Kyiv Synagogue Refuses to Return Torah Scrolls to State Archives

Representatives of the State Committee on Archives of Ukraine state that the Jewish community of Kyiv refuses to return Torah scrolls passed to the Jewish community for temporary use.

KYIV – Representatives of the State Committee on Archives of Ukraine state that Torah scrolls were passed to the Jewish community of Kyiv for temporary use for a period till February 2, 2010, but upon request to return the scrolls for the purpose of producing copies of the reserve stock on February 10, the Jewish community of Kyiv refused. The representatives of the archives stress that the scrolls are “documents of the National Archival Fund of Ukraine and are now kept in the building of the Central Synagogue of the city of Kyiv on an illegal basis.”   RISU’s Ukrainian-language web site posted this story on February 16, 2010.

The Torah scrolls were passed to the temporary use of the Central Synagogue of Kyiv for a period of one year according to Act 18 of 31.01.2009 “On passing documents for temporary use,” signed by the representatives of the archives and the deputy Chief Rabbi of Kyiv. The period of temporary use expired on February 2, 2010.  

The management of the archives informed the religious community in advance that the question of prolonging the term of use of the Torah scrolls will be considered only after the reserve stock is created according to the current state standards. On February 2, representatives of the state archives came to the synagogue to check the availability and condition of the archives’ documents and preparation thereof for the creation of the reserve stock but were refused access to the documents.