Quote:
Originally Posted by FSUZeta
Perhaps it is not used only for Jewish members, but for general ritual and it is specific specification of their ritual. Perhaps a wealthy Jewish member donated this torah to his chapter. We could speculate for hours and not find the answer, but it boils down to the fact that to desecrate any holy book is awful. I hope that the culprit(s) are caught and punished.
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The first would *greatly* confuse/surprise me. The likelihood that a fraternity with no apparently Jewish early traditions (Their first three chapters are in Illinois, early growth was in the midwest and away from the highly Jewishly concentrated areas) and no apparently transplanted jewish traditions (like for example the latter day saints) seems odd. I would expect that the local ADL wouldn't even call it a torah in that case.
The second is reasonable. There is nothing in the photographs to indicate that the way that TKE was storing it was unreasonable (the red baglike thing with hebrew lettering on it to the left of the desecrated torah in the would be a *quite* appropriate torah cover that would be used when stored at a synagogue.
If so, the idea of it being "loaned" for usage for Rosh Hashana /Yom Kippur services by one of the Jewish groups on campus would not be unreasonable.
