High
On Torah
Saturday night, January 11, 2003,
scribe Neil Yerman came to the Temple so that we could each perform the mitzvah
of writing the Torah. Holding the quill just above our hands, he gently guided
us in restoring the faded letters from The Ten Commandments. Every one of us!
No one was too young; no one too unknowledgeable. At the beginning of each
session, Neil gave a talk, teaching us lots of facts and lots of fancies. His
presentations were characterized by humor as well as spirituality. At the
conclusion, using a piece of scrap parchment, he wrote the name Amalek in his
beautiful Torah script. He walked around the room so we could see it. Then,
taking up his quill, totally inked it out. When the Israelites left Egypt, the
Amalekites attacked the ill and the aged at the rear. After their defeat, God
commanded us to blot out their name. (Our tradition says that Haman is
descended from the Amalekites, and each Purim, we blot out his name.) Neil
explained this symbolized our discarding negative emotions enabling us to
approach the Torah with joy. He then recited three blessings. The first was
for our loved ones who are gone, as well as for all the generations past that
have bequeathed the Torah to us; the second was for those in need of healing;
the third, for ourselves and all those we love. With these in mind, we
performed the mitzvah. With these in mind, Hank and I dedicated our letters to
his parents' seventieth anniversary on January 29.
When our Holocaust Torah is
restored, Neil will come again and we will rededicate the Torahs. I hope that
all of you who can will come for another memorable event in our temple and in
our lives.
Meryl Silverstein
P.S. Did Don Silver take
your picture? For an additional ten dollar contribution to the Torah
Restoration Fund, he will make a print for you. Call me at 845-628-0825 or
e-mail, hanksil@RCN.com. See a
preview below.
Meet
our Torahs
As Meryl described above, on
January 11th, members of our congregation participated in the once-in-a-lifetime
mitzvah of writing a letter in a Torah. This mitzvah is so special that the
Kings of the Bible were commanded to do it (Deuteronomy). All Torahs are
special and have their own unique history, and some would say, personality. So
let us meet our Torahs and get to know them better.
I am the Torah that you
wrote your letters in. I am about 70-75 years old and my writing is in the
style, or K'tav, of Beit Yosef and is probably Polish in origin. The height of
my parchment sheets is 25 ¾ inches, my columns are 19 ½ inches, and the number
of lines per each of my columns equals 48. My parchment is calfskin. The back
of each of my sheets is coated with gesso and the fronts are natural. My Atzei
Chaim, or wooden rollers, are 28 inches high and are of German origin.
The scribe, Neil Yerman,
describes me as masterful. My K'tav was written with "Kavannah Plus" (spiritual
intention plus) and my letters are uniform and easy to read.
Finally, Neil says that I
am "Gezunteh" or heavy. Anyone who has lifted me will agree with this.
It has been my pleasure
to share my words with you all these years. Thank you for restoring me to my
original beauty. We will continue to study and learn together.
***
Hi! I am a Torah that
was rescued from the ashes of the Holocaust. I have been a resident of your
Temple for about thirty years. I am going to be restored by Sofer Neil Yerman
and should be as good as new by this summer. I am looking forward to telling
you about my history in the next Shofar.
Submitted by Hank
Silverstein
