We would like to share with you this account from Phil Gellman, the President of the Community of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, like us a member of the UJCL (Union of Jewish Congregations of Latin America and the Caribbean), on an unbelievable story of dedication and Jewish solidarity. Also, we are including excerpts from the speech of Judy and Steve Underberg, volunteers at the JCC on-the-Hudson, in Tarrytown, NY

Dear Friends:

I would like to speak for a few moments on the events that have brought this day to be.

For me, the week of 25 October 1998 began with great joy. My wife and I were in New York, and that very day, we chose the wedding rings we wear today. However, as the week went on, the joy became mixed first with apprehension, then sadness, and finally outright disbelief as each day brought news of yet more suffering wrought by Hurricane Mitch.

The first time I saw the damaged Torah was on the day Flor and I returned to Honduras, at the home of Helmut and Annie Seidel. We learned that Helmut and Annie’s grandsons, Eli, Eitan and Emil, had dug through the mud and debris of the destroyed synagogue on the Saturday afternoon following the devastation of Tegucigalpa to find the Torah. It was a depressing sight. The Seidels had opened the Torah as well as they could in their dining room and covered it in talcum powder in a desperate attempt to dry the parchment. Still, the parchment was stretched and misshapen, in addition to being horribly dirty. After being in fetid mud for nearly a full day, the scroll smelled terrible as well.

That same night, at Helmut and Annie’s, the Board of Directors established an emergency fund to salvage what could be saved from the shattered building and to clean up the ruins. But from there, what would we do? We knew that we would need assistance in responding to this crisis. We decided to write a letter detailing the situation, and to distribute this letter as widely as we could, both to inform as to what had happened as well as to enlist support.

On Thursday, as we were putting the finishing touches on the letter, I received a phone call from Marvin Rembo, a native New Yorker living in San Pedro Sula. I had never met Marvin, although I had heard his name previously. He asked me how things were, and I gave him a run-down of the situation. When I told him about the Torah and about our need for a scribe, he said something along the lines of "I may have a sofer for you." Of course, it was a little more complicated than that. What Marvin meant to say was that he had a friend, Harry Mueller, who had in-laws, Steve and Judy Underberg, who were volunteers at a Jewish community center in Tarrytown, New York, that had just hired a Cuban-American rabbi also trained as a scribe, to be its educational director, Manny Viñas. And just to make it interesting, it turns out that Rabbi Viñas is related to the well known Honduran journalist Ricardo Pedraza. Pretty simple, right?

Later I got an e-mail from Rabbi Viñas offering to examine the Torah and to do a damage assessment. I responded gratefully that we were very interested. Of course, we had to deal with the slight complication that the Torah was in Tegucigalpa, and Manny was in New York. But, as everything else in this hard-to-believe story had somehow fallen into place, that too came together. During those early days after Mitch, when interurban transport was neither easy nor secure, Fauzy Dieck of the community in San Pedro Sula, came to Tegucigalpa for a meeting. I met him on the street, not far from here, as he was getting into a cab to go back to the bus station to hand him the Torah, wrapped in large plastic garbage bags. As the cab drove away, little did I realize the adventure that was about to begin. Marvin carried the Torah with him to New York when he went home for Thanksgiving in late November.

When we heard the estimate of 5,000 hours of work to repair the Torah, our Board resolved to thank Manny for his efforts and ask that the Torah be returned to us in its damaged condition, not to be used, but rather to be displayed as a memento in a new or rebuilt synagogue. Our plans changed, however, when Manny reported that he had a group of people from the JCC that wanted to work on the Torah, a large number of whom are with us today. We became even more excited when the group developed a traveling exhibition to take to schools in the area. That a water stained, mud caked Torah would become the basis for such a profound educational and emotional experience for so many is perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this phenomenal story.

In closing, on behalf of the Comunidad Hebrea de Tegucigalpa, I would like to offer our deepest gratitude to the Jewish Community Center on the Hudson for giving this Torah restoration project a home, and to the wonderful volunteers who gave it a life and a soul. You have demonstrated in this most unique way exactly what the precept Kol Israel Arevim Ze Laze, All Jews are responsible one for the other, really means. In this project, you have acted with heart, mind and hands, and the result is beautiful. We will never forget you and what you have done for us. Thank you so very much.

Phil Gellman
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EXCERPTS FROM JUDY AND STEVE UNDERBERG’S SPEECH

Before taking the Torah to JCC, where it spent almost a year, our first job was to dry the scroll. We placed paper towels on it while we rolled the Torah again, the other way around.

Then we talked. Manny (Rabbi Viñas) thought that, had it been an American Torah with so much damage we would have buried it. But there was something else playing a role in our decision. We knew about the history of the scroll. After examining it, Manny was able to determine that this Torah had been written about one hundred and fifty years ago in Hungary. We also knew that it was smuggled out of there at the beginning of WWII, and brought to Honduras. After having survived the Nazis and Hurricane Mitch, Manny could not conceive of another option than to repair it.

An article about the Torah appeared the next day on the NY Times (one of the Underberg’s guests on Thanksgiving was a NY Times journalist). Its impact was great. The TV stations, local cable TV, radio and journalists from other papers, including the Jewish ones, came to us.

The plan for the restoration of the Torah became a scheduled activity. News traveled all over and, suddenly, we got together a group of approximately 35 volunteers who would help us clean the Torah and prepare it for Manny’s quill.

We received many donations for the restoration of the Torah.

The volunteers were trained in each phase of the cleaning project.

We finished scraping, cleaning, scrubbing, and rubbing the surface of the Torah. We used surgical instruments, brushes, erasers, and much lysol to remove the mold. It was surprising that the sharp edge of the tools would not damage the parchment nor the ink, although they were 150 years old. When the front part was finished, we scraped and cleaned the back part, so that we could paint it again. We still had to separate the skins, and then re-sew the Torah in its original state.

We also learned to make thread using the entrails of a kosher animal. The “Atsei Chaiim" or Trees of Life (the poles around which the Torah is scrolled) were repaired, filed, restored, and re-sewn to the scroll.

Our lives are now connected with yours thanks to this Torah. It is yours, and it will form an important part in the life of your synagogue. But a part of the Torah is ours too.

It became a part of our lives while we had it for 2 years, and we feel overjoyed returning it to you.

Rabbi Viñas told us in a letter:
“To work on this Torah has been the most important work I have done as a scribe. It is the best example that ‘every Jew is responsible for the other.’ The energy, passion, generosity, and spiritual gifts that we have shared will never be forgotten.”
To which we reply “Amen”.

Judy and Steve Underberg,
returning the repaired Torah to the Community of Tegucigalpa.

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