Like many of the Jewish communities of Europe my hometown grew slowly from a small handful of people into a thriving community. Progress was not always easy and Jews were twice expelled for Kolin; first between 1541 - 1557 and again between 1561 - 1564. Since then life has gone on uninterruptedly through not without challenges to overcome. Remaining in Kolin depended on the good will of the local monarch and the community was often required to pay exorbitant taxes to secure our few rights and freedoms. At times, it felt like local monarchs saw us as a giant bank to finance their wars and whims of fancy.

Despite the financial hardships imposed by local authorities the community continued to grow and in the 1660's we established a Yeshiva that would come to be greatly admired. Not too long afterwards, I was painstakingly and lovingly brought into the world and took up residence in my home in 1700. The synagogue building in which I lived was at the end of Nabradbach Street, between the last house, number 157/12 and what was then the city wall of Kolin. Construction of the shul began in 1642 and was completed in 1696; just four years before I arrived! There was always a strong sense of the past in the shul, knowing it had been built on the site of a pre 1587 synagogue building.

From my place in the Holy Ark and from the Torah reader's podium, I was able to watch the life of the community unfold - the aufrufs of those about to be married; the brit of a boisterous baby boy or the naming of a beautiful baby girl and the look of joy on proud parents and grandparents. Shabbatot and festivals were moments of incredible celebration - the pageantry of Hoshanot on Sukkot; the exhilaration of Hakafot on Simhat Torah; the awe of reading about and reexperiencing revelation at Sinai on Shavuot; and the elation of welcoming the Sabbath Queen each week.

The presence of the Yeshiva in our town meant that I was able to watch great scholars in prayer. One of the most famous was a child prodigy Samuel ben Nathan Ha Levi who would go on to author many books on Jewish law and Talmudic commentaries. Watching him in his youth I could tell that he would become a great teacher of Torah. Scholars came to refer to this great sage simple as "The Kolin" and many came to our town to study with him.

Another famous scholar who emerged from our Yeshiva was Rabbi Jacob Illowy who served as the Rabbi of Kolin from 1746-1781. Then there was Rabbi Richard Feder (1875 - 1970) who was an active teacher of Torah in Kolin from 1917-1954. He also served as the Chief Rabbi of Bohemia and Moravia.

Our community was blessed with many other notable personalities. There was the Czech-Jewish poet Max Winder and the German-Jewish poet Camill Hoffman who was killed in Auschwitz in 1944. The Petcheck family were well known bankers but their real fame in our community was for their unstinting generosity to those in need.

The demise of my community occurred in 1942 when the Jews of Kolin and its environs were sent to the Terezin concentration camp. Only one hundred and five Jewish souls would survive the Nazi occupation and return to Kolin. I was not amongst the fortunate ones who would return to Kolin, becoming instead a part of the treasures looted by the Nazis from the desolated communities of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia.. Along with hundreds of other Torah scrolls I found myself in storage in a dark warehouse. That we survived the carnage of World War II is truly a miracle but we did not emerge unscathed - smoke, heat, and water have left whole sections of sacred words unreadable - my service to the Jewish people ended.

After the war ended we were cared for by the Czechoslovak government. Through the agency of friends and as an act of good will by the Czechoslovak government 1,654 Torah scrolls were acquired from Artia (the State Cultural Agency) for the Westminster Synagogue in England where we arrived on February 7, 1964. Some of the scrolls became part of a permanent memorial in Westminster Synagogue to the martyrs of the Shoah from whose synagogues they came. I watched as many other Torah scrolls were distributed around "the world as memorials to the tragedy that befell the Jews and to speak light as harbingers of future brotherhood on each; and all of them bear witness to the glory of the holy Name."

Finally, it was my turn. Like other survivors, I was going to a strange new place, not knowing what to expect. Like other survivors, I have a number - I am Torah scroll #443. I have a new home at Congregation B'nai Tikvah in North Brunswick, NJ. Once again, I can watch a living Jewish community celebrating life cycle events and I can hear the words of Torah being read and discussed. Once again I have a place and a purpose amongst the Jewish people.