New Orleans - Congregation Buries 7 Flood-Damaged Torahs

Gentilly, New Orleans - More than 200 people gathered at the Beth Israel Cemetery on Frenchmen Street for the burial of seven sacred torahs destroyed when a Lakeview synagogue flooded during Hurricane Katrina.

The torahs once belonged to Beth Israel, a 102-year-old Orthodox congregation, "It's closure," said one Beth Israel member. "We know that the congregation is never going to be what it was, but we are going to rebuild, and we're going to come back. The torah is our holiest book."