Mordechai Shlomo Bold, the chief rabbi of
Community rabbis say all Torah scrolls and fragments being held by the Ukrainian State Archives must be returned to their original owners.
Jewish religious objects taken from synagogues during the Soviet regime are in two
Some items confiscated from Lvov Jews during the Soviet regime were returned to the Jewish community in 1989. Approximately 1,000 to 2,000 Jews live in modern
Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko signed a decree in 2007 ordering the restoration of Jewish religious objects to the country's Jewish communities.
Most of the Torah scrolls now being used in Ukrainian synagogues were acquired by the state archives and museums through communist and Nazi looting.
Jewish communities need the thousands of Torah scrolls currently languishing in state archives, according to local rabbis, to restore and to use during services.
Rabbi Yakov Dov Bleich, chief rabbi of
Aleksandr Sagan, head of the Ukrainian State Committee on Nationalities and Religions, told JTA that the objects must be used to help revitalize Jewish religious life in the country.