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Torah scroll makes mysterious journey from Iraqi intelligence storage to Israel, officials say

Associated Press
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An ancient Torah scroll is seen during a dedication ceremony at the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015. The scroll that Israeli experts said was written 200 years ago has taken an unusual and mysterious journey from Baghdad to Jerusalem where it was greeted with candies and song in a jubilant dedication ceremony Thursday. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner) (The Associated Press)

Israeli Foreign Ministry worker Yitshak Ozeri carries an ancient Torah scroll during a dedication ceremony at the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015. The scroll that Israeli experts said was written 200 years ago has taken an unusual and mysterious journey from Baghdad to Jerusalem where it was greeted with candies and song in the jubilant dedication ceremony Thursday. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner) (The Associated Press)

An ancient Torah scroll is seen during a dedication ceremony at the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015. The scroll that Israeli experts said was written 200 years ago has taken an unusual and mysterious journey from Baghdad to Jerusalem where it was greeted with candies and song in the jubilant dedication ceremony Thursday. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner) (The Associated Press)

Israel's Foreign Ministry has dedicated a 200-year-old Iraqi Torah scroll whose journey to Israel remains a mystery.

The scroll is believed to have been found during the 2003 Iraq War in Iraqi intelligence storage. But Israeli officials offer different theories for how it arrived in Israel, where it was installed Thursday in a synagogue at the ministry in Jerusalem.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the scroll "represents the fate of the Jews." Jews have been persecuted, he said, but "in the end they come to Israel."

The scroll, written in Hebrew in pomegranate ink, has been restored.

The scroll is a remnant of Iraq's 2,500-year-old Jewish community, one of the world's oldest, which all but disappeared when large numbers of Jews left following Israel's founding in 1948.