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November 10, 2000/12 Heshvan 5761, Vol. 53, No.7
Torah descends upon Temple Solel
LEISAH NAMM
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 Rabbi Schmuel Miller inks in the last 23 words of Temple Solel's new Torah. Photo by Mark Gluckman |
From the mountain, the group walked more than two miles from the Echo Canyon recreation area, east on McDonald Drive, to the sanctuary of the Paradise Valley synagogue.
Escorting the group were two off-duty police officers.
In the sanctuary, nearly 200 additional Solel members joined the walkers for a completion ceremony; witnessing Sofer and Rabbi Schmuel Miller from California inking the last 23 words of the Torah.
A video camera filmed the scribe's work, and the close-up images were viewed on two 37-inch screens in the sanctuary.
Miller, originally from Tunisia, began scribing the Torah about a year ago, working from memory. He mixed the ink and made the quill from a turkey feather. The parchment is made from cowhide.
"Everything in the Torah has to come from something that lived," explains Harry Higgins, Solel's cultural arts coordinator.
Rabbis Maynard Bell and Alan Berlin each filled in a previously outlined letter.
After the ceremony, Bell conducted a brief Torah-reading service. Two "children of Israel," Zach Israel, 17, and his sister Sasha, 15, "read the Torah for the first time," Higgins says. They read Lech Lecha, the Torah portion in which God tells Abram (as Abraham initially was known): "Go forth from your native land and from your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation." (Genesis 12:1-2)
"Lech Lecha is a wonderful portion," Higgins says, "It's the beginning of Judaism."
While the Torah portion seemed fitting to the Torah dedication, Higgins says the timing was coincidental.
Money for the new Torah was raised by donations; members bought letters, words and parshas (portions).
Edie Greenberg, who has studied with Bell, designed the new Torah cover, as well as covers for the synagogue's other three Torahs.