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STATEMENT FROM RICK ZITELMAN, PRESIDENT, SAVE A TORAH, INC.
In July 2010, following a review by the Maryland Attorney General's Office of all requested information and documents, Save A Torah, Inc., and the Maryland Attorney General's Office concluded an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance pursuant to Maryland law.
This Agreement made no finding or implication of any wrongdoing on the part of Save A Torah, Inc. ("SATI") or its representatives, including Rabbi Menachem Youlus. The Agreement explicitly states that it "is for conciliation purposes only and does not constitute an admission by SATI that any law has been violated." The voluntary-compliance provisions set forth in the Agreement had been implemented in February 2010, with the adoption of SATI's Ethics Policy.
As provided by its Ethics Policy, SATI is committed to "take all reasonable steps necessary to ensure that its board members, employees, independent contractors and other agents will only describe where a Torah was found or provide an account of its rescue if there is documentation or an independent verifiable witness to such history." Without such proof, "there will be no discussion of the circumstances under which the Torah was rescued so that those who dedicate or receive rescued Torahs can do so with total confidence."
We remain exceedingly grateful for the support we have received from members of our community in recent months, including many who have dedicated or received a Torah through Save A Torah, Inc.
Save A Torah, Inc., continues to be committed to its mission of locating and acquiring Torahs which have survived the Holocaust or have been taken from Jewish communities in other locations around the world. We will continue to inspect, repair and restore these Torahs, through the work of trained soferim, so that they can be resettled in communities in need of a Torah, providing financial assistance if necessary. We will also continue to research and identify the communities and original owners of our rescued Torahs and return the Torahs to the surviving owners whenever
possible.
Click Here to Continue to the Save A Torah Website |
Midrash: As for Youlus's Torah rescue stories, Michael
Berenbaum  , 64, a noted HOLOCAUST historian and a former director of the research institute at the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum , came to the conclusion: "A psychiatrist might say they are delusional. A historian might say they are counter-factual. A pious Jew might call them midrash - the stories we tell to underscore the deepest truths we live."
Midrash, in this context, refers to the ancient tradition of rabbis telling anecdotes and fables to convey a moral lesson. "Myth underscores the deepest truth we live," Berenbaum says. |
