As Jews throughout the world prepare to kick off the High Holidays this Friday, one local synagogue will host a historic artifact that beat the odds to make it to Miami.
The Congregation Ahavat Olam in South Miami will be host to a 131-year-old Torah that has survived the Nazis and time to be available for this year's Rosh Hashanah services.
Finished in 1878 in the Czech Republic, the sacred scroll was hidden when the Nazis came to power in the 1930s. It was later sold by communist leaders to a London synagogue after World war II.
Still well-preserved, the Torah was given to the Miami synagogue on an indefinite loan. Rabbi Danny Marmorstein said that the Torah's arrival at his house of worship was "bashert," Yiddish for "meant to be."
Rosh Hashanah celebrates the Jewish New Year, now at 5770.
