During Sunday morning services at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, Rabbi Jeffrey Fox had just opened the door to the ark and turned to put his prayerbook down on the lectern when he heard an “unthinkable” sound: One of the Torah scrolls kept in the cabinet had fallen to the floor.

His heart sank, and gasps were heard at the Modern Orthodox congregation in the Bronx, where Fox is a member and plays an informal rabbinical role when the paid clergy are otherwise engaged. Tradition regards the dropping of a Torah scroll as such a dishonor that it demands communal penance — famously although not compulsorily, some authorities say the dropper and witnesses should fast for at least a day and maybe 40 .

Meanwhile, just the day before, the same thing happened at Altshul, the independent

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