|
|
October 3, 2003/Tishri 7 5764, Vol. 56, No.2
Writing a Torah
LEISAH NAMM
Managing Editor
Scribe Neil Yerman, bottom, assists Rabbi William Berk of Temple Chai with writing the first letter in the synagogue's new Torah during a Sept. 21 "Torah for Now ... Torah for Life" ceremony.
Photo by Ed Goodman Photography
|
Temple Chai congregants will soon have a Torah they can truly call their own.
The first six letters of the Torah - the word Bereshit - were "written" by Rabbi William Berk, Cantor Sharona Feller, Director of Education Ava Keenan, Rabbi Lisa Tzur, Rabbi Peter Levi and Rabbi Mari Chernow during a Sept. 21 ceremony at the synagogue.
Although Scribe Neil Yerman of New York wrote the actual text, to follow exact requirements of how each letter must be written, participants helped hold the quill. The procedure was projected on a large screen so the crowd of more than 700 people could watch each individual letter being written.
"(People in the room) were cheering after each letter," says Toni Smeltzer, member of the steering committee.
Later that day, the temple's past presidents, board of directors and members of the steering committee each wrote a letter; 40 letters were completed by the end of the day, says Executive Director Ilene Singer. Over the next few months, Yerman will return to the Phoenix synagogue several times to assist other congregants in writing letters.
"Our intent on the entire project was to have 100 percent participation so everyone can fulfill" the commandment of writing a Torah scroll, Smeltzer says.
Artist Ruth Levi, Rabbi Peter Levi's wife, who has studied with Yerman, will write the portion "Chaye Sarah."
Yerman will complete the book of Genesis; the other four books of the Torah will be written in Israel, Singer says.
Before Yerman began writing at the ceremony, he gave a brief lesson about what goes into writing a Torah, and then both Louis Hoffman, temple president, and Berk spoke. Four b'nai mitzvah students - Jordana Barness, Brett Lakin, Ariel Salk and Matthew Sherman - joined in a procession of the elements, presenting the scribe with the necessary quill, ink, parchment and tunic.
After the ceremony, the congregation celebrated with a reception which featured a performance by the temple's band, Chai Tones; Yerman joined in on clarinet.
Everybody over age 10 by June 1, 2004, in a sponsoring household gets to write a letter, says Smeltzer. That age group was selected because they're at the age where they can understand the importance of it and "by the time they had their bar or bat mitzvah, that can be the Torah they read out of," she explains.
The synagogue currently has three other Torahs, and a second new Torah is being written in Israel, Singer says.
The completion of the Torah is scheduled for May 2004, before Shavuot, which is the holiday that commemorates God's giving the Torah to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai.
|
