Kiev Central Synagogue wins legal battle against Ukrainian state archive enabling it to keep Torah scrolls obtained from Russia in 2011.
By SAM SOKOLKiev Central Synagogue Torah scrolls 370(photo credit: World Forum of Russian-speaking Jews)
The Kiev Central Synagogue won a legal battle against the Ukrainian state archive last week, enabling it to keep 300 Torah scrolls which it had obtained from Russia in 2011 nearly a century after the their confiscation.The scrolls, which were taken by Soviet authorities in the 1920s, were demanded by the archive, leading to a lengthy legal battle between the local Jewish community and the state.Following last week’s ruling, Alexander Levin, the President of the World Forum of Russian-speaking Jews and a community leader in Kiev, thanked Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych for his support.The ruling, Levin said, is “proof that there is no state anti-semitism in the Ukraine.”The Jewish community is currently restoring the scrolls, which are in terrible condition following decades in Soviet, and later Russian, hands.
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