The Torah scroll was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2017 by David Ari Klein, the nephew of Rabbi Ralph Weisberger.
Rabbi Ralph Weisberger (1912-1996) was born in Poughkeepsie, NY on 28 March 1912, the ninth of eleven children of Bentzion and Pearl (nee Singer) Weisberger, both of whom had immigrated from Hungary (Bentzion with his family as a child in 1882, and Pearl as a 15-year-old in 1890). The family moved to Harlem in the 1920s, and eventually settled in Washington Heights. Ralph studied at the City College of New York, obtaining a bachelor's degree there in 1934, and went from there to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he was ordained a rabbi in 1940. His first position was as rabbi with the Brith Sholom Community Center in Philadelphia, where he served until 1942. After chaplain training at Harvard University, he joined the United States Army in October 1942, serving at bases in Florida, South Carolina, and Mississippi, before being sent overseas, to the Persian Gulf Command, stationed in Iran and Iraq. He ministered to Jewish soldiers from the U.S. and British military forces based there, but also to Jewish refugees from Poland who were living there. He reached the rank of captain in the U.S. Army, and was demobilized in 1946. He returned to the United States after the war, but subsequently worked in the Torah education department of the World Zionist Organization in Jerusalem, beginning in 1951, and immigrated to Israel in 1969, when he changed his name to Ralph Ben-Zion. He died in Jerusalem on 20 December 1996.
a: Torah scroll (above dimensions are of scroll rolled) b: blue cloth Torah scroll cover with tassels and Hebrew lettering as well as Star of David in gold/yellow thread c: hinged Torah Scroll box (dimensions are of box closed) d: blue ribbon tied around Torah scroll in Hebrew, on Torah Scroll cover
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a: Height: 17.500 inches (44.45 cm) | Width: 4.000 inches (10.16 cm) b: Height: 12.000 inches (30.48 cm) | Width: 7.130 inches (18.11 cm) c: Height: 3.500 inches (8.89 cm) | Width: 18.310 inches (46.507 cm)
The scroll was used by Rabbi Ralph M. Weisberger during his military service in the Persian Gulf, circa 1944.
Torah scroll with cover and box