Community dedicated to religious centerpiece

EAST COUNTY — A scroll filled with 300,000 etchings of Hebrew letters means more than the words on the parchment paper.

The Torah symbolizes and evokes feelings of strength, pride, heritage and community for Jewish individuals.
Although having a Torah housed at a synagogue is common practice, and a necessity for holding meetings at the temple, having one dedicated and written specifically for a synagogue is an honor, said Rabbi Menachem Bukiet, of Chabad of Bradenton.

Chabad recently received that honor and now has a Torah that was written by a scribe in Israel, specifically for the East County synagogue.

“This is history in the making for the Jewish community,” Bukiet said. “The Torah is an opportunity for Jewish people to get in touch with their heritage in a very tangible way.”

A Torah is a handwritten scroll that spells out a proper Jewish way of life, set by moral and religious obligations. The writing is an integral aspect of the Jewish religion.

On Nov. 16, the lawn of the synagogue housed the dedication ceremony.

Having a Torah dedicated means that the scribe uses the help of community members to write letters onto the paper scroll. The scribe also remains mindful of the particular synagogue, its members and the community for which he’s writing the scroll.

But the content is always the same, regardless of the synagogue that receives the dedicated Torah.

To have a Torah dedicated, donors must fund the project, which can cost $30,000 to $100,000.

Rabbi Yossi Srugo traveled from Israel to attend the dedication.

Srugo wrote the majority of the Torah in Israel, but left some of the letters and words to be completed with the aid of paying participants.

Individuals paid to help Srugo write letters on pieces of parchment paper that together make the Torah. The price tag to hold the feather attached to the quill Srugo used to write the letters ranged from $18 to $10,000, contingent on the number of letters the individual wanted to help write.

After the scribe finished writing in the Torah, the document was “dressed in ornaments,” which includes a silver crown and other embellishments. Then, attendees celebrated both the dedicated Torah and Chabad’s 10-year anniversary.

Individuals who attended the event enjoyed kosher food, live Jewish music and a celebratory dance that took place throughout the evening.

As per tradition of such an event, members of the synagogue held the old Torahs used before the dedicated Torah was created, while other individuals danced with the new Torah held high.

The other Torahs will still be used, but only for holiday services.

For Jill and Robert Schein, who attend Chabad and have established a personal relationship with Bukiet over the 10 years he has lived in East County, the dedication shows that the local Jewish community is strong as well.

“This is memorable,” Jill Schein said. “We’re building up our strength as a community. This is very special to Jewish people.”

The Schein’s fellowship with Bukiet started when their sons, Daniel and Jesse, began walking 2.5 miles to the synagogue with Bukiet on Saturday mornings.

For two years, the boys would wake up at 8 a.m. with no complaints of wanting to sleep longer, Schein said, laughing.

Bukiet would share life lessons with the boys, even in the rain.

“They loved walking with him, and just being in his presence,” Jill Shein said.

“The Rabbi is a great story teller. He would teach them things from the Torah and they would laugh and just be together. The Torah and Rabbi Bukiet made my boys who they are today.”

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].