A New/Old Torah for Beit Simcha
It is time for us to have “our own Torah”.
As we approach our 4th Anniversary as a congregation, we have identified a beautiful scroll that is kosher, written in Israel after the end of World War II at the same time the State of Israel was proclaimed.
We hope every member of Beit Simcha, from the youngest to the most senior, will participate in acquiring and dedicating this new/old sefer Torah as Our Torah, a central part of our synagogue’s life and mission.
We will use Our Torah on Shabbat, all holidays, for Bar and Bat Mitzvah services, Simchat Torah celebrations, and to teach Torah quite literally to our children, adults, and guests.
This year as we celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the State of Israel, Our Torah will also bring us closer to Erets Yisrael, the land of Israel, as Jews deeply committed to our people’s eternal homeland. Like the Land of Israel, this Torah will be, for us, in Theodore Herzl’s words, New/Old: new to us, but filled with the beauty and deep wisdom of our ancient tradition, written by hand by a scribe on parchment, textually perfect as every kosher Torah has been for thousands of years.
At Beit Simcha we have been blessed to use a Czech Torah Scroll saved from the Holocaust every Shabbat. This Torah is on permanent loan to our congregation from the Memorial Scrolls Trust in London. It is over 125 years old, and is in fairly good shape, legible and clear; it has great meaning representing the continuity of Jewish tradition in history. But it is also lonely and overworked.
For ritual purposes, there are many times during the year when we need two Torahs. Our centenarian Torah, dedicated in memory of Rabbi Samuel S. and A. Irma Cohon, due to its age cannot be made completely kosher anymore; some of the ink has aged to the point where it can’t be fully replenished, even by a trained and talented sofer (Torah scribe).
The 614th commandment is to write a Torah.
We all have the opportunity to share in that great mitzvah with Our Torah!
You can participate by donating for the following:
Donation Levels for “Our Torah” for Beit Simcha
(bold and italics indicates that it has already been donated)
1. Entire Torah Donor $12,000 Dr. Sloan King
(Includes Torah covers for Shabbat & High Holy Days)
2. Breastplate (name engraved) $5,000
3. Crown Keter (name engraved) $5,000
4. Rimonim Finials (name engraved) $3,000
5. Book of the Torah (5 Books, 3 available) $2,500 per book Jeff & Barbara Rothstein
Rabbi Baruch Cohon, Vayikra
6. Yad (pointer) (name engraved) $1,500 Emmet & Sandy Zimberoff
7. Torah table cover (name embroidered) $1,200 MeMe Aguila
8. Special Torah Portion - 18 available $1,000 per portion
Consult with the Rabbi to choose:
includes Creation, Abraham, Joseph story,
the 10 Commandments, Song at the Sea, etc.
9. “Regular” Torah portion $720
10. Chapter of Torah $360
11. Aliyah of Torah (1/7th of Torah portion) $180
12. Sentence of Torah $72
13. Word of Torah $36
14. Letter of Torah $18