Israel’s first president, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, presented this Torah to President Harry S. Truman at the White House on May 25, 1948. (Photo courtesy of Truman Library & Museum)Rabbi Ezra Finkelstein found out that his most precious Bar Mitzvah gift had been given away when he saw President Harry S. Truman and Israeli President Chaim Weizmann posing with it on the front page of the New York Times. Rabbi Finkelstein celebrated the 80th anniversary of his Bar Mitzvah last week, reunited with a gift that made history.The State of Israel was 11 days old when Israel’s first president, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, presented a Torah to President Harry S. Truman at the White House on May 25, 1948. The gift expressed Israeli gratitude for President Truman’s de facto recognition of Israel, a mere 11 minutes after the country’s birth, and later formal recognition.Rabbi Finkelstein’s Bar Mitzvah anniversary took place on Jan. 30 at the National Museum of American Jewish History (NMAJH) in Philadelphia, where what is now known as the Truman Torah will be on display for five months. The Torah is on temporary loan from the Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri, which is undergoing a major renovation. Rabbi Ezra Finkelstein was reunited with his Torah, now the Truman Torah, at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia where it will be on display until June 27.Truman’s Torah was originally Rabbi Ezra Finkelstein’s Torah, given to him by his father in celebration of his Bar Mitzvah in 1940. “When they took the Sefer Torah out of the box (the day before the celebration), it was an emotional experience for me,” said Rabbi Finkelstein. Other than photos, he had not seen his Torah in over 70 years.How did the Torah become President Truman’s? When Rabbi Ezra Finkelstein’s father, Rabbi Louis Finkelstein, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary and a prominent leader in New York, received a call from the Israeli consulate that the new president of Israel had an unexpected meeting with President Truman and was in need of a gift, he offered his son’s Torah.“This Torah represents the kind of connective tissue between the State of Israel and the United States at that founding moment and it’s a literal sort of witness to that event. It’s very interesting that this young boy ended up playing a role in this important moment in the history of the world,” said Truman Presidential Library Director Kurt Graham.Plans to send the Torah to Philadelphia were already underway when the Truman Library received a call about reuniting the Torah with its original owner. Conveniently, the Torah’s original owner would only be a state away.“I’m so excited about having the Torah here because it is a beautiful intersection of major events in world history and a deeply meaningful personal story, which in some ways is why I love museums, because objects like this carry story and emotion and history with them across time and across space,” said Dr. Josh Perelman, NMAJH chief curator.The Torah will be exhibited alongside various related artifacts, including documentation of Truman’s recognition of Israel, Truman’s schedule from the day President Weizmann visited him, a print of Arthur Szyk’s illuminated Israeli Declaration of Independence and a Chaim Weizmann doll. “To be able to tell the story of how this Torah came into the possession of President Truman and what it represented as a gift thanking Truman for his recognition of the State of Israel and exhibiting that at the very place where our nation was founded, just felt like a tremendously important and significant connection to be made,” Perelman said.The Truman TorahThe Torah was in Truman’s possession before the Truman Library was built. The Torah attended a World’s Fair and even spent some time traveling with the Army. According to the Truman Library, 9.2 million people have seen the Torah while it has been on exhibit there.Nearly a decade after the Finkelstein heirloom was gifted to Truman, Rabbi Louis Finkelstein asked President Truman about the Torah in his possession. Truman remarked, “It’s one of my most precious possessions.” When he was told that a scribe must inspect the Torah to keep it sacred, Truman said he would make sure a scribe came to Independence.“It’s interesting that Harry Truman is a Southern Baptist in the Midwest,” said Graham of the Truman Library. “And yet he was someone who the Jewish people came to absolutely love and respect and appreciate and vice versa.”The Torah will return to its home in Independence this summer. When the renovated Truman Library reopens around September, the exhibit that was once a couple cases about Truman’s recognition of Israel is set to be transformed into an entire room. The recognition of the State of Israel will be a more central part of the new museum design. Rabbi Finkelstein hopes to visit Independence for the grand re-opening of the Truman Library and Museum.Rabbi Finkelstein, who was a pulpit rabbi for 38 years and is now retired and writing his father’s biography, said most people didn’t know the Torah was originally his. He’s “lived with this secret some 60 years.”“I didn’t want it to be a distraction from the Sefer Torah itself.”The 92-year-old rabbi was happy to share his Bar Mitzvah anniversary celebration with the Truman Torah.“Each day at my age is something of a miracle unto itself. That to have an 80th anniversary of anything in my life is something remarkable.”Shacharit service was held in the museum’s auditorium. This was the first time the auditorium was ever used as a synagogue. Truman’s Torah was present, but not used. Rabbi Finkelstein was given an aliyah and his three children read Torah. He was presented with an 80th Bar Mitzvah anniversary certificate.“It was so meaningful. It in some ways embodies the essence of why museums are so important because these things, these evidences of our daily lives, carry with them remarkable stories and the remarkable person who is associated with them,” NMAJH’s Perelman said.Rabbi Finkelstein believes this Torah is relevant in today’s society.“The Torah scroll is a symbol. We live in a time unfortunately of increasing anti-Semitism and I think that the Torah represents a statement about the commitment of American Jews to this country.”
