Exciting: the Torah book that survived World War II was moved to Vashem Israel today

A Torah scroll from the city of Kielce in Poland survived the Holocaust and its owner fell victim to a Polish pogrom against Jews.

Now, it will be entrusted to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust and Heroic Remembrance Authority with the aim of perpetuating the Jewish family and community.

Mordechai (Motel) Kenner was born in 1910 in the city of Kielce in Poland to his parents Sander (Alexander) and Sara-Rachel nee Redlich.

Mordechai had three sisters: Esther, Hela-Handel and Luba.

Mordechai was a watchmaker and traded in "Zieger" watches.

With the outbreak of World War II and the invasion of Poland by the German army, Kenner fled to the Soviet Union.

In his wanderings he came across a village where he received a Torah scroll from an elderly Jewish woman.

Kenner wandered with the book, but due to its size it weighed him down in his escape, so he decided to bury it in the ground and pick it up again if he managed to survive the war.

The victory of Motel, the ancient Torah book that survived the war, photo: no

Kenner joined the partisans and finally arrived in the city of Lviv, which is now in Ukraine.

One day he met Rebecca, a young widow with two small children.

Mordechai and Rebecca fell in love and married in 1945. After the liberation, he decided to return to Kielce, his hometown.

Rebecca and the rest of the family were waiting for him in Krakow, and after delaying returning, Rebecca went to look for him in Kielce.

During her searches, Rebecca discovered that Mordechai was severely beaten by the Poles in a pogrom that took place there in July 1946. During the pogrom, dozens of Jews were brutally murdered and many were injured.

A canner was thrown into the ditch where the bodies of those murdered in the pogrom were.

Rebecca found him among the bodies while he was still alive, and managed to get him to the hospital.

Upon his release, the two moved to a displaced persons camp in Germany.

Kenner was able to fulfill the request of the elderly woman in a village in Poland.

He found the Torah book in the place where he buried it and kept it.

In 1949 the family immigrated to Israel and settled in Holon.

In 1950 the Torah book was donated to the Great Synagogue in Holon, and dedicated to the memory of his parents who perished in the Holocaust.

Mordechai's daughter, Sarah Magidish, and his grandson Avi Kener, decided to donate the book to the collection of objects at Yad Vashem as a memorial and testimony.

"This is a unique item," Sarah said, "It symbolizes not only the difficult events, but also the determination and desire to preserve the Jewish identity. With its delivery to Vashem, it will become part of the memory of the Holocaust for future generations."

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