Midstate Jewish congregation set out to write a new torah
'I was the President when we were creating the new building,' said Carl Shuman.
It has been more than a decade later since then.
Now, 'We are commissioning a new torah scroll, which is the book, the scroll that we read from on the Sabbath and on holidays,' he added.
Writing a new torah is an extremely rare opportunity.
'Well, for one thing, it's an expensive undertaking,' Shuman said. 'So, it's very hard for synagogues to replace their torah scrolls when it becomes necessary.'
Torahs are written and made to last a long time.
'We currently have six torahs in the congregation, but only two of them are good enough to be used for ritual use. And those two are very old,' said Maggie Grotzinger. 'So, we wanted to write a new torah written.'
Grotzinger is a volunteer with the Pillars of Strength initiative — which helps with the funding.
'It's a once in a lifetime opportunity,' she said. 'So, we just really want them to be inspired, to be able to participate and, as I said, perform this one mitzvah that we're asked to do as Jews.'
The Gordon family — who provided a generous gift in order to launch the initiative — wrote the first letter in the new torah.
'It's just a lovely day. It's lovely always to get together,' Shuman shared. 'We really are a wonderful family in this congregation. It's lovely to see fellow members and especially to be celebrating something. We don't always get to do that.'
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Writing the torah is a six-month process, click here for more information on how to get involved or donate.
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