By DEBORAH MOON
About 200 people gathered at the University of Oregon's Knight Library Sept. 27 to see the completion of the first Torah reportedly written especially for the community of Eugene.
When asked, local Jewish leaders did remember the creation of a Torah previously.
Commissioned by the UO Chabad House, the community Torah was funded by numerous community members, including UO students, with a friend of Chabad House's Rabbi Asi Spiegel picking up the tab for the balance of the $36,000 scroll. Zusha Tenenbaum, a Florida businessman, dedicated the Torah to his late father Rabbi Aaron Tenenbaum, one of Spiegel's teachers who introduced him to the Chabad movement.
Rabbi Betzalel Yakont, a scribe in Israel, wrote the sefer Torah, with the final few letters completed by New York scribe Rabbi Daniel Dahan. Leaders of the Lane County Jewish federation and Eugene synagogues each were invited to dedicate one of the final letters, said Spiegel.
Dahan, who spent the next two days in Portland checking and if possible fixing parchments in mezzuzot and tefillin, said that the Torah scrolls that sofers write today are an exact replica of the scrolls written 3,500 years ago. He said writing the scrolls maintains Jewish tradition.
Following the dedication ceremony in the library, at least 300 people danced and carried the completed scroll through the streets of Eugene and the university. Spiegel said everyone along the route smiled and clapped, with many students taking out their cell phones and taking pictures of the parade.
In a telephone interview after the event, Spiegel said he applied for a permit for a parade because he wanted the city itself to be part of the event.
"By the police coming, it's like they gave honor to the Torah as well," said Spiegel.
Spiegel added he was very pleased how supportive and accommodating people were as he planned the event.
"Part of the message of this event was we should be happy to celebrate our culture," he said. "I learned everybody is very happy and accepting when Jewish people are celebrating our culture. It was a very encouraging message."
Spiegel said that one elderly resident told him that she had lived in Eugene for decades and never expected to see such an event in the city. And he said the day after the dedication a student called and said that Chabad House has offered a lot of things she had never seen before and the Torah dedication was "another first for me."
Spiegel said his goal in Eugene is to make Jewish life there as rich as it is in larger Jewish centers.
"We do it all the time, but its not always so noticeable," he said.
One of the speakers at the event was Rabbi Shlomo Schwartz, who founded the first Chabad House on a campus when he opened the University of California-Los Angeles Chabad House 37 years ago.
"He said coming to Eugene reminded him of the work he did at UCLA," said Spiegel. "He said people told him it couldn't be done. He talked about the growth of the Los Angeles Jewish community and said that coming to Eugene made him feel very optimistic."
Spiegel said having its own Torah will enable Chabad House to hold weekly Torah services on Saturday mornings.
About 200 people gathered at the University of Oregon's Knight Library Sept. 27 to see the completion of the first Torah reportedly written especially for the community of Eugene.
When asked, local Jewish leaders did remember the creation of a Torah previously.
Commissioned by the UO Chabad House, the community Torah was funded by numerous community members, including UO students, with a friend of Chabad House's Rabbi Asi Spiegel picking up the tab for the balance of the $36,000 scroll. Zusha Tenenbaum, a Florida businessman, dedicated the Torah to his late father Rabbi Aaron Tenenbaum, one of Spiegel's teachers who introduced him to the Chabad movement.
Rabbi Betzalel Yakont, a scribe in Israel, wrote the sefer Torah, with the final few letters completed by New York scribe Rabbi Daniel Dahan. Leaders of the Lane County Jewish federation and Eugene synagogues each were invited to dedicate one of the final letters, said Spiegel.
Dahan, who spent the next two days in Portland checking and if possible fixing parchments in mezzuzot and tefillin, said that the Torah scrolls that sofers write today are an exact replica of the scrolls written 3,500 years ago. He said writing the scrolls maintains Jewish tradition.
Following the dedication ceremony in the library, at least 300 people danced and carried the completed scroll through the streets of Eugene and the university. Spiegel said everyone along the route smiled and clapped, with many students taking out their cell phones and taking pictures of the parade.
In a telephone interview after the event, Spiegel said he applied for a permit for a parade because he wanted the city itself to be part of the event.
"By the police coming, it's like they gave honor to the Torah as well," said Spiegel.
Spiegel added he was very pleased how supportive and accommodating people were as he planned the event.
"Part of the message of this event was we should be happy to celebrate our culture," he said. "I learned everybody is very happy and accepting when Jewish people are celebrating our culture. It was a very encouraging message."
Spiegel said that one elderly resident told him that she had lived in Eugene for decades and never expected to see such an event in the city. And he said the day after the dedication a student called and said that Chabad House has offered a lot of things she had never seen before and the Torah dedication was "another first for me."
Spiegel said his goal in Eugene is to make Jewish life there as rich as it is in larger Jewish centers.
"We do it all the time, but its not always so noticeable," he said.
One of the speakers at the event was Rabbi Shlomo Schwartz, who founded the first Chabad House on a campus when he opened the University of California-Los Angeles Chabad House 37 years ago.
"He said coming to Eugene reminded him of the work he did at UCLA," said Spiegel. "He said people told him it couldn't be done. He talked about the growth of the Los Angeles Jewish community and said that coming to Eugene made him feel very optimistic."
Spiegel said having its own Torah will enable Chabad House to hold weekly Torah services on Saturday mornings.
No comments:
Post a Comment