'I was fulfilling a higher purpose' - Rabbi saves Torah from burning UCT campus

As Capetonians watched in horror as UCT's historic Jagger Library was gutted on Sunday afternoon, a local religious leader braved the burning campus to secure a sacred Jewish scroll.

The Torah, housed at the Kaplan Centre of Jewish Studies, was secured on Sunday after a veldfire spread to the campus from Rhodes Memorial.

The fire gutted the Jagger Library and several other buildings, potentially damaging valuable collections housed there. The extent of the damage has not yet been established.