Placing a new Torah in the temple sanctuary

The Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Centre completed Mitzvah 613 by writing the final letters in their new torah scroll on May 20. After the letters were written, the congregation escorted the Torah, as they sang and danced, to its place of honor inside the Ark in the synagogue sanctuary.

Many helped write the new Torah guided by scribe Zerach Greenfield, including 235 families, 100 nursery school children, 125 religious school students, 20 Brandeis and Solomon Schechter students, and the entire USY Group. The congregation will read from the new Torah for the first time on Shavuot.

Another part of the project was the mitzvah (good deed) of donating two Torah scrolls to needy communities in Israel. The first Torah was donated to the TALI Ramat Moriah Elementary School in Jerusalem, and the second was donated to Masorti Kehilat Neot Shoshanim in Holon, a town south of Tel-Aviv. Both the TALI schools and the Masorti congregations cater to a Jewish population that does not receive government funding for religious education.