Our Torah

In February 2026, The Six11 Project became the custodian of a Czech Torah from the Memorial Scrolls Trust. Our scroll, MST #469, was written around 1850 in Velké Meziříčí, Moravia (Czech Republic). In 1942, as the Nazis waged their campaign to destroy European Jewry – leaving behind hundreds of abandoned synagogues – over 200,000 items were collected from communities in Bohemia and Moravia and shipped to the Jewish Museum in Prague where they were catalogued by Jewish curators, few of whom survived the war. For many years it was believed the Germans planned a Museum of an Extinct Race after the war, however some historians now believe it was a Jewish plan to keep them in safe-keeping, never believing so few would survive the Shoah. Miraculously everything survived.

This treasure included 1,564 Torah and other scrolls that were brought to London in 1964. The Memorial Scrolls Trust in London was established to be responsible for the Torahs and they have allocated some 1,400 scrolls on permanent loan to Jewish communities around the world.

After restoration, our Torah was sent in 1969 to a congregation in Johannesburg, where it was used meaningfully for the next 56 years. When the congregation closed its doors in 2025, we applied and were approved to be its next custodians. We are honored to use this Torah regularly for our services, ceremonies, and classes in Los Angeles, and to continue spreading awareness for the incredible and resilient history of these Torah scrolls.

Our Torah is on permanent loan from the Memorial Scrolls Trust in London. For more information on their work, please visit www.memorialscrollstrust.org.