A Torah cover that survived the Nazis is being returned the family of the woman who sewed it, writes Marilyn Henry in Thursday’s RNS report: When Gavriel Wesel came safely home to Vienna, Austria, after World War I, his wife, Miriam, sewed a cover for a Torah scroll at their synagogue to give thanks to God. On Monday (March 27), 87 years later, the cover will be returned to the New York grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the late Gavriel and Miriam Wesel. The return will take place in the office of New York Gov. George Pataki, who established the world’s only public agency that helps Nazi victims and their heirs recover looted properties. Because the Torah cover survived in a Nazi-annexed country during World War II, it’s considered extremely rare. Hitler’s Nazis looted or destroyed virtually all ceremonial or ritual Jewish objects, called Judaica. “We gave up on it,” said Aaron Bauer of Brooklyn, the Wesels’ grandson. “This is a miracle. They destroyed I don’t know how many thousands of things, and this one we found, and now we are getting it.”
Nathan Herpich reports on a trend of new churches meeting in movie theaters to benefit from the space and parking that theaters afford: The Rev. Reford Mott looks straight into two cameras as he stands at a make-shift pulpit on top of a temporary stage. Behind him, Mott’s face fills a silver screen where an R-rated film will start in less than two hours. Churchgoers in the top rows of the stadium-style seating in Theater 16 focus on Mott’s real-time image as he preaches on the importance of community. “Relationships are the glue that holds the church together,” says Mott, pumping his fist. “Look at us. We’re meeting in a movie theater, but we’re still a church.” Mott’s Family Christian Center is one of more than 250 churches meeting in at least 36 states. The mostly evangelical trend has caught on with nascent churches looking for space and parking as they seek a more permanent home and established congregations wanting to reach a new audience. Churchgoers in Saraland, Ala., say they see their savior in the drywall after Hurricane Katrina caused flooding in the church, reports Andy Netzel: Church members say a buckling of drywall in their flooded sanctuary resembles a crucifixion and works miracles. “You never know how he is going to come,” says Ella Roberts, pastor of the Triumph Learning and Worship Center for Life. “You can’t explain it. It just is what it is.” The image appeared after flooding from Hurricane Katrina left the church damaged, Roberts says. Though the image is some 4 feet above the waterline, the spot looks similar to spots along the floor. Church members have been using the image that they say resembles Jesus hanging on a cross as a prayer tool, placing their hands on it as they talk to God. Roberts says she experienced a miracle last week. Claims similar to those from the Saraland sanctuary pop up from time to time, says William Dinges, a professor of religious studies at the Catholic University of America.
