On Friday November 4, 1966, the Arno River spilled over its banks and began to flood Florence. A few local Jews immediately rushed to the synagogue to rescue some of the Torah scrolls from the still-rising waters. In the wake of the flood, thousands of so-called “mud angels” arrived to help rescue the city’s artistic and historical artifacts—including many from Israel who came specifically to aid its Jewish community. Rossella Tercatin writes:
In some neighborhoods, the water reached up to five meters (sixteen feet) high—and almost two meters (six feet) in the synagogue—covering houses and stores. The flood water savaged Florence’s monuments and artistic sites renowned the world over, . . . dragging along with it cars, bicycles, and all kind of debris.
Over 30 people lost their lives, thousands their homes, tens of thousands were left without electricity, gas, running water. And a million books were devastated, including 15,000 Jewish books and manuscripts located in the Jewish community library and archives, along with 90 Torah scrolls that were kept in the several holy arks in the synagogue building.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Arno flood, some of these books, together with Judaica objects, are featured in the exhibit “And the Waters Subsided” (named for the verse in Genesis 8:1 describing the aftermath of the biblical deluge). The exhibit was launched at the end of October at the National Library of Florence, and will run until January 27, 2017. . . .
As the volunteers [a half-century ago] worked hard to clean the synagogue of the pervading mud, the dozens of parchment Torah scrolls were unrolled and spread out to dry. They were later transported to the Great Synagogue in Rome to be hung out in a cleaner, less humid environment. Almost all of the scrolls were eventually deemed too severely damaged to be saved, and in September 1987 they were buried in the Jewish cemetery of Rifredi in Florence, according to the Jewish tradition for damaged holy texts. Only three of the Torahs were kept and restored—albeit not for ritual use—and are now part of the exhibition.
Read more on Times of Israel: http://www.timesofisrael.com/50-years-ago-mud-angels-came-to-flooded-florence-to-save-centuries-of-jewish-history/