By Catherine Pepinster
When Methodist minister Joanne Cox-Darling chatted to the BBC Radio 2 presenter Owain Wyn Evans about sacred texts, little did she realise that she would set off a series of events that would lead to the recovery of stolen Jewish scrolls.
The conversation happened in a Pause for Thought slot during the Early Breakfast Show last Thursday.
In March, members of the community of the Beis HaMedrash Torah Etz Chaim, also known as the 69, were devastated when thieves made off with a safe from their Orthodox shul in Bury New Road, Salford.
The haul included silver candlesticks, but the most precious items to the synagogue were two scrolls, handwritten parchment scrolls containing the Torah, the first five books of Moses, which are passed down from generation to generation. The scrolls were thought to be about 100 years old.
At the time of the theft the synagogue said the scrolls were valuable to nobody else, but it offered £2,000 for their return.
It also left the congregation feeling distressed and vulnerable. Given that the theft, in March, happened at a time of heightened antisemitism in Britain and within five months of the terrorist attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Higher Crumpsall, just over a mile away from the 69, it was particularly traumatic.
From March until last week, there was no word of the scrolls — until Ms Cox-Darling discovered them left outside her church, Whalley Range Methodist, hours after her broadcast.
“I was talking about scrolls in general on the radio and I had no idea that any had been stolen in Manchester,” she said. “I’ve no idea if my speaking about scrolls led to their arrival but it is beautiful to help get them restored to the synagogue — but also random and weird.”
Through her work as a minister, Ms Cox-Darling has developed strong links with interfaith networks so, as well as alerting the police to the appearance of the scrolls outside her church, she got in touch with Dr Benjamin Ellis a faculty member of the Senior Faith in Leadership Programme, who translated the ceremonial coverings and the prayer attached to one of the scrolls.
This enabled her to get in touch with Rabbi Warren Elf, co-chair of the Greater Manchester Faiths Forum to ask if he knew of any stolen scrolls. Within half an hour he came back with the name of the shul. Soon the shul was reunited with the scrolls.
“It was like a miracle,” Rabbi Warren said. “It was 12 weeks since they were stolen and the community had no idea where they might be. And then they just turn up.”
“Having these holy objects stolen was so difficult for the congregation, not only because they are integral to the life of the community but because they have been used for generations. People appreciate those connections.”
It would also have been a huge task to replace the scrolls, which can take a trained scribe a year to complete. Three men in hi-vis jackets were caught on CCTV carrying the safe out of the synagogue but no arrests have been made.
Ms Cox-Darling said the scrolls’ return showed Manchester’s interfaith networks working at their best, as people with specialist knowledge helped to solve a mystery. “Without that we could not have joined the dots,” she added.
The 69 community celebrated the return of the scrolls with rapturous music outside their synagogue, including a version of Psalm 24, celebrating God’s kingdom and glory.
