), a small town in Brandenburg, Germany, known until the late 1980’s for its booming textile…… Read more “German Beginnings”