Emma Basger is spearheading the Sha’arei Shalom campaign, which has already raised £4,000, or 400,000 pennies.
“One of our congregants was telling us about a school in Texas where they’d collected six million paper clips among the children to show how much six million Jewish people [represented],” Mrs Basger said.
“And then we came up with the idea: Why don’t we collect six million pennies?” As well as financing a scroll, the proceeds will fund donations to Holocaust charities.
The shul is in “desperate need” of a new Torah, as one of its scrolls is posul — ineligible for use — and the other is in a poor state of repair. Supporting Holocaust charities would help to ensure “that no one ever forgets”.
A congregant who runs a video company will be making a film, interspersing shots of pennies being donated with clips from the Shoah. It will be sent to Holocaust museums, Jewish and secular schools.
The project is a major undertaking for the small Whitefield-based synagogue, which sometimes struggles for a minyan on Shabbat. It is also accepting larger donations which will be converted into pennies.
