A sacred Torah scroll has been found, apparently left on a ShortLine Coach USA bus and company officials have enlisted the aid of officials in the Village of Kiryas Joel to find its owner.
Village Public Safety Director Moses Witriol retrieved the scroll from ShortLine headquarters in Mahwah, NJ and the bus company and he are trying to determine its rightful owner and return it.
Witriol told MidHudsonNews.com the Torah is between 20 and 30 years old and in good condition.
ShortLine is attempted to determine what route that particular bus had in an effort to find its owner. Witriol suspects it belongs to a congregation that spends the summer months in Sullivan County and may have brought with its members by bus recently.
For now, the sacred scroll is locked up in a Kiryas Joel synagogue.
If anyone has an idea as to who the Torah belongs to, they are asked to call the Village of Kiryas Joel Public Safety Office at 845-782-5577.
(Source: MidHudsonNews.com)
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11 Responses
Witriol is clueless. Any 10 year old can tell that its a Posul Sefer Torah because of the “Gartel” on the outside
Even if it is pasul he still has to find the owner, and I am not sure what he said contradicted its status as a pasul sefer torah other than why would they bring it with them to the country if it was pasul, perhaps the sofer was bringing it to fix
HerNor, we just fasted yesterday. Don’t say he’s “clueless”. Reread the article. that’s what he said to the newspapaer. Would you prefer he describe that it is useless in its present state? The “condition” may mean that it looks like any other sefer on the outside. And where do you see in this article that the gartel is on the outside? If people jump down each other’s throats for comments, their sefer Torah is lost too.
to #1 My educated guess is that after they looked at the Sefer they put the gartel on the outside since we don;t know if its kosher.
This truly bizzarre. No one can identify it? It doesn’t have those micro-chips in it? Oh, but of course, people always leave a Sefer Torah on buses, like umbrellas. Silly me.
BTW…could this be the Torah that was stolen from a parked car in Crown Heights last year?
hernor – maybe dee bist clueless. a Sefer Torah can be in excellent condition but if even a small split is found in only one of its 304,805 letters it is posul and just needs repair. this has nothing to do with its overall condition.
We are in the three weeks. Must you look for something negative to say? Perhaps the gartel is on the outside because it made it easier to carry on the bus keeping the mantel down?
It makes you wonder if this is really a lost sefer torah, or perhaps one that was stolen. People may forget luggage on a bus, but a sefer torah? I cant imagine someone throwing it on the bottom of the bus with all the luggage and it probably was not put up with the luggage on the inside of the bus. Also, dont heimishe yidden who go by bus use the heimishe lines, especially if traveling with a sefer torah where they could be sure that all around the sefer would be treated with the proper kavod?
??????Witriol suspects it belongs to a congregation that spends the summer months in Sullivan County and may have brought with its members by bus recently.?????
Which cong transports a sefer torah via Short Line??
#1 is right the Sefer is aapparently posul.
Judging from the torn mantel and English dedication (see Hamodia. I would guess it came from one of the abondanded Shuls and was left there by a “perpertrator” who found out it was “spiritual”.
THE fact that the Gartel is outside only means it’s temporary Posul. It may need a minor Tikkun
From one who handled the Sefer Torah. The gartel was placed outside only because the Mentele was torn and kept slipping off.
Passul or not, people dont accidently leave sifrei torah on a bus. It is not a bag or an umbrella. Nobody asked when this person got to his destination, “hey, what happened to the torah?”. The driver remembers nothing? How many people get on a Short Line bus with a sefer torah? Something doesnt add up.