VENTNOR, NJ — A Stockton University documentary about the restoration of a 250-year-old Torah that survived the Holocaust is set to be screened in Ventnor on Aug. 30.
"Saved from the Shoah: the Hammerschlag Family Torah Returns" will be shown at 11 a.m. at the Chabad Chai Center, 6605 Atlantic Ave., in Ventnor. The event will also give guests a chance to witness the Torah's final letters being completed by the scribe with participation from guests.
Lennard Hammerschlag, who is the focus of the documentary, will write the final letter on the Torah. According to the event announcement, that step will complete the Torah's restoration and make it kosher.
The film was produced by Stockton University about the Torah's journey and restoration. The documentary was inspired by the Hammerschlag family's history and a 2018 return to Lauenau, Germany, by Lennard Hammerschlag and his brother, Marc.
In 1939, the Hammerschlag family fled Nazi persecution in Lauenau for safety in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. The Torah was one of the few items the family chose to bring with them when they left Germany.
The event announcement says the Torah later returned to Lauenau in 2018, when the Hammerschlag brothers revisited the building that had once been its home. That journey became the basis for the documentary produced by the Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center and Stockton University's video production team.
Brunch will also be served. The event is open to the public, but RSVP is required.
Those interested in attending can contact the Holocaust Resource Center at hrc@stockton.edu or 609-652-4699 to reserve a spot.
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